will rear alignment cause the ujoints to bind?
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Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 68
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From: Covington Georgia
will rear alignment cause the ujoints to bind?
I have another post earleir this evening about driveline vibration and read the one about the 77 runing the car on jacks it said the ujoints will bind. I set the smart struts to the same length as the original struts and have not adjusted them. the wheels lean in at the top quite a bit, read alot, 2" between top and bottom of the tire. I am going to adjust the struts in to see is I can get the alignment close before having it professionally aligned. would being this far out cause a severe vibration from the ujoints binding?
Le Mans Master
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 5,000
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From: Minneapolis, Mn USA
Use a torpedo level to get your rear camber as close to zero as possible. If you have to fall to one side of zero (level), fall to the negative side.
The cool thing about adjustable struts is the ease of adjustment procedure.
I put my rear wheels down on snowmobile dollys so they are fully movable and make the camber bar adjustments with the weight of the car on the rear wheels. Use the short level on the rim lip to get a reading and adjust away.
Did you do anything that would affect your rear toe, such as new trailing arms with new bushings, or new side yokes?
The cool thing about adjustable struts is the ease of adjustment procedure.
I put my rear wheels down on snowmobile dollys so they are fully movable and make the camber bar adjustments with the weight of the car on the rear wheels. Use the short level on the rim lip to get a reading and adjust away.
Did you do anything that would affect your rear toe, such as new trailing arms with new bushings, or new side yokes?
Burning Brakes
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 805
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From: Naperville Illinois
joepcad, did you do all the work yourself or have someone else do it? Based on my experience rebuilding the rear half of my car, I wouldn't trust a shop without C3 experience to do it. There are a lot of things to watch out for! If you did it yourself and you know everything is within specs, then I would start by checking the toe. There are a couple of excellent posts on doing the rear alignment yourself, if you search this forum. If you're confident the alignment is good, then you need to put the rear on stands and have someone rotate the driveshaft while you try to locate the problem.
Good luck and let us know what happens.
Thread Starter
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Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 68
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From: Covington Georgia
the wheel alignment fixed the vibration. the top of the tires leaned in about 2" from the bottom. I am impressed with the smart struts, they were easy. we still have not gotten the tires straight up and down. we adjusted it three times and rolled it out on the drive way and back each time and it looked real close so we took it for a test drive and the vibration was gone. that was a relief. But the tires looked like they were not the same as the way it was in the driveway. We are going to adjust them again, see how close we can get them
We had replaced the rear suspension, I did post that earlier. we did all the work ourselves, my son and I. we did most of it the hard way.
We had replaced the rear suspension, I did post that earlier. we did all the work ourselves, my son and I. we did most of it the hard way.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 805
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From: Naperville Illinois
It's satisfying, cheaper, and you know it's done right...
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Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 68
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From: Covington Georgia
we saved a bundle. it all started with a bad wheelbearing. the dealer wanted 1000.00 to do one wheel bearing. 2600.00 to do both and ujoints on the half shafts. although they were robbing me on the ujoints. they had them for 145 (choke) dollars EACH. I have not added it all up, but I bet I don't have 2600.00 replacing the entire rear suspension. and yes it was satisfying, there was celebration when we set it back on the ground
