spc alignment toe adapter question

[Maniak]

Anyone have, or have access to, or even seen the spc toe adapter used on the spc alignment tools?

What I'm trying to find out is how long are the toe pieces. In other words, will the standard toe adapters work with 33" tall tires?

If so, I can get the spc 91000 with toe gauge adapter. If not, I would have to get the spc 91025 which will work up to 44" tire which means it much bigger than I really need.

My goal is to be able to set the toe on the honda (25" tires) all the way up to the X (33" tires for now, maybe 35" later).

If we get the 91025 I can just cut more notches into the toe piece BUT it cost $100-$150 more than the normal 91000, even after adding the toe adapter to the 91000.

My other thought was to buy the 91000 with toe adapter, and then just make my own longer tow adapter out of aluminum angle. I'd prefer to not have to do that, but I could...

In case you don't know what I'm talking about. Here is a pic of the 91025 I took from this alignment article.. http://www.4wdmechanix.com/Routine-...It-Yourself'-Wheel-Alignment-&-Equipment.html

~Mark

 

[Maniak]

*bump*

 

[corkey]

just a guess but judging off the pictures they might be about 16-18 inches long,

 

[BobWiersema]

Mark,

Did you buy that tool yet?
That is on my list for this summer, just wondering. Also I would think you could extend the tow adapter with some angel iron if you had to, so long as you kept the length equal on both sides.

Bob

 

[Maniak]

I bought the SPC alignment tool without the toe adapters. There really was no discount to get the toe adapter and I figued if I can extend them, I can make my own..

I did throw it on the mustang which I know has its alignment out and I was able to tell it is 1/2 degree + camber on 1 side and 1/2 degree - camber on the other side.

The bubble gauge on it isn't the most accurate to read, but it was > $100 less than the digital gauge kind.

Once I get the new axle on the back of the mustang I'll attempt to reset the alignment then too. I have a full set of struts/shocks I can throw on it (steeda) which I'm pretty sure will throw the alignment way out of whack BUT, I took 3 days off to do the axle and a timing belt so I figure I should have plenty of time to play with the suspension too.

~Mark

 

[BobWiersema]

So whats your opinion on the Fastrax tool? Worth the money?
I was looking at another one that was almost identical except it had three bubble gauges, Camber, positive caster and negative caster. Searching around today I cant find the link again, it was a blue tool and I cant remember the make. If you have seen it, please post a link. As far as toe adjustment, I wasn't going to bother with that adapter, I was just going to use the string on jack stands method.

Bob

 

[Maniak]

It Definitely will show the Camber easily.. and it is adjustable for a non flat floor..

The Caster is easy to check too. You set it to 0, install it, turn the wheel 15 degrees to the right, reset it to 0, turn it 15 degrees to the left of center and it will show you the caster...

It has cuts on the end so you can know where 15 degrees is..

Is it worth it?? After my experiences with getting alignments, yes.. No place in town that I have tried can do an alignemnt worth a damn. They just do what the computer says and don't really understand suspension.

There is only 1 person I trust to do my alignments and he doesn't "do" anymore. .He teaches now, so he can't do my alignments anywhere.. But he can come down to our house and help..

I guess there is a 2nd person I trust to do the alignment... Me

BTW.. I did look at the longacre alignment tools too. It was $100 more ($251 at summitracing, but it was a digital gauge instead of a bubble . I don't think I need to be "that" exact. What is more important to me is getting both sides the same..

~Mark

 

[Maniak]

I used it on the Mustang today...

I used a piece of angle aluminum as the toe adapter. I'll make some pins so its easier to setup next time.

We set the Camber to "around" .5 degrees (negative). One side is right at .5, the other is slightly less.

Here is is the drivers side.. Its slightly less than .5*.

Driver's side Camber after adjusting by maniak_az, on Flickr


Here is the entire contraption while we were checking Toe. We tried the string method and the tape measure method. It appears the thrust angle is slightly off, so the string method doesn't really work well. On top of that, the track width of the front and rear isn't the same..

Checking the toe - pic 2 by maniak_az, on Flickr

I'm sure I'll get faster as time goes on.. But this time around it took about 3 hours. Of course, that was us trying to make sure we were doing things right every time. I also had to take the car out after setting the Camber on each side since I didn't have plates yet. We will make a set tomorrow as we try to set the alignment on an f-150 with TTB.

~Mark