frame bent/rolled in up front causing alignment problems?

oc192

Member
Joined
May 18, 2010
Hello All,

I recently upgraded my front suspension with Moog parts and gbody uppers/lowers. After the upgrade I went to a shop to have the front end aligned. Tech advised he could not get the car into spec. The castor is way out of spec, one side is -1.3 and the other side is 0.0 So basically this makes my car real squirrely up front. I took the car to an auto body shop for paint work and mentioned the alignment issue. After looking into it, he confirmed what the 1st shop said.

The owner of the business came out and explained the issue. He said the front of the frame has rolled itself inward over time. The fix is to wrap a chain around the upper control housing on each side and jack the car up. Somehow this will spread the chains outward and roll the frame back into spec. He certified his opinion by saying he has worked on suspensions for 30 yrs and started his career at a GM dealer and said they use to get cars all the time with the same issue.

Has anybody heard of this and is it a common issue?

Thanks,
Don
 
First I've ever heard of a problem like that being common. I would expect that you would be able to readily see or measure any frame damage that might cause such an issue
 
Thanks Steve.... anyone else heard of this? Assuming the frame is not the issue, what would prevent these guys from properly aligning my car.... especially the castor?
 
I had aa 67 chevelle ss396 that had this issue and the alignment shop did exactly that chained it down and stretched it so they could get it aligned. worked awesome the car drove 100% better. The bad is the paint chipped off the corners of the fenders where the fender/hood/ cowl came together and the paint on this car extremely nice. It was a bittersweet deal, just be aware stuff like this can happen, I would have gladly pulled the front clip off if I had known.
 
Thanks Steve.... anyone else heard of this? Assuming the frame is not the issue, what would prevent these guys from properly aligning my car.... especially the castor?

On the last GN, we put offset upper a - arm shafts in. This helped w/ regaining some caster and camber.
 
they sell shafts with offset (problem solvers) for older chassis with just such issues but those are for stock arms ...
seeing as how you went tubulars you can get tubulars with another 1/2" in them
gbody uses the metric right arms
order the lefts off speedway
instead of 8" they are 8.5"
 
they sell shafts with offset (problem solvers) for older chassis with just such issues but those are for stock arms ...
seeing as how you went tubulars you can get tubulars with another 1/2" in them
gbody uses the metric right arms
order the lefts off speedway
instead of 8" they are 8.5"

Thanks Pacecar and Chuck.... DO you think an extra 1/2 inch on both sides will get the caster in the 4 range? Also are you referring to these?

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Chromoly-Upper-Control-Arm-Steel-Cross-Shaft,5584.html
 
I've delt with quite a few alignment issues over the years and this is the first time I've ever heard of the frame "rolling" inwards at the top. What's the SAI reading from the alignment? Do you have a print out of what they found?
 
Hello Charlie, this is the sheet from the original alignment....
 

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Hello Charlie, this is the sheet from the original alignment....
SAI is seriously screwed up. Either the frame is screwed or the guy doing the work doesn't have a clue what he's doing. I'll bet or the second rather than the first.;)
 
i never looked into how far off it would be if you put the upper arms on wrong , short side of arm should be toward the radiator
 
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