Re: Interesting solution to an alignment problem

1989 Mazda 626. I replaced the lower control arm on the pass side in

> December, and while it resolved the ball joint issue, the steering wheel > was cocked to the passenger's side and pulling to the right. > > My computer decided to blow it's brains out last night, and I was up until > 3:30AM putting the old one back in service and reloading Linux YET AGAIN, > so when I got up at 10 I figured, I'm gonna PAY someone this time and > relax, and get it lined up all at once. Every shop I went to..."If you had > come last week..." > > It got up to 64 degrees in Massachusetts (they said t was going to be 46, > so I had planned to do it today anyway, and 65 was just a bonus...) so I > pulled into the yard, got the jack, stands and tools out and went at it. > Wasn't as easy as the other one, and, see later for an aside question. > The only thing I couldn't get out was the sway bar link from the old > control arm, and AutoZone went from $4.99 to $18!!! But, it's all > together, and...the wheel is STRAIGHT and the pulling is GONE! All I did > was just put it back in where the other one was, and it drives straight > down the road, no pulling, no nothing, just nice and smooth. I figured > this might happen, but I was betting more on having the alignment go WAY > out. > > > BTW, there was something on the driver's side not on the passenger's side: > a "Black Box" I had to remove to get the rear bolts out. It had no > connections on it, just bolted to the frame, and appears to be a big > magnet. It attracted my tools when I set it down. > > The car does not have ABS or 4 wheel steering (some did). Any ideas? > >

Sounds like a light trip magnet. Used on vehicles that don't have enough steel to reliably trip traffic lights and other magnetic switch items.

I have them on my motorcycles so you don't need to wait for the timer.

Reply to
Steve W.
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Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B wrote in news:Lxk7p.15131$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe20.iad:

I thought Linux was supposed to be more stable than a Swiss government.

Reply to
Tegger

It is. And if the computer itself dies, the easy solution is to transplant the hard drive into a new computer and keep going. So I am a little curious what Hachiroku is doing...

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

It is, unless the computer is owned by an idiot, who also happens to be a Dell service tech who lives with his mother.

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

I've found two shortcomings with Linux over the years...

1) if your power quality sucks (to the point where you have several short outages every day) and you don't have a UPS, eventually things will become corrupt to the point where it won't boot. 2) I haven't had any luck with ANY proprietary video drivers with Linux - I've used both Intel and ATI and while ATI is *better,* it's still not perfect. Both my boxen have ATI video right now, thankfully. Intel on Ubuntu 10.04 is not pretty.

nate

Reply to
N8N

I rebuilt the entire front end on my old Pontiac, all new bushings, ball joints, tie rods. I lined everything up by eye and when I took it in for alignment all they had to adjust was the toe. I did the toe with a tape measure but it was still off quite a bit. You should at least have your alignment checked, if the toe is off very much it can drive ok but will wear the tires out fairly fast.

Reply to
Ashton Crusher

You find decent instructions online for DIY alignment.

Reply to
1 Lucky Texan

If there is a wired device located near the magnetic box with a bright yellow wire loom, it could be part of the supplemental restraint system. Under normal conditions, the magnet holds a switch in the open position, but in a crash, inertia overcomes the magnet's pull, the switch closes, the same thing happens to another switch, and when 2 switches close, the air bags deploy.

BTW, Toyota does not use magnets in its SRS.

Reply to
Ray O

OK, it's not for the SRS. I have no idea what it's for.

Reply to
Ray O

That box with the magnet is likely for a key to hide on the vehicle somewhere.

I used the same thing on each of my daughter's first cars. came in handy 3-4 times.

Reply to
1 Lucky Texan

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