Thought I'd share my little effort of yesterday. I aligned my front wheels! It needed doing. After new ball joints and steering arms were fitted recently the steering in my DS23, the car felt vague, particularly in corners.
*The above pic was not the result of the new parts. It's just me playing silly buggers!*
I originally had an appointment for a wheel alignment at a tyre shop that I have used several times in recent years and even recommended to others, but their appointment system is just hopeless these days. I waited forty five minutes the other day only to be told that they would have to re-book me for some other day...! So I decided to look at my options.
Fortunately, I recalled hearing that the CCC of NSW had an alignment kit and after a few chats with DS and the Club Treasurer, I collected it on Saturday. So Sunday's job was a wheel alignment which I did in my car port.
It's an interesting bit of kit (four blocks of timber, two planks, a couple of G clamps, one aluminium bar and a couple of brackets), designed and constructed by an ingenious club member. It doesn't look like much but there's no disputing that it did everything that was required of it.
As far as a wheel alignment for a DS is concerned there's only one adjustment that people seem to talk about. Basically you align one wheel against the other by winding an adjusting collar in or out. The car needs to be running so it maintains ride height and you just wind the collar in or out as required and compare the width between the planks at two points until you achieve what you need.
Typically, this job took a lot longer than I'd anticipated (like most jobs when it's me on the tools!). Basically I suffered two set backs and both took some time to sort out. I had been warned about one of them and the other was my mistake, so there weren't any surprises really.
My first measurement showed 30mm toe out before I adjusted anything. I needed 2-4mm toe in.
I adjusted it in as far as it would go and then ran out of adjustment. The arm needed to be a few millimetres shorter and had to be cut (my parts supplier had mentioned this could happen). Fortunately XM Mechanic and XM Driver happened to pop by just as I made this discovery and it was quickly established that the arm wasn't going to be cut any time soon with any of the tools in my garage so we popped it off the car and ran it around to their place where Garth honed it down for me. Thanks Garth!
I went home and got back to work. I completed all my adjustments and reinstated all the bits that I had removed for access when I realised one of the clamps that locks the collar in place was not where it was meant to be and there was no way to reinstate it without losing my adjustments and basically pulling every bloody thing out that I had just put back in. $#%@!!!
Anyway, I pulled it all down and reinstated everything as it should be and made my adjustments, then took the car for a quick run when I finished and then re-checked my work. All good!
*The above pic was not the result of the new parts. It's just me playing silly buggers!*
I originally had an appointment for a wheel alignment at a tyre shop that I have used several times in recent years and even recommended to others, but their appointment system is just hopeless these days. I waited forty five minutes the other day only to be told that they would have to re-book me for some other day...! So I decided to look at my options.
Fortunately, I recalled hearing that the CCC of NSW had an alignment kit and after a few chats with DS and the Club Treasurer, I collected it on Saturday. So Sunday's job was a wheel alignment which I did in my car port.
It's an interesting bit of kit (four blocks of timber, two planks, a couple of G clamps, one aluminium bar and a couple of brackets), designed and constructed by an ingenious club member. It doesn't look like much but there's no disputing that it did everything that was required of it.
As far as a wheel alignment for a DS is concerned there's only one adjustment that people seem to talk about. Basically you align one wheel against the other by winding an adjusting collar in or out. The car needs to be running so it maintains ride height and you just wind the collar in or out as required and compare the width between the planks at two points until you achieve what you need.
Typically, this job took a lot longer than I'd anticipated (like most jobs when it's me on the tools!). Basically I suffered two set backs and both took some time to sort out. I had been warned about one of them and the other was my mistake, so there weren't any surprises really.
My first measurement showed 30mm toe out before I adjusted anything. I needed 2-4mm toe in.
I adjusted it in as far as it would go and then ran out of adjustment. The arm needed to be a few millimetres shorter and had to be cut (my parts supplier had mentioned this could happen). Fortunately XM Mechanic and XM Driver happened to pop by just as I made this discovery and it was quickly established that the arm wasn't going to be cut any time soon with any of the tools in my garage so we popped it off the car and ran it around to their place where Garth honed it down for me. Thanks Garth!
I went home and got back to work. I completed all my adjustments and reinstated all the bits that I had removed for access when I realised one of the clamps that locks the collar in place was not where it was meant to be and there was no way to reinstate it without losing my adjustments and basically pulling every bloody thing out that I had just put back in. $#%@!!!
Anyway, I pulled it all down and reinstated everything as it should be and made my adjustments, then took the car for a quick run when I finished and then re-checked my work. All good!