It's best to arrive at the shop with alignment in the ballpark.
Caster and camber are highly interactive on this vehicle, ie you loosen
the upper A-frame mounts and wiggle everthing around to change both
settings. If they are 'way off, you're far less likely to get a
satisfactory result from some guy who's used to just setting the
toe-in.

Do you change your own oil? Some of us have curiousity that goes a
little further

Martin

JR North wrote:
> Geezus Christ, go get it aligned, cheapskate
> JR
> Dweller in the cellar
> and next time, buy a Ford
>
> Martin wrote:
> > I recently replaced upper ball joints on a '96 Dodge 3500 (1-ton) van.
> > This vehicle uses pressed-in ball joints, and I replaced them with a
> > standard C-frame tool. After a few months, one of the ball joints
> > backed itself out (this is a poor design, IMO). I pressed it back in,
> > and tack-welded it in a few spots. So far, it's holding just fine.
> >
> > In order to do the weld, I removed the upper A-frame. Of course, I
> > didn't think to mark it's position (uses no shims, just slotted bolt
> > holes to adjust caster/camber) until I'd already loosened the bolts and
> > let things shift.
> >
> > I'd like to get the truck properly in alignment. If that's not
> > possible, at least driveably close until I buy new tires and have a
> > shop fine-tune it.
> >
> > I think I can measure camber with a plumb bob, and toe-in's a
> > no-brainer, but how in the devil can I measure caster?
> >
> > Also, is there an online reference where I can find the alignment specs
> > for my vehicle?
> >
> > best regards,
> >
> > Martin
> >
>
>
> --
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