Wheel cribs/stands for alignment

[JOKER M1]

I will be making some wheel cribs/stands when I do my alignment, plan on only making them tall enough so I can easily access for adjustments. I want to make them long enough to roll the car and settle the adjustments. My question is how much do you feel the car should roll for this purpose, I will also mention that I’ll have something under each tire/wheel to aid in movement to help settle the adjustments.

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[Quik5oh]

Great questions... Interested to read the replies. I've used 2x10s (4 foot long pieces) stepped and stacked but the height isn't optimal, but it works in a frustrating way.

 

[GTP]

To save yourself some trouble, you are welcome to borrow mine, plus my string alignment kit. If you want to build a set, I posted plans for mine in the DIY forum.

 

[Dana Pants]

3 feet is definitely fine, as this is about all I roll-out in my garage.

The car has to be lifted "to the moon" if you want to put a torque wrench and/or 2 foot breaker bar on the rear toe adjustments and not make yourself crazy.

People say they can adjust rear camber with the car loaded, but I don't believe them, as I have only been able to access these adjusters with the wheels off. This results in using some math to create a relationship between the measurements hanging and the measurements loaded. Rear camber is definitely the worst adjustment in this car.

Good luck and be sure to post some after pics.

 

[DaveR.PP2]

I'm fortunate to have a 2 post lift using 50 year old Snap-on turn tables for front and Longacre tables for rear sitting on steel stands I fabricated that are 15 inches high. I also use a Longacre Digital Level system for setting camber and checking caster (no adjustment). The rear plates are also sliders and can rotate but don't have a degree indicator I just drop the car on them set at zero (there's 2 pins All camber changes to rear are performed with the Longacre DigitaI Level after removing the pins so that suspension load weight moves the table outward as you bounce the car by hand to let the suspension settle).

For setting toe I use a toe kit from Alignment Simple Solutions which is economical and practical. I also have Longacre toe-in plates or I use the long toe-in gauge which has a scribe that you touch the outside of the tires to measure toe (I bring those last two gauges with me when I'm at the track and/or making minor adjustments).

I use Vorshlag camber plates, BMR rear camber stuff and Cortex rear toe adjusters and even all my bars have Cortex adjustable heim balls because I wanted full flexibility in making suspension adjustments. The PP2 FACTORY suspension with Magneride and the factory calibration and springs work absolutely fine for my purposes.

Home alignments require some knowledge and skills and some basically decent equipment. I'm 15 inches off the floor and I can move around easily under the car to make adjustments. Kind of a challenge using jacks etc. To lift car otherwise.

I've been doing this stuff for lets just say a few years now. This is what my deal in alignments has brought me to for what it's worth.

There are good race shops and even franchised alignment shops with excellent equipment worth paying them to do provided the guy doing it is experienced and allows you to "supervise" the work and be there. Inexperienced people tend to irritate me and it's my ass in the car at 140mph+ and I'm setting up for the next turn. I need to know the car is ready because these cars have a threshold that far exceeds my capabilities as a driver. I want all the responsibility on me and not the car so alignments like everything else are very very important let alone every suspension component.

 

[JOKER M1]

3 feet is definitely fine, as this is about all I roll-out in my garage.

The car has to be lifted "to the moon" if you want to put a torque wrench and/or 2 foot breaker bar on the rear toe adjustments and not make yourself crazy.

People say they can adjust rear camber with the car loaded, but I don't believe them, as I have only been able to access these adjusters with the wheels off. This results in using some math to create a relationship between the measurements hanging and the measurements loaded. Rear camber is definitely the worst adjustment in this car.

Good luck and be sure to post some after pics.

Thanks for the reply, I was thinking around 2’ so I may go between those two numbers. Also I will have something under the wheels to help them slide along with the rolling. I have steeda camber & toe arms so that will make it easier to adjust and not deal with the high torque numbers

 

[DaveR.PP2]

I will be making some wheel cribs/stands when I do my alignment, plan on only making them tall enough so I can easily access for adjustments. I want to make them long enough to roll the car and settle the adjustments. My question is how much do you feel the car should roll for this purpose, I will also mention that I’ll have something under each tire/wheel to aid in movement to help settle the adjustments.

Minimally I as noted in your thread prefer a stand height of 15" and the "roll off / roll on" portion should be at least 1.5 times the width of your plate. In other words you fab a stand that is T shaped from the top view, wide enough to preference and safety and block by welding tube channel or angle iron as stops at each end. I would also strongly advise you use at the legs welded on threaded rod adjusters with lock nuts of sufficient diameter material so that your stand sits perfectly level and all stands are adjusted so that they're all at the same plane and level before dropping the car on them.

So optimally you want to roll the car back to the rear but also it's good to roll it forward and back on the plate to check that your settings are solid. On a "loose - nothing is tightened" scenario when you back the suspension off the plate under load on the stand the camber will or should slide to more negative. And conversely rolling forward off the turntable plate an "unlocked up" say control arms will make camber go positive. I always do my camber setting then tighten up everything to spec and roll back and forth checking camber when wheel is centered on the turntable to make sure there's no change to my setting.

But I'd fab up a T style stand if I were you.

 

[JOKER M1]

I'm fortunate to have a 2 post lift using 50 year old Snap-on turn tables for front and Longacre tables for rear sitting on steel stands I fabricated that are 15 inches high. I also use a Longacre Digital Level system for setting camber and checking caster (no adjustment). The rear plates are also sliders and can rotate but don't have a degree indicator I just drop the car on them set at zero (there's 2 pins All camber changes to rear are performed with the Longacre DigitaI Level after removing the pins so that suspension load weight moves the table outward as you bounce the car by hand to let the suspension settle).

For setting toe I use a toe kit from Alignment Simple Solutions which is economical and practical. I also have Longacre toe-in plates or I use the long toe-in gauge which has a scribe that you touch the outside of the tires to measure toe (I bring those last two gauges with me when I'm at the track and/or making minor adjustments).

I use Vorshlag camber plates, BMR rear camber stuff and Cortex rear toe adjusters and even all my bars have Cortex adjustable heim balls because I wanted full flexibility in making suspension adjustments. The PP2 FACTORY suspension with Magneride and the factory calibration and springs work absolutely fine for my purposes.

Home alignments require some knowledge and skills and some basically decent equipment. I'm 15 inches off the floor and I can move around easily under the car to make adjustments. Kind of a challenge using jacks etc. To lift car otherwise.

I've been doing this stuff for lets just say a few years now. This is what my deal in alignments has brought me to for what it's worth.

There are good race shops and even franchised alignment shops with excellent equipment worth paying them to do provided the guy doing it is experienced and allows you to "supervise" the work and be there. Inexperienced people tend to irritate me and it's my ass in the car at 140mph+ and I'm setting up for the next turn. I need to know the car is ready because these cars have a threshold that far exceeds my capabilities as a driver. I want all the responsibility on me and not the car so alignments like everything else are very very important let alone every suspension component.

Minimally I as noted in your thread prefer a stand height of 15" and the "roll off / roll on" portion should be at least 1.5 times the width of your plate. In other words you fab a stand that is T shaped from the top view, wide enough to preference and safety and block by welding tube channel or angle iron as stops at each end. I would also strongly advise you use at the legs welded on threaded rod adjusters with lock nuts of sufficient diameter material so that your stand sits perfectly level and all stands are adjusted so that they're all at the same plane and level before dropping the car on them.

So optimally you want to roll the car back to the rear but also it's good to roll it forward and back on the plate to check that your settings are solid. On a "loose - nothing is tightened" scenario when you back the suspension off the plate under load on the stand the camber will or should slide to more negative. And conversely rolling forward off the turntable plate an "unlocked up" say control arms will make camber go positive. I always do my camber setting then tighten up everything to spec and roll back and forth checking camber when wheel is centered on the turntable to make sure there's no change to my setting.

But I'd fab up a T style stand if I were you.

Dave, thanks for both replies, too much to take in right now but I’ll go over them this evening.

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