Anyone use this DIY alignment tool? - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

benhogan · #1 10-20-2010, 01:56 PM

http://www.harborfreight.com/wheel-alignment-gauge-30167.html

tempting but I might be better off using the $10 for a couple of subway sandwiches instead.

What do you think?

Mike D · #2 10-20-2010, 02:06 PM

When you go to Subway, get the "double meat - double cheese" 12 incher and drag it through the garden. To heck with eating healthy!

You'd be better off going to a hardware store, buying a 6' 1"X1" for a couple of bucks, a crayon and a $4 measuring tape than using the "alignment" gauge HF is selling.

benhogan · #3 10-20-2010, 02:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike D

When you go to Subway, get the "double meat - double cheese" 12 incher and drag it through the garden. To heck with eating healthy!

You'd be better off going to a hardware store, buying a 6' 1"X1" for a couple of bucks, a crayon and a $4 measuring tape than using the "alignment" gauge HF is selling.

hmmmm... I like your idea. Could you post a procedure?

The nice thing about it is it is cheap and you can always undo whatever changes you make.

MTI · #4 10-20-2010, 02:37 PM

Don't most Mercedes require a spreader bar for alignment jobs?

rs899 · #5 10-20-2010, 02:49 PM

I have just scribed a line that I painted on the face of the tire, then measured front and back. That contraption looks like it would be influenced by the tire sidewall, which may not be perfectly true.

4x4_Welder · #6 10-20-2010, 07:24 PM

That's funny- I have Courser A/Ts on a set of rims out back too-

It would work better if you made a curved tooth on the end of it to contact the rim edge instead. Definitely the two-person way to do it though. I'd rather use a tape and painted line. I've used the tread itself as well, working on heavy highway trucks. Usually the tread on the steer tires is dead straight.

layback40 · #7 10-20-2010, 07:47 PM

Looks like an expensive replacement for a tape measure.

Stretch · #8 10-21-2010, 03:11 AM

I have one!

I have found it to be as useful as a hand brake on a canoe...
The problem I had with it is that

1) It is pretty flimsy
2) You the scale on mine is marked in inches NOT degrees
3) The bit that you rub up against the tyre is difficult to align properly - so you can easily get a false reading. (It would be better if it was modified to bridge across the rim rather than the tyre - but I couldn't be bothered with it)

See:-

How I adjusted the toe in / out, camber and caster on my W123 300D

For how I ended up doing it!

Mike D · #9 10-21-2010, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by benhogan

hmmmm... I like your idea. Could you post a procedure?

The nice thing about it is it is cheap and you can always undo whatever changes you make.

Well, you drive to the sandwich shop and then you go to the counter.....

Nah, jack up the car so the wheels spin, use the crayon to mark the center of the tires by rotating them holding the crayon to the center, lower the car, roll it back and forth a few times to get the suspension back into place, drive a nail partially into the 1"X 1", leaving enough room to stretch the tape, align the nail with one of the crayon marks, measure to the other crayon mark, move the rig to the other side of the tires, repeat and calculate the difference. You want between 1/8" - 1/4" toed IN. It's a rough gauge but certainly more accurate as the HF junk.

Stretch · #10 10-21-2010, 10:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike D

Well, you drive to the sandwich shop and then you go to the counter.....

Nah, jack up the car so the wheels spin, use the crayon to mark the center of the tires by rotating them holding the crayon to the center, lower the car, roll it back and forth a few times to get the suspension back into place, drive a nail partially into the 1"X 1", leaving enough room to stretch the tape, align the nail with one of the crayon marks, measure to the other crayon mark, move the rig to the other side of the tires, repeat and calculate the difference. You want between 1/8" - 1/4" toed IN. It's a rough gauge but certainly more accurate as the HF junk.

That's what the gauge does too - but with out having to jack up the car. You could modify Mike D's suggestion by scrapping the chalk bit, attaching some wood (length greater than wheel + tyre diameter) to the side of both front wheels and measure front and rear of the wheels...

Unfortunately for case of a W123, W124, and a W126 (and possibly more) neither of these methods comply with the FSM that says to adjust toe in / out you should apply a pre-load force to the front wheels.

Mike D · #11 10-21-2010, 11:45 AM

Nope, wood on the outside won't work. Radial tires bulge unevenly beyond the actual rims and the true center of the tires.

Can't use chalk. It rubs and smears when you do the back and forth bit, which if done properly will restore the "pre-load" to its correct amount.

The advantage of this method over the HF thingie is you now have a crayon for graffiti, a tape measure for figuring out how long it will take you and a board to beat yourself over the head with when you figure out how much easier it would have been simply to take the car to an alignment shop, where you could pop next door to have that sub sandwich along with a refreshing beverage.

lutzTD · #12 10-21-2010, 12:11 PM

I have a couple of 1x1 square tubes I bungee to the outside of the tire, then you can hang a tape on one side and measure to the other. this is all I have ever done for my jeep. for the mercedes I would space it to the wheel lip, but I usually get that one done at the shop. they didnt do a great job last time so I may be trying soon just as a check. the last time when I got it home the tie rods were not lock nutted

Stretch · #13 10-21-2010, 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike D

Nope, wood on the outside won't work. Radial tires bulge unevenly beyond the actual rims and the true center of the tires.

Can't use chalk. It rubs and smears when you do the back and forth bit, which if done properly will restore the "pre-load" to its correct amount.

The advantage of this method over the HF thingie is you now have a crayon for graffiti, a tape measure for figuring out how long it will take you and a board to beat yourself over the head with when you figure out how much easier it would have been simply to take the car to an alignment shop, where you could pop next door to have that sub sandwich along with a refreshing beverage.

So could you do it if you had extension blocks on your bit of wood so that you made contact with just the rim - removing the tyre from the measurement?

Sorry LutzTD I've just read your post - so I guess spacers to the rims do work then?

t walgamuth · #14 10-22-2010, 12:08 AM

You want between 1/8" - 1/4" toed IN.

That's way to much toe in on a benz. More like none or 1/16" is what you want.

!/4" will be about right for a '65 caddy running bias ply tires!

Mike D · #15 10-22-2010, 08:15 AM

I stand corrected. Tom is right. The specs I were referring to actually are degrees not inches.