Alignment kit?
- Thread starter Keith V
- Start date
I bought one of those kits and didn't like it. Expensive. The turn plates are heavy, the rubber non-skid (CPVC shower plan liner) wouldn't stay glued to the steel bottom plate no matter what glue I used, and the bottom plate would turn instead of just the upper plate. The frame standoffs are commercial retail shelving brackets with magnetic braces screwed on, again didn't like them.
My turn plates consist of layers of heavier plastic trash bags, 2 layers of scrap 1/4" melamine cabinet backs with plastic in between, you can use almost anything.
I use a laser level/pointer on top of a paint can or some such to get the laser line at frame level, measured off the frame front and back and adjusted the laser horizontally until the readings were the same. That's parallel to the frame and there's no string or standoffs to get in the way.
I repurposed a bracket out of scrap that mounts to the wheel and has a vertical flat plate that holds the camber/caster gauge. The 3 all-thread standoffs were measured with a micrometer to be uniform, and the fixed nuts have Loctite so they don't move - only the outermost clamping nut can be loosened so the bracket breaks down for easy storage.
Here is how I check and do my wheel alignment and can do all 6 wheels. I haven't come up with an easy way to check caster though.
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If it turns out like the rest of your projects, we might be looking at a usable tool at a reasonable price for the community.
