Front Alignment Spec.

[dart swg.]

Did front disc conversion on my 72 Dart. I want to take it to the line up shop to have the front end done. There computer don't go back that far. Does anyone have the specs that i can give them to line up the front end. I don't know weather or not i'm going to have to use the offset bushing.A starting point would be better than what i got now. Thanks Joe

[Jim_Lusk]

Set the ride height. Then set the front cam adjuster all way out and the rear all the way in. Bring the rear out until the camber is in spec (.1-.5 degree negative). This is all of the caster you can get out of it. You want a little more negative camber on the right OR a little more positive caster on the right. Then set the toe to about 1/8-1/16 toe-in.

[dart swg.]

Thanks Jim,  This should get me down the raod till i put the new coil over front end in it.

[ucdcrush]

Quick question, when adjusting the camber/caster, do you do this with the car jacked up, then drive it a few feet to resettle things (as I did a few times when setting the ride height the other day..), or should (can?) this be done with the car sitting on the ground?

[Jim_Lusk]

It must be done on the ground and the wheels need to be able to slide like they do on the turntables on a machine. It would be way too much work to do it any other way.

[JWSewell]

 You can make your own Ghetto Alignment plates for dirt cheap.

- Get Thin pieces of plastic. 2 big enough for the front wheels to sit on and two bigger than the others and some wheel bearing grease. 
- Make 2 Grease Sandwiches with the four pieces of plastic, (big plastic - grease - smaller plastic )
- Set each front wheel on the sandwiches
- Now the "plates" will slip allowing the suspention to settle when you jounce it.  (be sure to jounce the suspention after each adjustment)

Now get a cheap camber / caster gauge, tape measue and string for toe and have at it!

[ucdcrush]

Thank you guys, I have some masonite I bought to use for turn plates (with grease) and have a harbor freight toe gauge, and a racers warehouse camber/caster gauge. I'm going to give it a try today..

[ucdcrush]

Here's what I ended up with after a first shot..

drivers side: +2 3/8 caster, + 1/8 camber
passenger side: + 2 1/4 caster, -1/8 camber

The camber difference seems to match the difference i've read (1/4 more on the passenger side), but I am not sure if the caster settings are close enough. I haven't driven it yet, should I try to tweak or is this close enough? Also it looks like I could get more neg camber and pos caster by lowering it slightly, it sits kind of high now, but is getting kind of close to the lower control arm bumper, especially on the drivers side, with the ride heights even on both sides.

[75Dart440]

My settings are very close to yours, and I noticed that I have about 1/2 to 5/8" of clearance on the lower control arm bump stop.  Seems to be the price we must pay for using 15" wheels and tall front tires.  I may switch to a slightly shorter tire on front to get the lower control arm in the factory position.

[ucdcrush]

I left it as it was above, set the toe in to 1/16", and drove it for the first time today. Only took it up to 35 or so, but it felt good, no pulling or anything unusual anyways, though it is hard to steer at low speeds, harder than I remember, but this is with 205/70 15s so that probably explains some of it.

[75Dart440]

With the amount of caster used, the steering becomes harder at low speeds.  Mine is the same way.  My entire front suspension and steering is out of my old 73 Duster (daily driver 22 years ago) and I remember it steering a lot easier at slow speeds than it does now.  Of course the weight of the 440 hovering over the front spindles doesn't help either!

[ucdcrush]

Anyone know the recommended torque for the caster/camber cam bolts?

[dart swg.]

65 ft. #. I just did mine,had to put offset bushings in