Dan,
Larry and Mike have given good advice. I have my Tiger alignment very close
to what Mike recommends. I do believe you should be able to get these
caster and camber settings without adding shims to the crossmember - at
least 4 to 4.5 degrees positive caster with 1.5 to 1.75 degrees negative
camber. However, there are a lot of things that could be bent, including
the frame rails, crossmember, stub axle carriers, and shock towers to name
a few. If you don't get at least four degrees caster, then I'd begin to
suspect something isn't right. Will you're at it, check that there is no
play in the steering. Since you just replaced the tie rod ends, the
steering should be tight. If not, then find out where it's loose; universal
joints, spline connectors, or rack. Does the car pull to the left or right
now? If not, then all you probably need to adjust is toe. You can do this
yourself if you really want to take the time. You will need to make or buy
some type of trammel rod to do a good job. I seen a lot of front end shops
that do a poor job of setting toe. It takes time to do it right. It's nice
to be able to do this yourself, since just about any work you do with front
end will throw the toe off.
You can also adjust caster and camber yourself too. Let's assume that the
caster and camber are already equal on both sides and you just want to add
some caster and camber. Compare the shims you have on the left and right
upper control arms. You want to maintain this same differential between the
sides while adding as much shim on the rear of each control arm as you can
get away with (up to the 1.5-1.75 negative camber). If one of the sides (or
both) has no shims on the front, then just add equal shims to the rear of
each side. If both of them have shims up front, then whichever is less,
take that completely out and leave the difference on the other side. For
example if you have 1/8 on the front on the left and 3/16 on the front on
the right, then remove the 1/8 on the left and just leave 3/16 - 1/8 = 1/16
on the right. This way, you still have equal caster and camber left and
right. Next, add the 1/8 you took out plus equal amounts more shims to the
rear on each side until you get up to -1.75 degrees camber. Drive the car
and see if it pulls to one side or the other. If it pulls, then the side it
pulls to has the lesser amount of caster. Make a small adjustment, say move
1/16 or 1/32 from front to rear (or vise versa), still trying to keep the
maximum caster. Pull is very sensitive to caster, especially on a Tiger.
Maybe I've just convinced you to take it to an alignment shop. It certainly
can get to be rather time consuming. But if you want to give it a try, then
maybe this will help.
TTFN,
Bob
At 03:19 PM 6/10/00 -0600, Daniel S. Eiland wrote:
>Hi Listers,
>
> Took my car out on the road today just to fill up the tank and air up
>the tires so I can return it to the body shop to see if they can help me get
>things aligned (ie. Roof, Windshield, Side Windows, etc). While on the road
>I noticed the tires squeel. Need to align the front end after installing new
>Tie Rod ends. Can I take my Tiger to any reputable company or does it have
>to go to someone with some special tools that most likely no one in El Paso
>will have? Hope this isn't going to be one of those ordeals where the car
>has to go out of town.
>
>Dan
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