Alignment
Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2019 9:59 am
Greeting All:
I have a alignment / vehicle question. My 69 Toro pulls hard to the right. Hard. The car pulled previously but not as bad. I had it aligned at a new local shop. Once done it tracked straight but had a lot of "play" in the steering and wandered around on the road as a result. In a effort to "tighten" up the front end I: 1. replaced the bushing on the upper and lower control arms, 2. replaced the wheel bearing and the 3 upper and lower ball joints. After this work I had a the "new" shop align it - went nice and straight but there was a lot of float or play in the steering, it seemed and it wandered all over the road.
Step two was to replace the steering box and the "rag" joint coupler on the steering shaft. After this was done it was pulling right hard again. I tried to put the tie rods back where I found them but apparently not. I took it to a more established shop for an alignment b/c it was pulling hard right. Take your hands off the wheel and you'll be in the ditch directly. I took it to an established local shop for an alignment and the fellow said the he did the best he could but it's going to pull right because the ass end is out of alignment. He didn't think that there was much to be done about that given the Toro's construction. In the mean time it developed a nasty front end shimmy at lower speeds - <40. It's like the cords in one of the front tires broke. I drove it a bit anyway.
Anyway I jsut took it back to the "new" shop for an inspection and alignment since he got it to go straight before. Failed inspection - too much play in the front wheels - just like bad bearings although the bearing have less than 1k on them. I couldn't argue with them - they showed me the "wiggle" up and down and back and forth on the fronts. It's there. It's not right. I used National A-23's when I replaced the wheel bearings.. The "new" garage guy said there was some play in the pitman arm and the idler as well.
So, I have new wheel bearings on order. I'm going to replace those, again. I'm going to put 2 new front tires on it. I'm going to put in a new Pitman arm and a new idler arm. When all this is done I suspect it's still going to pull right.
So, after all that, here's the question - can the Toro go on a frame machine and have the ass end pulled back in to align or at least closer to it? To be fair, I saw, post purchase, that the rear right side of the frame has been welded. It looks to me like where the frames dips down behind the rear wheel that water sat in there and rusted through. there's a plate welded on the bottom there and on each side. I'm a fair welder and it looks like an okay job. So there's that.
In light of all the foregoing can / should I find a guy (or get a recommend) who and chain it up and pull it back in align or will the totally screw up the car.
I'm okay with selling it - being clear about the issue and staring over with another Toro or different vehicle altogether. I really like the Toro and have put a lot of hours and work into it. But if this is a hopeless disaster in terms of ever getting the car to go down the road nicely, maybe it's time to move on.
Thoughts or suggestions anyone?
Thank!
Grant
I have a alignment / vehicle question. My 69 Toro pulls hard to the right. Hard. The car pulled previously but not as bad. I had it aligned at a new local shop. Once done it tracked straight but had a lot of "play" in the steering and wandered around on the road as a result. In a effort to "tighten" up the front end I: 1. replaced the bushing on the upper and lower control arms, 2. replaced the wheel bearing and the 3 upper and lower ball joints. After this work I had a the "new" shop align it - went nice and straight but there was a lot of float or play in the steering, it seemed and it wandered all over the road.
Step two was to replace the steering box and the "rag" joint coupler on the steering shaft. After this was done it was pulling right hard again. I tried to put the tie rods back where I found them but apparently not. I took it to a more established shop for an alignment b/c it was pulling hard right. Take your hands off the wheel and you'll be in the ditch directly. I took it to an established local shop for an alignment and the fellow said the he did the best he could but it's going to pull right because the ass end is out of alignment. He didn't think that there was much to be done about that given the Toro's construction. In the mean time it developed a nasty front end shimmy at lower speeds - <40. It's like the cords in one of the front tires broke. I drove it a bit anyway.
Anyway I jsut took it back to the "new" shop for an inspection and alignment since he got it to go straight before. Failed inspection - too much play in the front wheels - just like bad bearings although the bearing have less than 1k on them. I couldn't argue with them - they showed me the "wiggle" up and down and back and forth on the fronts. It's there. It's not right. I used National A-23's when I replaced the wheel bearings.. The "new" garage guy said there was some play in the pitman arm and the idler as well.
So, I have new wheel bearings on order. I'm going to replace those, again. I'm going to put 2 new front tires on it. I'm going to put in a new Pitman arm and a new idler arm. When all this is done I suspect it's still going to pull right.
So, after all that, here's the question - can the Toro go on a frame machine and have the ass end pulled back in to align or at least closer to it? To be fair, I saw, post purchase, that the rear right side of the frame has been welded. It looks to me like where the frames dips down behind the rear wheel that water sat in there and rusted through. there's a plate welded on the bottom there and on each side. I'm a fair welder and it looks like an okay job. So there's that.
In light of all the foregoing can / should I find a guy (or get a recommend) who and chain it up and pull it back in align or will the totally screw up the car.
I'm okay with selling it - being clear about the issue and staring over with another Toro or different vehicle altogether. I really like the Toro and have put a lot of hours and work into it. But if this is a hopeless disaster in terms of ever getting the car to go down the road nicely, maybe it's time to move on.
Thoughts or suggestions anyone?
Thank!
Grant