Do-it- yourself Front End Alignment Help Needed.

Just got the cuda up and running. All new front parts and of course needs to be aligned. I have a guy up our way that is an ace on alignments but he is on vacation. Any tips on how I can get it close so I can drive to Carlisle and have him align it when I return. It has Polyglas GT's.
Thank for any help.
I am driving from Maine to PA.

Reid

If I absolutely had to I'd put it on a level driveway,steering wheel straight, crank up tbars for ride height,adj tie rod sleeves till the tire treads are parallel then move the front of each tire in a 1/32" then put a carpenters level vertical on each tire & get it level(0 camber)

OK the Camber was my big concern.

Thank you.

messure from somewhere to the center of the upper ball joint to line the wheels parrell with each other. maybe use two areas like a hole in the frame to center and maybe the bumper bolt to center. just to make sure somthings not out of wack.

Mark

Ah. I see what you mean. I measured front and back of the tires but that would not mean that they are parallel with the car. Thanks for the tip.

Camber is the easiest to get in the ballpark.
1) Park on level concrete, wheels straight of course.
2) Place a level against the top (12:00 O clock) position of the rim and the bottom (6:00)
3) Adjust Camber till true vertical (thats 0 degrees)
done.

You will find the hard part is adjusting the camber bolts while the suspension is loaded...it will want to 'fall' when you loosen, so it turns into a trial and error procedure whereby you unload the suspension, make an adjustment, lower the car, roll the car (at least 6 feet or so), and check.
MUCH easier if you mark your bolt washers (the offset adj washers) with a sharpie as you go, that way you know where you've been and what direction you need to go.

I forgot----best to START the adjustment by adjusting both adjusters (on each corner) for max caster, THEN adjust for 0 camber (you will remove some caster in the process).

Quote:

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make an adjustment, lower the car, roll the car (at least 6 feet or so), and check.

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Important step there. Bouncing does not sufficiently allow the tires to spread out to where they were.

The caster will be pretty much out of the question without a gauge. At home this is not easy.

Like they said, toe and caster is not much of an issue. I do toe setting at home all the time. Problem with camber adjustments at home is it disturbs the caster.

For what it's worth. This job is 10 times easier on a rack, with plates and reference to the rear wheels. You can see all 3 (actually more) adjustments for EVERY move you make. At home you have to recheck each one over and over after each move. My vote is do it on a rack.