Home alignment setup

[JRouche]

Hey guys.. I have finally got all the suspension parts in and fitting. air ride shockwaves in, control arms done, sway bar swinging clear of everything, new parts on all of it. Brakes are bled and now I gonna tackle the alignment.

I have read all the books and have a grasp on what needs to be done. First Im gonna prep my floor. Make sure I have a level surface. Hopefully Im not too far off with the floor, I dont want to spend much time using shims to get four pads that are level. Id love it if after I check the floor its good to go. Prolly not gonna be the case with my luck I have some nice turn plates that move in all directions. And I have some rear tire plates to level the car out due to the turn plates.

But besides that, the area prep work. I want to check for front end parallelism. So I can get the front wheels pointing in a forward direction before I check the Toe then work on the camber and caster. Then of course work back and forth between the adjustments as I change one to equalize all of the numbers.

But Im a lil confused, the starting point. ... How to get the front tires running parallel to the car, or more to the fact, parallel to the steering rack. So My first step I think, should be to get a parallel line set up beside the car that is parallel to the car and the rear. Then measure off of that to get my front tires inline. And work off of that.

So my question is. Am I going about it correctly? What I think I need to do is center the steering rack (I have that already) then once that is set have my parallel line along side the car to measure from to get the wheels referenced from that line for a rough forward pointing of the tires. My tie rod ends are installed for a really rough guesstimation of parallel right now. And the control arms are set according to that number so far.

What I would like to here is if anyone has done a home alignment before. When there is no decent starting point. I have originally straitened the wheels by measuring off of the cross member (a determined center point), and measured out to the steering arms on the spindles to get an equal number and adjust the tie rod adjusters while checking for toe in or out to align the wheels for a zero toe. But Im not sure if that is the correct method. I dont mind running a line from the front to the rear to align from that. I am ready to drop some anchors in the concrete floor to attach a fixture to string a tight stainless steel wire that will be parallel to the car. But is it acceptable to measure off the X-member for a center line reference and adjusting the toe that way?? I have toe plates so thats not an issue.

So Im at a loss. Do I need to run a reference line to measure from ( not a problem if so) or can I just reference the steering from the X-member then work all the numbers off of that.



My plan??? Get the steering so the tires are running straight ahead (zero toe) with the rack at its center line. Rough in the camber with the adjustable upper control arms and shims. Take my caster to where I want it. Re-check the rough camber. Adjust if needed. Look at the toe and get it back to center. Dial in the camber for where I really want it. Look at the caster. If its still close Ill live with +/- a half a degree there. Then fix the toe to where I need it. Re-check the camber (shouldnt have change much) and lock it in then double check the toe and lock it in...

Oh, and I have my numbers that I want to run for toe, camber and caster.


Whadda you think????? Gimme any and all the input you have. This is new stuff for me so ANY advice is appreciated... Thanks ahead of time for any input.... JR