

| Subject: | Regarding alignment.. |
| From: | Don Hanson |
| Date: | Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:13:15 -0800 |
For a quick and dirty alignment, it's easy to do yourself with no special tools. At least getting the wheels pointed correctly. Here's how I did it at the racetrack on my previous ride: Get a couple of straight pieces of particle board (or equivalent) Make em about 8 or 10 inches wide and a little longer than the diameter of your tires. put a few holes for bungee cords..these will go around behind the tire or into the wheel spokes or wherever you can to hold the boards against the wheel, on edge, with the center of the board's length in line with the hub's center. You may have to space the board out with some blocks so that it clears the tire and only contacts the wheel rim..Make sure the board is laying flat against the wheel, one on each rim.. Then just measure across the vehicle under, by hooking a tape on the board across the van and measuring to the other board..Do this in front of the tire, then behind and you have found out your Toe In or Toe out.(the difference between the board ends as measured in front vs rear)..adjust the tie rod(s) and you can bring the toe to where it needs to be... The other settings, like caster and camber...dunno on a vanagon, haven't done mine yet. But the toe in, you could do in about 20 minutes..When you make an adjustment to the tie rods, you must roll the van forward and back to allow the wheels to relax into their new alignment. Toe in/out seems the most important in how the vehicle steers and how the tires wear. You'll probably find the factory specs in the Bently book. It is not rocket science, despite how they make it look at the fancy shops with all those lasers and mirrors and racks, etc...Many racers do it with strings and stuff and get remarkably good results...in fact, I preferred to do my whole P-car rather than have a shop do it. A very slight change in the alignment really affected the handling..Learning the "art" of suspension was quite interesting and rewarding. Don Hanson
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