Dakota Alignment Q

according to the factory service manual there are still camber and caster adjustments on the 4wd and 2wd trucks as i suspected. (i havent worked on the suspension of the DR trucks so i had to look to be absolutively sure)

Your 4 wheel alighnment should actually be a "Thrust angle alighnment" there are no adjustments on a leaf spring suspension in the rear, but you can measure the "Thrust angle" or the way the rear end sits in the vehicle and adjust the front end to compensate (your actually alighning the car to the way it gets pushed down the road). i hope that answers your question on 4 wheel alighnments.

Chris, thanks for the response. Comments/questions below...

"Chris Thompson" wrote in news:57fdb$45bcd2a7$471e2e2a$ snipped-for-privacy@ALLTEL.NET:

Do you know if caster/camber adjustment requires shims, or is it simply adjusting existing components?

Indeed. I get the point about the thrust angle alignment, but I guess the point is that there's no real "adjustment" to the rear. The thrust angle is what it is. Any/all adjustments are to the front end only.

Regards, Joe

You get more numbers on the printout than with a 2-wheel alignment.

-rev

I have no idea, but i brought my 2wd 98 dodge dakota pickup into NTB for new tires and alignment. I read over the printout afterwards and notice that only the toes and cambers (front tires) were adjusted or changed.....I asked why the casters were not adjusted, even though they are out of the proper range (according to printout), and the front desk guy said he didn't think they could be adjusted (I didn't talk to the alignment guy because the place was closing that night....I'll probably go back...but first I want to become a little informed before doing that). Drove the truck home and it handles quite well, but ...... still think they were probably just cutting corners (?). I do remember the same thing happening about 5 years ago...NTB said something to the effect that "not good to adjust the casters....can throw off the toe" (or something vaguely similar to that). p.s. Left caster is 4.9 but the correct range is: 2.5 to 3.5 RIGHT caster: same as above

Actually, i don't know if they did a good job with the camber and toe, because they certainly didn't move the numbers anywhere into the CENTER of the correct ranges, although they did put everything into the correct ranges (but on the "edges" of the range, in some cases, if you know what I mean).

.NTB said

That is exactly why the toe in is set LAST. You need to find an alignment shop and forget these monkeys. They don't even lie well.

It seems to me NTB is owned by Sears? Sears has a VERY long history of problems with auto service. My first memorable experience with Sears was in

1970, tried to sell ball joints for a 1970 Pontiac Bonneville with 2,000 miles on it. Those original ball joints lasted beyond 100,000 miles. Next up was Die Hard batteries then the "incredi-cell" battery. Both were note worthy as short lived. Adding insult to injury was a load test at 65% capacity for five (5) yes five freaking seconds and then (the voltage indicator fell like a rock at 5 seconds, this after an overnight charge) proclaiming the battery "passed" the load test, one of the biggest crocks I've ever seen perpetrated. I always expected a good battery to hold full rated load for a full minute. 1985 was my last experience with Sears auto centers. Over the years I've heard many stories about Sears auto service and a few class action law suits.

I guess I should say something good about Sears, we did like the Sears branded Michelin radial tires. Even Sears didn't manage to screw that up.

Sorry, Sears USED to own NTB, sold it in 2003. Sounds like nothing has changed though.