I have been struggling with string/laser level alignments w/o a lift. In a home garage it is tedious work. It took me 90 minutes just to set front toe on the 911 last night with all the iterative raise/adj/drop/roll/measure cycles. I want a lift but - it just isn;t in the cards right now. So I was thinking of ways to make changes easily without having to move the car or use a jack...
I figure if I make 4 sturdy stools with levelers on them to set the car on... I can level them to each other with a pair graduated cylinders and a hose. Two will have lazy susan style turn plates (grease bearing - I'm too cheap for real slewed bearings) and all four will be large enough to accommodate scales (which I just bought some broken ones to fix). I also considered 2 "bench" style with ramps to drive the car on but those would be a storage problem.
Thoughts, ideas, cautionary tales of woe?
I don't really have any additional ideas or cautionary tales of woe, but I've been considering making something very similar, so I'm curious to see how this thread plays out.
Depending on what sort of lasery stuff you already own, would a laser level be as accurate as the graduated cylinder method and allow you to check all four at the same time (put level on one and reference objects on the other three)?
The only other thing that occurs to me is to type what I'm sure you're already thinking about making damn sure that the car can't roll/slide off the scales while you're playing with tie rods...
Also, and causing more problems with keeping the car located, wouldn't you want grease bearings at all four corners so the rear won't bind?
ransom wrote:
Depending on what sort of lasery stuff you already own, would a laser level be as accurate as the graduated cylinder method and allow you to check all four at the same time (put level on one and reference objects on the other three)?
I have 2 laser levels, one known good one and one I planned to make a housing for to easily mark the center line. I suppose I could scribe a registration mark around the top of each stand pretty easily and line them up that way.
The only other thing that occurs to me is to type what I'm sure you're already thinking about making damn sure that the car can't roll/slide off the scales while you're playing with tie rods...
Yes. I'm going to put a raised/angled lip all the way around. I can't start until the scales show up though because I need the dimensions and wire locations (so there is a relief).
Also, and causing more problems with keeping the car located, wouldn't you want grease bearings at all four corners so the rear won't bind?
Good thinking... otherwise it would jack the stools when setting camber angles. I had only thought about measuring ackerman but every adjustment needs the slide to settle.
Huh. A little googling found exactly what I'm looking for - except the part where for that price I could just buy a damn lift.
http://www.teambearusa.com/modules/store/Wheel-Alignment-Stands-with-Slip-Plates-and-Turntables_P67242.cfm
I do believe I can make those for less than $100 over the weekend except for the sexy turn tables.
Dad and I built something like what you're looking for.
Used some 3/4" plywood to build 4 boxes that sit under the tires at the contact patches, created a lip on either end to keep the car from rolling.
Placed the boxes on top of two pieces of polished hardboard (very slick) to allow the suspension to settle after changes made. Underneath the hardboard was shim material used to level the boxes before placing the car on the boxes. The shims and the location of the boxes was marked with paint to reduce setup time later.
The real gain was to build two steel trammel bars that mounted to the bumper bolts, this replaced the jack stands that we used before to measure toe, etc. Since they are attached to the car, we can bounce the car and let it settle, etc without have to redo the strings all the time.
Camber is measured using a standard camber gauge.
Lasers could be adapted by placing a piece of graph paper on the trammel bars and building a stand that fits on the hub of the wheel and holds the laser.
you could take it to another level by building stands to bolt to the hubs in place of the wheels to allow access to the adjustments without having to raise/lower the car.
What you are describing would have been standard issue for a shop without a dedicated alignment pit 40 years ago. Just make sure your stands are sturdy enough.
