Going to start doing front end alignment at home and don't know which set up to buy. Choices are narrowed down to Tenhulzen, Fastrax, Longacre, and PMD. Ease of use is more important to me that super accuracy as tire wear is not a factor but handling is; any suggestions? Thanks
Ditto. Two 18"X 18" 1/16" thick aluminum plates with grease between is all you need to make. The rest fro Longacre for us for years..
Coil - I don't understand your statement, Ease of use is more important to me that super accuracy as tire wear is not a factor but handling is WHY...do the work, if you don't care how accurate it will be ? Just bolt it together and eyeball it, call it good enough..! You apparently don't understand, tire wear IS...part of handling..! Is this how your all of the work on your car(s) ? The main bearings are .005", I really wanted .0015", but that's ok..! Well...obviously the Tenhulzen and the Fastrax caster camber gauge is the same, pick your color..! The PMD is very similar. I use a Longacre, but I spent the extra money to utilize a .xx digital gauge rather than an .x gauge. This way I can get the adjustments closer than .9 of a degree. Which is almost 1 degree...right ? Details...man...details. Mike
Yes, I DO understand accuracy but when dune busting and often bending/breaking things several times a day a quick fix is more important than plus or minus a tenth of a degree. Pictured is a billet block still dripping oil and chips fresh out of my 5 axis Haas mill where accuracy is utmost but in my hobby tires are short lived and as long as there is no extreme bump steer, plowing up sand, or wheels folding under it's a good day. Being able to get in the ballpark quickly is the most important and yes, more detail should have been offered.
I have fastrax gauge.worked fine for me.made my own plates for under the tires 2 discs and a lump of grease.drilled hole in the discs so I can store then on a nail on the wall
I guess this gives credence to Post #57 (quoted below) of this thread. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/hot-rodding-and-social-media.1154728/page-2 "I know you can't answer for others but why do you think those guys dumped the HAMB family, and went some were where we can't find them? Flop does post once in a while. Bob" "The general reason I hear most is because they got tired of being attacked here on the HAMB"
certain questions that are asked by others for help are kind of, ??!! It like why is my tire flat on the bottom, If you want a close alignment , use a string , Angle finder & level. When I have had alignments done at a shop I get bent when I see the print out after alignment and the numbers are in the green but not the same side to side , Put the extra effort to make the numbers the same, Flopp not posting , I can not speak for him , I would hope he is busy building car for others , he does great amazing work & in High demand .. Coilover , I would think that you using 5x CNC , doing a close alignment would not be that big of a task / Challenge.
I use Longacre stuff; I especially like their Acculevel caster/camber gauge, because you can account for an unlevel floor. Unfortunately, every part of my driveway/garage floor is unlevel, which does affect how the car sits, which does affect your alignment. But I can get my stuff close...and I have 7 old cars, so any time I do suspension work, I can get it back into close alignment.
String, digital level, tape measure......cheap and you'll be fine... Sent from my XT1710-02 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
The comparison for any alignment gauge from day one has been that it was as accurate as a SnapOn gauge. I've got a SnapOn gauge I have had for about 40 years, some little off shore magnetic gauge that is intended to stick to a flat surface like a brake rotor which might work if guys are working on an I beam car with disk brakes setting it up. I picked up a Quick Trick alignment set with swival plates last year from a guy who buys and sells tools for a friendly price. I haven't tested it out like I should though. It was something I was really looking for and I snagged it. It does have a pair of matched tape measures that you lay across the bars that are part of it so you can accurately measure toe in by yourself. That should be a plus for me as I won't have to get my wife out of the house to hold the other end of the tape against the mark I made on the tire. That is pretty much this setup. A tweaked rim might throw you off though. I like the looks of the afore mentioned Longacre units but can't find if they will attach directly to the hub if you take the dust cap off like my SnapOn does.
It is not unusual for numbers to be different from side to side. They are trying to compensate for road crown.
@ one time that was true , not now . the tec if you want to call them that , they just get it into the green & send it , when I say Green one side says Negative and the other side positive but still in the green . A place I worked @ we maintained over 3,000 just in police vehicles ,
I will agree times have changed we drive more miles on multi lane roads so it is less important. But you roll a tire across a slope it will still move down hill. A properly aligned car should reflect this. This is kind of local some places build roads with more crown than others.
I absolutely agree. I align my cars very precisely with just the tools shown here. I bet if you took my cars to a laser alignment guy, he could get it no closer. Been doing race cars and hot rods like this for years.
jaw23, please post an image with your tools in place. I've done alignment a few times on straight axle fronts, just a long time ago. Would like to see the notched boards in place.
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