67-70 Alignment Specs after 71-72 disk brake swap

[Awann99]

Recently I put Disk brakes on my 1969 GMC 1500 long bed from a 1972 GMC 1500. I decided to use most parts readily available from parts stores so I used stock 1971-1972 steering and suspension parts upfront. Inner and outer tie rods, upper and lower ball joints, I left in my 1969 crossmember and upper and lower a arms I took the truck to an alignment shop but at around 55 the truck wants to dodge into the other lane when I barely touch mose it to ease into turns It feels like the tires are not aligned properly and they are pointed out. I called the alignment shop and they said they didn’t have specs on that vehicle so they just set it to zero even though I offered to give them my 1972 handbook. Do I need to have them just align it to 1972 specs or because I used my original A arms and crossmember is there a special alignment I need to do on the front? I can post a photo of the specs of the alignment they gave me for my truck tomorrow
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[clay68c10]

You can have the shop use specs for a square body 73-87.

Is your center link installed correctly? It is easy to put in backwards. That will also make it drive squirrelly.

[Rooster73]

Man I feel for you, as an alignment shop owner for over 20 years stories like this rub me raw. 72 specs was with bias ply. Square body specs would work, they like caster
Greater than 3.5, preferably 4.5. A simple test drive afterwards should have told them something wasn't right, and if your centerlink was backwards and they didn't catch it, find another shop. After aligning late models with electric steering and resetting steering angle sensors, aligning old rigs is 10 times easier. Ask the person who worked on your truck to ride a motorcycle with the forks straight up and down.
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[lolife99]

Post some pics of your suspension.

[Awann99]

Originally Posted by Rooster73

Man I feel for you, as an alignment shop owner for over 20 years stories like this rub me raw. 72 specs was with bias ply. Square body specs would work, they like caster
Greater than 3.5, preferably 4.5. A simple test drive afterwards should have told them something wasn't right, and if your centerlink was backwards and they didn't catch it, find another shop. After aligning late models with electric steering and resetting steering angle sensors, aligning old rigs is 10 times easier. Ask the person who worked on your truck to ride a motorcycle with the forks straight up and down.
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Yes my center link was backwards. It road way better after I swapped it and puked the tierods in based on a tap measures. I would think they would have caught this. I’ll post the specs soon.
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[57larry]

I can't find a shop in Indy who will do my 68 alignment. it's not in their computer

[Rufas]

A few years ago I had an alignment shop refuse to align the front end on my 1970 GMC. They said it's suspension was 'too high tech' for them.

What the hell did they work on if that's considered 'too high tech'?

[clay68c10]

Lots of entry level techs won’t mess with something they haven’t seen before. There are lots of entry level techs in tire and alignment shops. See the problem??
Tell them to use 87 specs.
If they’re still reluctant, go somewhere else.

Awann99: they definitely should have known something was wrong on the test drive. Either the guy didn’t drive it, or shipped it knowing it was wrong. What a hack.

[Awann99]

Originally Posted by clay68c10

Lots of entry level techs won’t mess with something they haven’t seen before. There are lots of entry level techs in tire and alignment shops. See the problem??
Tell them to use 87 specs.
If they’re still reluctant, go somewhere else.

Awann99: they definitely should have known something was wrong on the test drive. Either the guy didn’t drive it, or shipped it knowing it was wrong. What a hack.

Here’s the specs they gave me.
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[Awann99]

Originally Posted by clay68c10

Lots of entry level techs won’t mess with something they haven’t seen before. There are lots of entry level techs in tire and alignment shops. See the problem??
Tell them to use 87 specs.
If they’re still reluctant, go somewhere else.

Awann99: they definitely should have known something was wrong on the test drive. Either the guy didn’t drive it, or shipped it knowing it was wrong. What a hack.

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[Rooster73]

Well, I've calmed down a bit, I have made my living with front end work and take great pride in doing good work, I would be humiliated if I took money for an alignment and the owner called and said it drove bad. But then again some people are not embarrassed. We spent over 3 hours aligning a 64 vette front and rear, yeah rear solid shims and all, charged accordingly, test drove it, customer said it hadn't drove that good in years. Then he got on his vette forum and asked what he SHOULD have paid, come back to tell me we overcharged. What a slap in the face. It ain't a 2010 Accord! They didn't see what great pains and pride we took on his car. Great, now I got a burr in my saddle.

[Awann99]

Originally Posted by Rooster73

Well, I've calmed down a bit, I have made my living with front end work and take great pride in doing good work, I would be humiliated if I took money for an alignment and the owner called and said it drove bad. But then again some people are not embarrassed. We spent over 3 hours aligning a 64 vette front and rear, yeah rear solid shims and all, charged accordingly, test drove it, customer said it hadn't drove that good in years. Then he got on his vette forum and asked what he SHOULD have paid, come back to tell me we overcharged. What a slap in the face. It ain't a 2010 Accord! They didn't see what great pains and pride we took on his car. Great, now I got a burr in my saddle.

I agree. I can’t stand poor quality work. I’m willing to pay for something if the quality is there. I took my truck to a brake shop last year and after my truck was adjusted it drove horrible and the owner told me my truck didn’t come with self adjusters, so I felt like this choice in shop was a mistake. Needless to say I got my money back for the poor quality. I’m very surprised that this place did not see that my center link was on backwards. I wish people still took pride in there work. I intend to call them back and bring it back in.
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[demian5]

Try to get as much caster as you can for straight line stability.