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240 Camber alignment tool #5038

malloy1

malloy1

Active member
Joined
Nov 9, 2003
Location
Denver CO
The alignment shops never do the camber adjustments, and always says that they can't do it. I need to get my 240 in for an alignment, and want to bring a tool in for them to do the camber. The car is a '82 260 Diesel that was converted over to gas system (used a wrecked '86 240-pretty much a '86 240 in a '82 body). I converted the front springs to the 240 springs, but I'm sure the alignment is way off for many reasons.

Has anybody just made the tool or can tell me where to pick one up?

Paul
 
The alignment shops are just lame. Most alignment racks have a turn plate under the front wheels. The turn plate is supported by it's own jack. They can lower the front wheels. You can loosen the strut mountings and push the adjustment to where you want the camber. Then lock down the mounting and they raise the jack to support the wheels again.

This is what I did when I had my car aligned at NTB. NTB also allows customers in the shop so you can talk to the tech doing the alignment and do the adjustment with them. Try to find a NTB or a shop that will let you do it. Of course you can also do that same thing at home and then see what the measurement is when you get there. You don't need the Volvo tool to do the adjustment. With the bolts loose you can move them or get a small piece of wood and a hammer as a persuader.
 
At the shop i work at we use a circular peice of plate steel with holes drilled in it to fit over the bolts with a long handle on it for leverage. Works like a charm and most likely took about 20 mins to make.

I can upload pics tomorrow if you want. Gotta learn sometime.
 
On a 200 series?, just jack up the front end to take off some load, back off the bolts and push it all the way in, do it up again, drop it back down and 'then' take it in for your alignment.

You will want ever bit of camber the stock system will give you anyway, so just do it yourself, and let the shop set the toe, it's what I did on my old 244DL.
 
dl242gt said:
The alignment shops are just lame. Most alignment racks have a turn plate under the front wheels. The turn plate is supported by it's own jack. They can lower the front wheels. You can loosen the strut mountings and push the adjustment to where you want the camber. Then lock down the mounting and they raise the jack to support the wheels again.

This is what I did when I had my car aligned at NTB. NTB also allows customers in the shop so you can talk to the tech doing the alignment and do the adjustment with them. Try to find a NTB or a shop that will let you do it. Of course you can also do that same thing at home and then see what the measurement is when you get there. You don't need the Volvo tool to do the adjustment. With the bolts loose you can move them or get a small piece of wood and a hammer as a persuader.
Click to expand...

Big O (I guess it's a sister company of NTB) did my last alignment, and I specifically ask if they could do the camber adjustment, and they said they could. When I picked up the car, they went over the alignment specs, and guess what they said -> the readings for camber was out of spec and they couldn't adjust it because they didn't have the tool to do it. They really didn't care what they said before they did the alignment, it was $50 to put it on the machine (and they really didn't care how easy it was to more the top of the strut when you jack up the frontend-they sure wasn't going to mess with it). I'm not planning taking it back to them, and I want the tool so the next shop can do the job right.

Paul
 
J.Grady said:
At the shop i work at we use a circular peice of plate steel with holes drilled in it to fit over the bolts with a long handle on it for leverage. Works like a charm and most likely took about 20 mins to make.

I can upload pics tomorrow if you want. Gotta learn sometime.
Click to expand...

Please post some pictures. I've used the Volvo tool before, and didn't think it would be that difficult to fab one up.


5038CamberTool.jpg
 
You can make that tool very easy, I made one. I have the Volvo tool too.
 
GTupperstrutplate.jpg


I have a set of rusty upper strut plates that I thought I would someday sandblast and paint, but sure looks like it would be easy to use one to make the camber tool.

Paul
 
You really don't need that tool. If you have a jack at home to pick up the car. A hammer, wood block and a 13mm rachet. You can move the adjustment all the way in as Bishop and I suggested. Then just go get the toe set. You don't get much camber anyway with the stock slots. So DIY. That's what this board is all about. You can do it.
 
dl242gt said:
You really don't need that tool. If you have a jack at home to pick up the car. A hammer, wood block and a 13mm rachet. You can move the adjustment all the way in as Bishop and I suggested. Then just go get the toe set. You don't get much camber anyway with the stock slots. So DIY. That's what this board is all about. You can do it.
Click to expand...

I thought you were telling me to tell the alignment shop to use a piece of wood and a hammer.

I got it now! -> Adjust the camber all the way in (negative camber) because the limited amount of camber adjustments on the 240, I can't over do it.

Thanks!

Paul
 
I use a really expensive tool to adjust camber on a 240, actually it's 2 tools. A hammer and a screwdriver. Just beat the damn thing till it slides where you want it to be. The factory tool doesn't even work that well.
 
Jack up the corner and the strut mount will rotate without any need for hammers.
IIRC Towery pushed the mounts to maximum camber and then had it checked at an alignment shop and the camber was identical. Of course this depends on the car, if the frame is tweaked at all, and I am not sure if the manufacturing tolerances were very close for that. Anyhow, certainly acceptable t-bricks practice to just push them all the way in and call it good. You can also do toe by yourself by finding the mid point between the a-arm bolts on the crossmember, and doing some creative work with a tape measure. It's as exact as you want to make it....
edit: Well toe you might have find the centerline by finding the midpoint of the car somewhere else too and snapping a line...but my point is, it's certainly can be DIY.
 
i'll never forget getting one of the 265's on the rack and the alignment tech telling me camber wasn't directly adjustable, and those dimples on the strut tower were spot welds holding it. i laughed for about a week!
 
As an employee of NTB, we always adjust the cambers of any 240's we get, its expected of us. Big O is not a sister company of NTB. We are owned by TLC corporation and the only companies we are affiliated with are Tire Kingdom and Merchant Tires. We don't have any "special" tools to adjust the camber, we simply take an air chisel that wacks the camber over until it's in the right spot. Simple and effective :)
 
why don't you just use a bulldozer, then

Patdon10 said:
As an employee of NTB, we always adjust the cambers of any 240's we get, its expected of us. Big O is not a sister company of NTB. We are owned by TLC corporation and the only companies we are affiliated with are Tire Kingdom and Merchant Tires. We don't have any "special" tools to adjust the camber, we simply take an air chisel that wacks the camber over until it's in the right spot. Simple and effective :)
Click to expand...

:omg: thanks for the warning :roll:
 
Patdon10 said:
As an employee of NTB, we always adjust the cambers of any 240's we get, its expected of us. Big O is not a sister company of NTB. We are owned by TLC corporation and the only companies we are affiliated with are Tire Kingdom and Merchant Tires. We don't have any "special" tools to adjust the camber, we simply take an air chisel that wacks the camber over until it's in the right spot. Simple and effective :)
Click to expand...

This isn't your company (NTB)?

http://www.ntb.com/StoreSearchResults.aspx?addr=&st=&city=&zip=80601&lat=&lng=&miles=15


"Sorry, there are no store locations
within 150 miles of your location

Please try our sister company Big O Tires"
 
tjanson said:
IIRC Towery pushed the mounts to maximum camber and then had it checked at an alignment shop and the camber was identical.
Click to expand...
Identical, as in both sides were the same? Not quite. One side was +0.3? camber and the other side was -0.3? camber. Same number, though. ;-)

Now I'm using camber plates and 2.5" ID springs with the top pushed all the way in and I've got -1.4? camber at stock ride height on my daily driver.
 
That was on my daily driver at stock ride height. My other 240 was able to get -0.7? and -0.8? camber with the mounts pushed in when using Jamex lowering springs.

Bne's 242 Turbo, which had been in a front end accident at some point, had something like -1.3? and 0.6? with the mounts pushed in.
 
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