DIY budget 4-wheel alignment project. Update, done for under 20. Full write up!

I do my toe by screwing old head studs into one of the wheel bolt holes front and rear. My track width is the same front and rear but you can achieve this with different length bolts. String the fishing line between the heads of the bolts. Then you have a parallel (to the centre line) line at a fixed distance from the side of the car. Place a straight edge across the wheel and measure the distance between the line and the straight edge at the centre and the rim of the wheel.

Cost = 2 old head bolts from something, fishing line and a straight edge (i use a 600mm spirit level which also goes on to do my camber - see pic)



If you want a long straight stiff tube, search ebay for a windsurfing mast, you might find an old fibreglass one - they're worthless now. They are tapered though.

 

I tried a laser as well but found the fishing line much easier, also with the string box method you're getting 4 wheel alignment, one side might not be as accurate. Actually thinking about it i guess none of these methods really work well if the rear beam is not centred??

 

Yes, this is all about 4-wheel allignment.

Still yet to follow up the ideas posted on sourcing poles. Will check copper, but suspect not cheap.

 

Can you not just use some Ali tube? They even sell telescopic tubing which could be usefull for adjestment and storage.

 

That could be used (I assumed aluminium was more expensive), and indeed it's showing 12.79 for a 2 metre length of 1 inch, c/w 10.19 for 1.83m of B&Q 25mm steel.

Possible the de-luxe lightweight version? Telescopic would be good for storage, but I think that just adds further cost.

I could have had this made myself a while ago, so I might seem to be being a bit petty, but the main idea of the thread is to ensure I make this as ludicrously cheap as poss, for folk to then copy, whilst adhering to the user-friendly 'poles must be attached to the car' idea, as axle stands are just a complete pain

 

These conduit saddles look to be a handy way of supporting the pole:





Plastic ones: 53p for 2
Metal ones: 1.76 for 20

http://beta.screwfix.com/c/electrical-lighting/rigid-conduit/cat830584

Take the metal ones and then use two jubilee clips around that and the hanging brackets...

=> up/down + side-to-side adjustabilty sorted?

 

I was really hoping for an engineering drawing from Sir daved on this thread!

I suspect, as this is all straightforward gear, and does not involve lathes and **** clever stuff, that this is all a bit too Corsair []

 

Metal conduit looks thin on the ground from a quick scour? Looks like it's all gone plastic Anyone know the price for a couple of metres?

This tube is being returned. Superseded by the conduit hanger redesign

So 9.72 back in the kitty.

B&Q wardrobe rail on standby at 10.19 each.

Add 2 conduit hangars at 1.76 and, barring four jubilee clips, provisionally over the finishing line under budget at 45.52

 

Travis Perkins conduit, 10.01 incl VAT for 20mm dia, 3.75 metres.

Brings running total down to 35.15


But got a quote from a local electrical supplier:

20mm, 3.75m: 5.42, so 30.56 total
25mm, 3.75m: 7.91, so 33.05 total

"pricecrash.com"

Closing in, on win

 

Fishing line is currently on 'specials' at Lidl, btw. It was last week's offer, but they still had stock in my local one.

 

My thick wall overflow is 2.20 for 3mtr

 

has anyone looked at the smart strings website the are kind enough to have user manuals as downloads

thank you very much smartstring

 

$420 for smartstrings are they having a laugh?

 

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/pors...565-anyone-using-smart-strings-alignment.html

See the Cheap Strings on the porsche.

 

Hi Chris
rescued some lengths of metal conduit at work that were going in the skip, any good for your current budget progect ? Can deliver central London

 

Thanks Andy947 - pics edited in.

Thanks Razzer, that would be great.

Work in progress still on the design of the bumper hangers. I have a feeling the (expensive B&Q) hangers aren't quite going to do the job of holding things in place firmly, so I'm now on the lookout for a more generic easily obtainable L-bracket, which can be tailor folded to suit each application.

 

I`ve seen this method used quite a few times now. Dead simple and can be used by anyone.

I think the brackets holding the horizontal bars to the car need to be pretty robust, you don`t want the tightness of the `line` moving them.

Watching with interest.

 

Good thread this, I've been busy tracking mine up this weekend and took some snaps...



Here's a close up of the poles on the hooks, hooks were something like a pound for 4 from wilkos. poles were about 4 each I think. I've stuck self adhesive velcro on the bumpers and on the hooks so its really easy to attach and remove.



something I can definitely recommend is to put elastic on the end of the line to keep it taught. I've tied it in a loop so it can be quickly slipped over the pole, no nothing to be tied.



hope that helps

 

Good idea on the elastic. I was thinking of hanging the fishing weights / old driveshaft nuts over one end, ie tensioning with weight.

The West Surrey BMW car both had pre-looped strings, which were hooked over the end of each bar, intentionally short to create tension.

What I was thinking of doing was putting caps on the rods + screwing a self tapper not quite fully home. Then either:

- two loops can be used in each end of the string, behind the screw hreads
- one end can be looped behind a screw head, the line run behind the next screw thread, and elastic or fishing weight put on to create tension, al la:



A back pocket idea was to close the ends of the tube with wardrobe rail caps, keeping with the ethos of this thread (off shelf parts availability / not everyone has a welder). Hopefully similar caps exist for conduit, now that the wardrobe rail idea has been canned. Obviously to do this the bar length has to be absolutely identical, but this then means the strings go on, knowing straight away the bars are equidistant from each other. This means the 'box' is only adjusted by moving the positioning of the hangers on the car itself. This can alternatively be got round by getting the strings on the bar in the right places and painting or hacksawing lines in the bar. But I've decided what I prefer!

 

Good idea with the weights, hadn't thought of that. Hacksawing a groove to lay the string in would be good, plastic caps on the end are bound to have some dimensional tolerance or could move.

those conduit saddles look good as well, mines a bit heath robinson so I should redo it at some point. The poles work really well on those hooks , they slide really easily for adjustment.

Next think I might look at is slide plates to take the load off the steering and/or replacing the wheels with stands which would make camber setting much easier. You could also then take the toe measurements over a greater distance than the wheel rim which would give more accuracy.