The car has new trailing arm bushings and adjustable strut rods with heim joints. I was really excited about getting the car aligned and one step closer to being back; however, we all know these old cars always have hidden surprises. For some reason there is not enough adjustment for the left rear toe. There is no problem with the right rear toe or camber. The alignment shop said they could actually bend the trailing arm with a port a power but they said that could cost me $200 to $300 dollars because it is all a guessing game on bending it and could take them a few tries to get it right. Now to me that sounded like a Bubba fix but thought I would ask here if that is a common thing. I opted to just have them get it as close as possible and told them I would look at getting a bare trailing arm and transferring the parts from my current trailing arm and have them do the alignment at that time.

Has anyone here experienced this before and Is there anything I can do short of replacing the trailing arm.

 

Bending the arm is not the way to correct alignment.
What was the final setting?

 

Don't remember the setting was other than I was told it was 3/8th of an inch off and it will eat up the inside of my tires. Thinking about the car I can see the left quarter panel has been replaced. There is no frame damage but I suspect the trailing arm was bent in the accident.so I think the only real fix is to replace the trailing arm.

 

......and check the frame alignment regardless if it looks undamaged.

 

I have had new offset arms made wrong that would not align. Also know of frames being damaged. Bending the arm is not the way to do it but it has been done before. If the arm is usa made compared to imported it is less likely but the way to rule it out is to measure the arm offset from the pad to the bushing point. 1.900- 2.00" is where they should be. If outside of that spec it could be a bad arm, if in spec look to the frame for repair work done from impact or rot.

 

I would take this measurement to see how far its off.

The red line is a laser line mounted on the rear wheel. The idea is to have each wheel pointing to the same distance when compared to the front axle. Anything within 1-2 mm is very good.



And if you want to measure the total toe in you can do this like this.

If you require the TA Replacement then I would first try DIY Alignment method. If you can swap / replace a trailing arm, DIY alignment isn't out of reach.

Now if you have the alignment print out you should be able to reproduce the measurements via DIY. If you can learn DIY then you can also investigate what is the problem without a visit to the alignment shop each time.

My complete DIY Alignment can be found here.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...nt-method.html

 

There is no printout on this because the alignment shop is old school. The whole shop is like taking a step back in time we are talking about equipment from the early 60's. We are talking about lights reflecting on a magnetic whiteboard with a grid.

 

Here is a the place I took it to. https://www.google.com/maps/uv?pb=!1...oiowCnoECBQQAw

 

I remember those alignment machines, lol.

 

I would begin by investigating that possibility. MAYBE the shop suspected that, and meant that they wanted to bend it back to it's original shape?? However, if they're saying that you're off by 3/8", that's a LOT. You should have noticed that, BY EYE, from a mile away, even before you took the car apart and replaced the t/a bushings. Who did the bushing replacement? Maybe the t/a was twisted during that job?

I would hope that these "old schoolers" would know this, but when they back the car on to the alignment rack, to make the rear adjustments, the toe read-outs are "reversed" in that toe-in becomes toe-out, and vice versa.....

 

Well then I would confirm the alignment with DIY or take it to an alignment shop with current equipment and have them take measurement only.

My dealership charged me $30.00 for measurements only when I was working on my DIY process.

 

Yes, they knew that the car was backed on and they were explaining it to me. I understand toe and camber but they were talking about thrust and I am still unsure what that is referring to.

 

I replaced the bushings myself.. When I took the trailing at out the bushing fell out of the hole rather than me having to fight removing it like I did the right side. Nothing looked bent or twisted but then again I had not done one of these before. Then when I was installing the new bushings the outside bushing was able to be pushed in by hand without any effort. The inside bushing had to be pressed in. I did not have any experience with trailing arms before that and at that time I should have replaced it but after pressing and staking the bushing everything seemed well. Plus I took it to the alignment shop without any shims at all so I was unable to go by site. I really do not think there is any option but to replace the trailing arm. If this a twisted TA could it just be straightened and made to work, after all this is never going to be a daily driver just something I take out for a little cruise for a stress release.

Yes, they knew that the car was backed on and they were explaining it to me. I understand toe and camber but they were talking about thrust and I am still unsure what that is referring to. This is a very well known and respected place here in Hampton Roads. They have been in business for at least 30 years if not longer.

 

when I did my rear trailing arm's. mine were badly rusted and one had a crack. bought a pair of really nice used ones that were clean and straight. very inexpensive.
once one is bent, and then you bend it back.....
just how strong is it now? these things don't cost 200 bucks.
Replace it.

 

Without any shims in place, I hope that you didn't try to drive the car that way. The T/As would have been flopping all over the place, which could have bent the T/A, or at minimum, made the driving experience quite "interesting", to say the least. "Thrust Angle" is defined by the relationship between the front and rear axles. While modern alignment racks measure this, even on "fixed rear axle" cars, it's more critical on cars with IRS, as the rear ends are subject to changes in toe and camber.

Essentially, what you want is a "zero" thrust angle, which means the front and rear tires are perfectly perpendicular to each other, exclusive of the slight "toe-in" settings.

 

No the car was not driven without shims it was taken to the alignment shop on a trailer.

 

I had the exact same problem a few years ago. I cut the training arm maybe the width of a saw kerf, (on three sides) so the arm can be bent just a tad, and had it welded closed. Worked perfectly.

 

Is it possible to measure the trailing arm in the car? The shop I took it to does not do anything but alignments. They do not sell, replace parts or anything like that all they do is alignments. Most shops that do alignments do other work as well such as tires, brakes, and suspension work, maybe this place uses this as their up-sell to customers.

 

I think I will get a 2nd opinion before before going through all the work and expense of replacing the railing arm. Who knows maybe the old alignment rack needs to be aligned.

 

I used to live in Charlotte and had DUB inspect the car because of top door/fender gap problems. He spent a lot of time inspecting the car, took measurements, removes some plugs or caps in the door sills and put a screw driver in the opening and crawled under the car. He did not say a word during the entire inspection and I was expecting the worst. He said everything it all measured out as it should, explained the reason he put the screw driver in the door sills was a way to see if the body was in alignment with the frame. He said everything measured out correctly and told me the radiator support should be replaced and before putting the car back on the road the T/A bushings needed to be replaced, He did suggest a frame shop in Myrtle Beach If I wanted to have the frame checked but did not see a real need to do that. I really miss DUB, I know he could come off cocky, but nobody can deny he really does know his SHEET.