Yee Haw! The most fun repair. Im getting ready to dial it in today! Toe in is out, Caster needs to be reset since I had the bars and bushings replaced. Camber,, I just set the lower arm adjustment to where the tires just tilt in at the top, which is extended out at the bottom as far as it can go. Figured id start with the caster adjustment first, then the toe in, then if I can, Ill mess it up further. Wish me luck! Chad
Yes spend the money, eyeballs work well to get to the alignment shop, but it doesn't take much to get tire wear. But good luck anyways.
LOL, Dont take this the wrong way here,,, but around here, no shop will touch a car this old. I called 5 shops in the local area, and they had one or the other thing to say,,, we dont work on cars that old, or its gonna cost you 500$ just to have us do anything. Of course you know the answer I had for their willingness to work,,, right??? Id love to pay somebody to fix er up for me. I get no satisfaction from it though,, I turn wrenches for a living, yep sit out in the middle of the shop floor and spin em round in cirlces for hours on end. Ive done alignments before, and Ill do it again this time round. Just takes some patience, a few gadgets to look for what the eyes dont see, and try try try til I get it going down the road in a straight line. If it takes me 10 days to do it, so be it, I still have my 30 dollars in my pocket, and I leanred something, so I guess i paid myself to do the job. Like I said, nobody in this area will touch a car this old,,,, they like em shiny and new so everything comes apart easily. My car comes apart easily too, problem is,, its an antique! I got access to one of those gadgets they lay onthe ground, then drive the front wheels over them to measure how much the wheels are kicking to one side too much,,, and they are pretty easy to build, so Im confident. Chad
I may have to do that. I messed with it all day yesterday, Before, it liked to wander, so I tore into the tie rods. The passenger side, I could not get the toe in set on the passenger side. The tie rods would bottom out against each other inside the threaded coupler, so I cut a 1/4 inch off the tie rod coupler, and a 1/2 inch off the tie rod itself. I finally got the toe in to where they measured 56.25 front and back,center of the tire to center of the tire,, equal dimentions. So, I then took each wheel and turned them in about a 1/8th inch on both wheels, it helped quite a bit!!! Did not wander so badly, in fact from how it was, I was pretty happy with how it was behaving. Its still off a tad, but its for sure better. I took 2, 16 ft 2X4's lined em up with the side walls of the back wheels, it gave me a place to measure from, and thats where I seemed to get the best results,,, I found the right wheel was out 1/2 inch, and the drivers side was out 3/8 of an inch. So I found dead center of the steering box, and made some adjustments to get them to measure out, I got em close,,, and Im right at the 56.25" equal measurment for the toe in adjustment, lik I said I moved them both in a 1/8 inch for a total of a 1/4 inch of toe in. May not be right, but,, its better than it was. So then I still had the problem of it darting off to the right when the brakes were applied, took the drivers side brake hub off, the cyl was leaking and it destroyed the brake shoes, so I think I found out why its doing it. How does your maverick handle after the alignment??? can you take a curve with no worries??? (under normal driving conditions) Chad
PROGRESS TODAY!!! I read about the control arm bushings on here, so I checked em out on my car, I could turn the long bolt by hand!! So, I got some new bushings, (not for a maverick but worked great anyways) I bottomed the threads out,,, I added a shim to tighten it down, and without a doubt, it drove,, behaved is more appropriate term here,,, Before I started though, I jumped up and down on the front of the car and had my Dad watch the suspension. He said you best have a look yourself, control arm was barely moving with the suspension, tightened that baby down, and got a decent ride for a change. its getting closer for sure! I got the lower arm ecentric bolt at 9 and 3 oclock position on the right n left sides, which pulls the bottom of the tire in towards the car as I could. If I could get the tires to tilt in a bit more I bet it would ride and handle better. Would you think if I added a washer shim behind the upper arm mounts would it be too much? Chad
I would suggest having a pro check it out. Alignments are a "little" more than trial and error and guesswork.
I agree. Id like to see how close I got it when Im thru. Thats a sweeet maverick you got going there Craig! PS we use black beauty for media blasting. For sheet metal, I turn the air pressure way down so its not putting too much pressure to warp. Blast, and sand with a DA, and its smooth as glass. Im getting ready to blast the deck lid, door skins and hood on my 69, good solid parts, just a few dings to pull out. Should make a huge difference. What are you guys using for sealer before the initial primer? I know Im gonna use spray on bedliner coating for the underside of the car. I did that to a Mustang, best thing I ever did. We have alot of dirty, rocky roads here, tires kick up stones and chips happen. Never had it happen after. Did 69 mav's have the turn signals lights in the lower valance? The one on my car, looks to have had something else bolted to the bottom of it,,, extra bolt holes, that dont go up and mount tothe body anywhere. When I got the car, it had a 72 grille in it, (turn signals was in the grille) but the wires were way too long to be in that area. They were looped and tied with a garbage bag twist tie and into the grille. I seem to remember this car having a center orniment in the grille instead of turn signals. ( I made the mistake of parking it at a friends house for about 2 months) and when I got it back,, something did not look the same, but never questioned. Ima thinking I got the ol bait n switch. LOL! Chad
National Tire and Battery aligned our '72 daily driver last month for $69.99 which included installation of the new '76 spec. outer tie rod ends. The car handles so nice now and rides a heck of alot better then before the alignment. I have taken some pretty sharp corners at 80 mph, car dosen't even sweat it. It used to feel kind of squirrely at 30 mph going around this one corner by my house. I can now take that corner at 65+ and it still has plenty of body roll, but the car feels firmly planted and under control. I drove this car for 39,000 miles with the alignment I set in my driveway with a tape measure. I didn't know what I was missing, that's for sure. I'll let the pro's do it from now on.
Moving the bottom of the tire in toward the center of the car increases positive camber - for better handling you want more negative camber. If you want to limit "bump steer" drop the upper control arm mounting point down 1". For the best handling I have had the specs were: Camber: -2 Caster: +5 Toe: in .5" Your milage may vary but the car runs like it is on rails! I agree with the advice; "take it to an expert" Mine was set up for me by a guy who set up hill climb cars (like Pike's Peak)
Set caster, then camber, then toe. Then go back and check everything. For a little over $100 you can buy your own caster/camber and toe gauges. A little more will get you some turn plates. Been doing my own alignments for almost 20 years. Settings that worked best for my Mav, with radial tires are: caster = +3 camber = 0 toe = in 1/16" It changes some depending on your wheel/tire combo, ride height, etc. A lot of shops nowadays don't have the specs for our old cars. And if they do they are the old specs for bias tire construction, not radials. You have to tell them what you want. If you don't get the toe and camber right you will wear your tires quickly, then they won't sit right even when the alignment is done.
205-70 r 14 tires on the front, 215-70-14 on the rear. Is there a heavier control arm available (factory) for the mavs? We got some rough roads around here, and it can take its tool over a period of time, not alot of highway driving, but alot of country cruisin. If camber is at 0, if I was to put an angle finder on a vertical surface, could a 90 degree angle be counted as 0? My wheels tilt in at the bottom just a hair (at ride height) Not that Im conflicting the actual procedure, with the proper tools, Just wondring if a shade tree mechanic can learn to do it with, well, say different tools? I appreciate all the info you all have shared with me so far! Chad
Well, to do it right the car has to be level side-to-side and front-to-rear, preferably within an 1/8" or so. I use a laser level with the beam going right through the center of the hubs to make sure the car is level. My camber gauge is accurate and readable to within 1/12*. You could get it close if you have a long bubble level and use it to set the front tire resting points even. I use 12" square Masonite tiles under the turnplates to get it just right. Then you can check for plumb on a flat wheel surface. I have found that the rear of the car can be jacked up 3 or 4 inches and not affect the camber, so you don't have to be perfectly level to check that. Obviously rear height will affect caster. Camber and toe (which you can set pretty close with a couple of tape measures and some pieces of angle iron) are the settings which have the greatest affect on tire wear. Caster has more of an affect on steering effort.
