2WD C10 Modern/Performance Alignments

[picklito]

Ok now I'm thinking that there are multiple locations for the hole. Depending on which one you start with, moving the hole 3/4" is probably not the best way! Putting it a 2" from the end might be the more consistent dimension?

Ya- diagonal groove. I wondered that, too.
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[LostMy65]

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[HO455]

Just wondering if BMERDOC got the caster modification done on his truck?

[BMERDOC]

I did do it but the truck is laid up after a front end rebuild, disc brake conversion and a general redo of the engine compartment. It should be up and running soon and the alignment done. I'll come back and report what I found.

[HO455]

Good to know. I just finished mine and got the initial readings on the alignment rack. Not being anywhere near accomplished at this stuff as you I look forward to your results. I'm pretty sure I can get it drivable but I may have wait for your results to make real improvements on the alignment.

[HO455]

I was rereading your thread the other day and later it occurred to me you had been talking about milling several index holes to find the ideal distance. With your access to an alignment rack you could grind down the rivet in the saddle that indexes the shaft. After reassembling without an index, move the shaft around and find the best location to balance your alignment and the shim stack. Obviously you couldn't drive it that way but as a test bed it should work. When you are satisfied mark and mill your new index holes. Then it would just be a case of drill out and replace the rivets with more positive indexing cap screws

I drilled my rivets out after I found one side half sheared off and no way to positively position the shaft. When I looked at the other side I found that there was approximately an 1/8" of play between the rivet and the index hole. By machining the new hole to 3/4" and using a 1/2" cap screw I now have virtually no play. I did have to shorten the head of the cap screw as my index holes were not deep enough. Anyway its just a thought.

[BMERDOC]

Thats not a bad idea. I had thought of having a machinst drill the indexes, machine a groove connecting the two and machine flats on the shaft so it could be infinitely adjustable between the two positions.
Unfortunately, I am now a Realtor and no longer have the play time I once had with an alignment rack. I am working on finding someone that will let me rent a rack to experiment in my free time.

[HO455]

Sounds like big life changes. I hope it works out well for you. I look forward to your updates when things start rolling again.

[clay68c10]

I'll be doing the multiple holes in the cross shaft eventually, it will probably be a while before it's at a point where I can drive it and put it on the rack at work.

Had to get out of the flat rate world? Me too, I fix police cars for the city now.

[0bad0boy7]

Originally Posted by BMERDOC

Ok. I had time to tinker so after swapping the upper control arms side to side. Here are the results. I think this debunks the thought that the uppers can be swapped. Yes, the caster is excessive and could be brought to 8 or 9 degrees by adding about 9/16" to 5/8" thick shims to the rear but the camber is already positive and can't be remedied. Time to swap the uppers back and notch the lowers....

This quote is from post #74

It looks like the swapping the uppers gave you a gain of approximately 10°. I could really use a 10° increase of caster since I am at -4° on both sides now. I just replaced all the suspension parts and perhaps the previous owners of the truck reversed the arms. Thanks for the detailed posting on this thread.

[BMERDOC]

Nothing wrong with swapping to see what happens.

[0bad0boy7]

So I replaced all the suspension parts on my 1966 C10. The front seams to have been donated from a 80's C10. Problem areas are underlined

After replacement I had:
Camber: 0.1° and 0.4°
Caster: -4.4° and -4.8°
Toe: never a problem setting

After swapping the upper control arms my caster was great, but there was not enough room for shims on the bolt to fix my camber:
Camber: 0.5° and 1.4°
Caster: 5.7° and 6.9°
Toe: never a problem setting

So I guess the best idea is to swap the upper control arms to there correct position and just live with the negative caster. What do you guys think?

[BMERDOC]

So did you have any shims on the bolts after all the parts were replaced? You have a very odd situation.

[0bad0boy7]

Originally Posted by BMERDOC

So did you have any shims on the bolts after all the parts were replaced? You have a very odd situation.

I replaced the shims when I reassembled the truck and the camber was visible: tops pointed out. I came down on camber, into spec, when they were all removed.

After reversing the upper arms, I still had no shims, but the hunter machine was telling him to add more to the passenger side to get the caster and camber even, but there was not enough thread to add more than 1/2" shims.

I'm not sure what to do with this. I have already spent so much time and money on the suspension of this truck. I think I will have to just live with the -4 degrees negative caster and hope for a year to come when I can afford a complete engineered system like RideTech or something similar.http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/i...ilies/waah.gif

[BMERDOC]

The problem is that even if you invest in an expensive system like ridetech it might not fix your problem.

[BMERDOC]

Hey badboy post some pics. Maybe that'll help.