Looking for alignment advice.

[none]

I had a beetle in for an alignment yesterday and I was floored when I was actually able to pull the cross camber AND the caster into spec. I have hundreds upon hundreds of alignments under my belt, but there are still quite a few models out there I haven’t aligned so much as once. The beetle was one of those models. The reason I was so shocked is because it’s a cradle shift adjustment for cross camber and I’ve never met a cradle that’s actually moved on an alignment. Most days I don’t even try cradle adjustments anymore, but I had to see if the beetle was different. I’ll post a copy of the alignment below.

So now I’m wondering again what I might be missing with all those other cradle adjustments I gave up on. Historically, the process has been the exact same headache every time. I find the cradle bolts, loosen them up, pry like hell, make absolutely no progress, tighten the cradle bolts back up, set my toe, pray it doesn’t pull, and then document the camber as non adjustable on the work order. Sometimes I’ll try lifting the car to unload the suspension and see if that helps move the cradle, but the effort is just as futile. Now that I’m thinking about it, I’ve had trouble with rear total toe on most VeeDubs as well. It’s the solid dead axle and you’re supposed to shift the axle by loosening up the mounting bolts. The first time I ever tried that adjustment, it was cake. The second time was a lot more of a pain, and its been really hit and miss for that axle to move since.

The most common places for me to see cradle adjustments is on Chrysler products and VeeDubs so that’s where I’d like to see some tips and tricks if you’ve got any.

Thanks.

Attachments:

• veedubalign.jpg

Topic

[Rick]

I’m taking a class on alignments, let me ask my instructor if he has any advice. He’s actually really knowledgable and maybe he can give me some input to kick back here because I have no idea what advice to offer.

[Mike]

I’ve not seen it all, but I know VW/Audi cradles are designed to be moved around like that. I also know that most vehicles I have the cradles out of (mostly jap FWD) have locating pins of some kind that prevent alignment change when R+R the cradle for something. I’m sure VW/Audi and other expensive car makers feel it’s worth having to deal with aligning it everytime it’s loosened because they have a god complex about how doing any work on the car is worth all the effort in the world. Maybe it’s because they want to have alignment perfection achievable on each individual car.

[none]

[quote=”Fopeano” post=132428]Not that I’ve seen it all, but I know VW/Audi cradles are designed to be moved around like that.[/quote]

I brought this topic up specifically for models that are meant to have their cradles shifted for angle adjustments. My apologies for any ambiguity I wrote in the original post. I’d never try to move a cradle if the manufacturer didn’t call for it in the adjustment procedures. (Well, I do make exceptions for cars I know were in accidents. But even those exceptions are rare and expected to be futile.) The problem I face with those cradle specific adjustments is that the cradles have never once actually moved no matter how many times the manual says that’s how it’s done…except for that one Beetle.

[Author]

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