Alignment problems?
- Thread starter BudW
- Start date
The adventure continues. I took off on a road trip and got about 500 miles down the road and got a vibration at about 75 mph, which I thought might be the driveshaft. At the next gas stop I took a walk around and noticed the right front wheel definitely pointing out to the right while the left was straight ahead. I got turned away from the nearest alignment shop, but they did recommend a performance shop that took it in and realigned it. Within about 50 miles the vibration returned and the right front wheel was back out of alignment, again.
Everything on that front end has been replaced except, the lower ball joints. I'm thinking the ball joint on the right side went bad, and it's the press in style ball joint. If it was the screw in style I would have just changed it myself. But being far away from my resources, having to find a shop that was willing to do the job and knew how to work on that front end, chasing down the part, probably having to explain to the tech how to do it, plus the cost, just didn't seem worth it. Since I have friends in that area, one of whom is an auto transport dispatcher, I decided to have the rig shipped back, so I left it at a friends place and went home. I have the tools in my shop and I'll do the repair.
Everything on that front end has been replaced except, the lower ball joints. I'm thinking the ball joint on the right side went bad, and it's the press in style ball joint. If it was the screw in style I would have just changed it myself. But being far away from my resources, having to find a shop that was willing to do the job and knew how to work on that front end, chasing down the part, probably having to explain to the tech how to do it, plus the cost, just didn't seem worth it. Since I have friends in that area, one of whom is an auto transport dispatcher, I decided to have the rig shipped back, so I left it at a friends place and went home. I have the tools in my shop and I'll do the repair.
Be aware that today's performance shops will generally not have yesterday's mechanics working in them. Today's techs know almost nothing about F/M/J cars, except that they're from the "malaise" era.
The FSM and copies of the '86 and '88 TSBs regarding alignment procedures are probably mandatory at this point. Rick Ehrenberg also came up with some updated alignment specs that included increased caster settings, I don't know if those are still available online anymore (Mopar Action Tech articles).
The FSM and copies of the '86 and '88 TSBs regarding alignment procedures are probably mandatory at this point. Rick Ehrenberg also came up with some updated alignment specs that included increased caster settings, I don't know if those are still available online anymore (Mopar Action Tech articles).
You're absolutely correct AH. My confidence factor in the tech waned when I happened to walk into the alignment bay. The tech was scrolling through the drop down menu on their $40,000 + computerized alignment rack, and I had to stop and point out that first he had to select "Chrysler" and then point out "Cordoba" on the next drop down menu.
