Going to align it myself
#21
02-02-2018, 06:33 PM
I am truly impressed how a simple things can keep You busy for weeks... 
You will not find misalignment doing visual inspection. That is why a laser machines were invented for. You have to hook up two laser transmitters that will emit the beam exactly in parallel to Your front rims. The distance between front and rear dots has to be the same (front wheels are in parallel). Now for adjusting the steering gear You'd need to set them forward - so You'd have to attach the ruler to the rear rims and check the distance where the dot lands.
Save Yourself that "star wars" job. It is not worth the efforts if You could schedule somewhere for alignment check for $50 or so.
@jone531
I don't want get paranoid fixing everything in my 18yo ride, neither have time for that. Old cars break (yeah, new ones too) and that's a fact. In some sense I can predict possible dangerous situation with every unnatural behavior of my ride. Then it's my call - either I do something with that, ask someone to do it for me or put myself on danger and face the consequences (btw. who's got the signature "You can avoid reality but You cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality"...?).
If it's 12:30 only with no strange, audible effects, no pulling aside, no visible damage - so let it be. I could possibly do the alignment check to feel better. Blazer is a lovely off road truck, can't be immobilized that easily!
You will not find misalignment doing visual inspection. That is why a laser machines were invented for. You have to hook up two laser transmitters that will emit the beam exactly in parallel to Your front rims. The distance between front and rear dots has to be the same (front wheels are in parallel). Now for adjusting the steering gear You'd need to set them forward - so You'd have to attach the ruler to the rear rims and check the distance where the dot lands.
Save Yourself that "star wars" job. It is not worth the efforts if You could schedule somewhere for alignment check for $50 or so.
@jone531
I don't want get paranoid fixing everything in my 18yo ride, neither have time for that. Old cars break (yeah, new ones too) and that's a fact. In some sense I can predict possible dangerous situation with every unnatural behavior of my ride. Then it's my call - either I do something with that, ask someone to do it for me or put myself on danger and face the consequences (btw. who's got the signature "You can avoid reality but You cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality"...?).
If it's 12:30 only with no strange, audible effects, no pulling aside, no visible damage - so let it be. I could possibly do the alignment check to feel better. Blazer is a lovely off road truck, can't be immobilized that easily!
#22
02-02-2018, 06:46 PM
Originally Posted by puttster
No sweat jone531. Whether I succeed or fail at least I am in the arena, giving it a go. And maybe the millions of people who read this adventure will learn something, too 
Shall we consider every BF topic without an appropriate author feedback ended up a fatal road crash..? Could be. That would explain why there is no one to complete the topic story....
#23
02-03-2018, 12:42 PM
Originally Posted by puttster
I went with one full turn to bring the 3/16" toe out driver side to what I hope is 1/8" toe in. Then 3/8 turn to bring the 1/4" toe in right side to 1/8" toe in.
On Edit, a day after the DIY alignment. Well, I drove it around and the steering wheel, which was 2 or 2.5" to the right, was pretty darned straight. Upon rim remeasure, the driver side is straight ahead and the right side is still toe in, about 1/16". To straighten the driver's tire I turned the adjuster CW and CCW for the passenger, So for future DIYers , maybe this will help.
I will just leave it like that since in the Spring I will likely replace the driver control arm and that will necessitate another adjustment anyway.
Until then, thanks for the help, all.
#24
09-28-2018, 06:02 PM
Following up... Remember how, after busting my wheel on a curb and knocking the steering wheel to 12:30, I did a DIY string alignment for it? That worked out but it kept gnawing on me that something under there must have gotten broken or bent. I put in a new idler arm, no change. So I decided to go after the control arm which I had already been told that the bushings were shot.
Heck, they were more than shot! The culprit was not the outside end of bushings that you can see while the control arm is still on the car. The culprit was the inside part (on the rear drivers side) was just ripped out, leaving the control arm plenty of room to slide (pic)
I put in a new arm and now the steering wheel points to 11:30. Jeez! And thanks to all who helped me on this thread.
Heck, they were more than shot! The culprit was not the outside end of bushings that you can see while the control arm is still on the car. The culprit was the inside part (on the rear drivers side) was just ripped out, leaving the control arm plenty of room to slide (pic)
I put in a new arm and now the steering wheel points to 11:30. Jeez! And thanks to all who helped me on this thread.
#26
09-29-2018, 10:40 AM
I’m not sure that some basics were clearly addressed here:
When you have an impact event, the most important thing to assess is if there is any damage that renders the vehicle unsafe. Rule out things that are broken, ready to separate, can cascade into an unsafe event at high speeds ...
At that point, then you can assess various imperfections in the steering system that can cause the steering wheel to be off center, tire wear, ride quality, pavement tracking, drifting, .... If you can’t live with an off center steering wheel then you can do equals turns at the tie rod sleeves or even moving the steering wheel linkage on spline. That’s purely cosmetic and has no effect on driveability or safety. 25 year old me chased those kind of things endlessly. 65 year old me, not so much. More importantly you can then address things that cause driveability and/or tire wear issues. I find that you can learn everything that you need to know by feel during driving and careful examination of tire wear. I saw some outer scalloping starting on my blazer front tires 100,000 miles ago and that pointed me to an idler arm replacement (moog). There are also tie rod ends, ball joints, sway bar bushings etc.
on the subject of alignment. There is no doubt that you cannot do as perfect an alignment in your driveway as can be done on a rack in a shop - if it’s done right. I have corrected a bad shop alignment from a in my driveway out of necessity that survived 50,000 miles with no abnormal tire wear. Another thing to consider is what does a perfect alignment mean in a vehicle with 150,000 miles that has play in the steering system. Any play that you can see can overwhelm any accuracy in the shop. Caster and camber in your driveway is virtually impossible but toe in is pretty easy to get right with blue tape, a pencil a ruler and or a string, a test drive and a correction. After said idler arm I did toe in in my driveway and after 105,000 miles I have no driveability issues or abnormal tire wear and just had the third set of tires mounted and balanced. Put tape in the middle of the tread in the back of the front tires, measure the distance, roll the truck forward, measure at the front, adjust to 1/8” toe in by favoring the side that will align the steering wheel. Go for a test drive and adjust to taste by feel.
Happy tie tie rod end sleeve turning,
George
When you have an impact event, the most important thing to assess is if there is any damage that renders the vehicle unsafe. Rule out things that are broken, ready to separate, can cascade into an unsafe event at high speeds ...
At that point, then you can assess various imperfections in the steering system that can cause the steering wheel to be off center, tire wear, ride quality, pavement tracking, drifting, .... If you can’t live with an off center steering wheel then you can do equals turns at the tie rod sleeves or even moving the steering wheel linkage on spline. That’s purely cosmetic and has no effect on driveability or safety. 25 year old me chased those kind of things endlessly. 65 year old me, not so much. More importantly you can then address things that cause driveability and/or tire wear issues. I find that you can learn everything that you need to know by feel during driving and careful examination of tire wear. I saw some outer scalloping starting on my blazer front tires 100,000 miles ago and that pointed me to an idler arm replacement (moog). There are also tie rod ends, ball joints, sway bar bushings etc.
on the subject of alignment. There is no doubt that you cannot do as perfect an alignment in your driveway as can be done on a rack in a shop - if it’s done right. I have corrected a bad shop alignment from a in my driveway out of necessity that survived 50,000 miles with no abnormal tire wear. Another thing to consider is what does a perfect alignment mean in a vehicle with 150,000 miles that has play in the steering system. Any play that you can see can overwhelm any accuracy in the shop. Caster and camber in your driveway is virtually impossible but toe in is pretty easy to get right with blue tape, a pencil a ruler and or a string, a test drive and a correction. After said idler arm I did toe in in my driveway and after 105,000 miles I have no driveability issues or abnormal tire wear and just had the third set of tires mounted and balanced. Put tape in the middle of the tread in the back of the front tires, measure the distance, roll the truck forward, measure at the front, adjust to 1/8” toe in by favoring the side that will align the steering wheel. Go for a test drive and adjust to taste by feel.
Happy tie tie rod end sleeve turning,
George
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