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#31
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If you're going to spend the money on an alignment anyway... |
#32
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MBUSA roadside assistance is pretty useless unless I need a splash of fuel or a battery. I can change my own tire and jump my car. I'm not even sure they give you fuel
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#33
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I can give my own experience on the self alignment.
I bought the Turn Tables (Harbor Freight) and a Caster/Camber Gauge, and other stuff I needed. It cost more than an cheap alignment place. But, I figured I would learn something and I have other Vehicles I could the stuff on. A big hang up is that I have no place that is as level as it should be. However, I ran out of adjustment so it did not get adjusted correctly. But, it was enough to get back on the Road with eating up Tires. The inner edge of one Tire and the outer edge (my Wheels ended up like this //, though that is exagerated) of the other did wear more than it should over the course of a year or so. I had to keep an eye on them and make sure the Tires got rotated. When I did need Tires I went to the Junk Yard (I have a manual Tire Mouter/Dismounter at home), or bought the whole Wheel with the Tire. I did that easily over 2 years ago. This year apparently the Suspension has settled in and I am not having the tire Wear issue. So in my case doing the alignment Myself was a lot of work, expense and it did not come out perfect.
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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel |
#34
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How do you mean "ran out of adjustment"? It is a shame it didn't work out for you. I must admit a nice flat level garage floor would be a gift for this job. I had a lot of trouble leveling my car - and I'll be doing it again soon (well I say soon there's the welding and the painting and the rebuild first) As for turn tables - well two bits of lino or steel plates with grease can do a similar job... and may be I need to show more detailed pictures of the self made camber gauge? I made one with a plumb bob and some set squares. More accurate than the bubble camber gauge that I bought - and with a greater range of measurement.
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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver 1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone 1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy! 1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits! |
#35
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I wasn't really serious, but you mean the panache of having a W123 with Roadside Assistance isn't enough? They'd probably bring gas instead of diesel anyway. |
#36
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'85 300D Cal 280,000 miles '14 GLK 350 60000 miles |
#37
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You can buy a spreader bar on amazon for $93. The bolt looks to be about $50, somIm really curious as to what thread, what length and what angle for the point? I figure with three of these cars to align now and again, this will all pay off and be more straightforward to take to my preferred shop. So, can you provide details on the bolt you made yourself?
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Current Diesels: 1981 240D (73K) 1982 300CD (169k) 1985 190D (169k) 1991 350SD (113k) 1991 350SD (206k) 1991 300D (228k) 1993 300SD (291k) 1993 300D 2.5T (338k) 1996 Dodge Ram CTD (442k) 1996 Dodge Ram CTD (265k) Past Diesels: 1983 300D (228K) 1985 300D (233K) |
#38
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There is no longer any alignment machine in my area that will give a program for the 123s. Without the bar in place and connected. Plus they do not have the bar.
Too many places today think just setting the toe is an alignment. Easy quick money. Also on many modern cars the adjustment capacity just no longer exists. A serious pre check at home for loose or worn components is important as well. Otherwise the money spent can be almost a waste. Some shops will point out issues and some just want you in and out the door. |
#39
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Interesting. I’ve not had an issue at three different shops. They just don’t have a spreader bar or a box locking pin.
Software and storage is cheap. Seems silly to not have the alignment maps for every known vehicke that might come through the door, at least back To the 50/60/70s.
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Current Diesels: 1981 240D (73K) 1982 300CD (169k) 1985 190D (169k) 1991 350SD (113k) 1991 350SD (206k) 1991 300D (228k) 1993 300SD (291k) 1993 300D 2.5T (338k) 1996 Dodge Ram CTD (442k) 1996 Dodge Ram CTD (265k) Past Diesels: 1983 300D (228K) 1985 300D (233K) |
#40
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Pretty easy to do yourself and fairly common-sense. When you consider that many alignment techs admit that they bump the sensing heads until the computer shows it in alignment, you might even do better. I find that turning a tie-rod adjuster 1/8 turn makes a very measurable difference in toe-in on a tape measure. Measure the width tire-tire on aft & fwd sides of front tires and subtract. That is your toe-in, which should be ~1/8" or 1/16" if all parts are very tight. Easiest if your tires have straight grooves and a helper to hold the end of the tape instead of trying to tape it to the tire. Go as high on the aft as you can without hitting things, then same height at fwd side. As a final check, hold a straight-edge against each front tire and sight at the rears. With tires straight, your sight should hit ~1" off the rear tire (have a helper hold a ruler). Easier on FWD cars where you want slight toe-out so should sight a bit in on the rear tires.
But, before toe-in, set camber. That is more of a preference. I go for exactly vertical. Racers like negative camber (tops leaning in) for better cornering, but also causes more wear. I don't fool w/ caster, which would be set by the rear guide rods. You want a line thru the upper & lower ball joints to hit the road slightly in front of the tire patch, so the wheel wants to act like a shopping cart. Only time caster mattered, is my classic 1960's cars which were designed for bias-ply tires which deflected aft more when driving. With radials, we do a few tricks to try to get more caster. Finally, getting the steering wheel straight. Yes, some trial and error. Hopefully, you are close to start. If the wheel is pointing say 10 deg right when driving straight, if you centered it the car would turn left. Thus, you want to move both wheels right so make the L tie-rod longer and the R tie-rod shorter by same amount. I would try 1/2 turn. Also, after driving a bit you want to recheck toe-in after changing nothing since it tends to settle as you drive around the block. Hope your helper is more patient than mine (wife). One trick is to put the front tires on 2 floor tiles w/ shiny sides together to make a low-friction pivot, though still need to drive around to settle things. Also, the spreader-bar thing is just a M-B finicky idea to try to take all play out of the steering when measuring toe-in. If you do that then shoot for 1/16" toe-in since that already accounts for play. I never played with M-B locating pin. Since my old Mopar gear-boxes don't have one, I figured another finicky thing. It might help you get the steering centered in 1 less pass, but I doubt it since things like road camber affect where the wheel winds up, and on that note judge your steering wheel centering on the freeway (less road camber).
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1984 & 1985 CA 300D's 1964 & 65 Mopar's - Valiant, Dart, Newport 1996 & 2002 Chrysler minivans |
#41
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No need for the box alignment pin, you can fit a regular bolt in there that will hold just as well. Just don't put immense pressure on the components and you'll do fine.
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