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As Driven Alignment System

May 12, 2017, 10:44:33 am

I posted a video a while back of the Beckett brothers talking about tire inflation. Tire inflation theory Saw several more videos about their As-Driven alignment system. I'm in need of an alignment so giving some thought to a shop that uses this system. Wondering if anyone else has had this done and what your thoughts are. Ahh... Who am I kidding! Anybody who wants to chime in!

Here is a link to the videos. Be prepared to invest a little bit of time. There are 3 videos that run from 5 to 7 minutes. I found them interesting. The videos are aimed at profession techs (they are trying to sell the system) not the general public.

MD Alignment

They have service centers all over the country.

MD Alignment

see ya
ken

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Re: As Driven Alignment System

Reply #1 – May 12, 2017, 12:39:01 pm

Ken, do it yourself.  The only real adjustment is toe.  I just added 1/2 turn of tow in at a time till my wander went away. I had a Josams in Orlando alignment done 2 years ago and it made life better, but not what I expect. I have to look at the axle measurments.

Josams added some extra caster on the passenger side, and many alignment experts on truck forums recomend doing it too. But the MD alignment guys don't recomend it.  And after thinking about it and seeing the wedges under the front axle and looking at our trailing arm airbag suspension...I'm not sure the caster wedges actually do anything.

I need to rotate my front tires too.

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Re: As Driven Alignment System

Reply #2 – May 12, 2017, 08:41:44 pm

 As noted elsewhere. Some German cars are supposed to be aligned with a press bar between the front wheels. 
 If you have issues with your straight axle bus, set the pressures,  measure the toe. All on a nice pad.  You can use toe plates, but make sure that the wheels are straight by rolling the bus about 5ft  and remeasuring .  The toe plate  must hit the rim/tire above any radial bulge  at the tire bottom.  I use aluminum angle and two identical tapes.  For the bus, I set the bars up on a 4x4 , to get above the bulge and against the tire sidewall. You can go crazy and make toe plates that hit the rims with pins  if desired. 
If it wanders more than you like ,  take some polyester rope and poke it through the front wheels  and use a come along  to pull the rear edges together. Use about  2 clicks from zero  tug on the poly rope.  Measure the toe again noting how much change you have between un loaded and tugged. Figure out where any play may be and if it  is in tolerance .   
 I figure that any toe near 3/16 - 1/4 in should work fine and not wear the tires.  For ease of roll( fuel mileage, speed) use as little toe as you can tolerate .
 If the steering box is at the end, add a little toe  in . IMHO.
  My short story background is German/ British/Jag  street car shop and now race car prep and engineering.

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Re: As Driven Alignment System

Reply #3 – May 13, 2017, 10:27:13 pm

Just to add a little more info to the previous posts:
The indicator of excessive positive or negative toe angle is a tire feathering or scuffing that can be detected by stroking your fingertips across the edge of each tread bar or tread block. A feather edge on the inside of the tread bar indicates excess toe-in, while a feather edge on the outside of the tread bar indicates toe-out. Because toe angle is affected by changes in camber and caster angles, it's always the last angle to be adjusted during the wheel alignment process. In addition, any change in camber or caster angles will immediately change the toe angle. Toe angle geometry can also be greatly affected by changes in suspension height.

A zero to slightly toed-out setting will usually give you a feeling of vague steering. Worn steering components will also give you vague steering and make it impossible to set toe correctly.

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