why why

[ice man]

why wont any one do the tracking on my van (they all say its to low and wont go on the ramp)
but every time it goes in to a garage they have no probs :evil:

im only getting 2 to 3 months out of my off side front tyre . i do a lot of miles 15000 a year

its as if no one wants to go near an old car/bus/van any more why :?: :?:

 

[uber cool]

Just had mine done at a garage in Bolton, 4 wheel laser alignment, they would do it. Is this near you?

 

[ice man]

iv been to 5 more places today and none of them will do it :?: :evil: :evil:
one said i will need to find a vw specialists. as there a pain to set up

 

[froggy]

Whreabout in the country are you as i'm sure there are a few people on here who might be able to point you in the right direction

 

[ice man]

im in the west mids dudley/bromsgrove area

 

[ant]

my mate mike(who has a crossover) did mine, he works in a tyre shop, my bus is pretty low which caused him a few probs but he managed by fitting the equipment backwards or something, not a million miles from you.

Ask for Mike
http://www.countytyres.co.uk/

 

[AxlFoley]

I need to get mine done and am expecting people to say they cant do it!

you should try getting a 1303 tracked, i had mine 6 years and never found any one that would do it!

 

[ice man]

could it be that these days the people that work at tyre shops
arent mechanics and think they might break stuff as there old buses

 

[AxlFoley]

yeah i think you are right there, they just dont know what to adjust, and how to do it, show them a hubcentric bolt and they run a mile lol

 

[Araon]

http://www.beardmorebros.co.uk/website%20pages/how%20to/tracking.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[Dean]

FAO AxlFoley

Try Celtic tyres, i know of one on bridgend ind est but i'm sure there is one in cardiff aswell. I know they can do the balancing on wide 5 wheels so they can probably do tracking to as they are predominently commercial fitters.

 

[AxlFoley]

nice one thanks, i'll give them a go.

Mark

 

[Pete B]

As suggested, I think many of the fitters are just that, 'fitters', not mechanics. My local 'old school' garage did mine no problem because they are skilled intelligent folk who can see further than 'the gauges won't fit on the wheels mister'. Short of a particular recomendation near to you, try to find a small independant garage, where the bloke doesn't wear girly latex gloves and has a roll-up hanging from the corner of his mouth, a proper muck under the fingernails garage! They will sort you out!

Oh, and if only one tyre is wearing unevenly I would think there is more amiss than just the tracking.

And why do they need to put it on a ramp anyway?

 

[chippi]

Took my old bus to my local Kwikfit (go sue me !) after fitting new drag link and steering bits and the nice bloke (manager) said "ahhhh i love these buses...bla bla...."and left the van with him to do the tracking.
When picking the bus back up he told me that as there a " bit tricky and might settle in a bit" ie move again :?: i could drop it back in after a few weeks for a "quick check" basically after a couple of weeks and a lot of miles later a realised that the lying fecker had not touched it as after getting on me back none of the nuts had been touched and he had billed me for tracking :evil: , obviously i could not prove this and ended up doing it myself with rope tied round all wheels and a measuring tape.

 

[dandaz]

obviously i could not prove this and ended up doing it myself with rope tied round all wheels and a measuring tape.

How did you do that?

Took me six months to gradually alter my tracking on my bus ,I went for the trail and error approach.....

 

[USA Santa]

obviously i could not prove this and ended up doing it myself with rope tied round all wheels and a measuring tape.

How did you do that?

Took me six months to gradually alter my tracking on my bus ,I went for the trail and error approach.....

To do the Old School method of front end alignment(akaDIY), you need a good easy to read tape measure , some string{long enough to reach front to rear plus some} and 2 thumb tacks. On flat surface ,rolled forward to per load the suspension ,
E-brake set.
You will want to pre-loosen the lock nuts on the near side tie rod & make sure that you can turn it to make the needed adjustments.

Attach the string with thumb tacks to the FAT part of the tread to the drivers side wheels,set the steering wheel
straight.The string needs to be touching the edges of both wheels,at 3 & 9 O'clock on both wheels[drivers side front & rear] {note this is now a fixed reference point to measure from}

(a) Measure form the inside front edge of the near side to the inside rear edge of the drivers side. Lets say it is 150"

(b) Measure from the inside front edge of the drivers side to the inside rear edge of the near side. Lets say it is 176"

Now shorten the near side tie rod & re check. Keep adjusting till you get closer to the 150" reading.Since you are moving
one of the referance points.{front edge of the near side wheel}

The reading will change from the 150" to more than that . The idea is to get the reading to be the same on both sides with
the drivers side.

As long as the string is in contact on the drivers side front & rear. This is now closer to being in track . To see how close
you are , move the string to the near side & see how close it is.

While this is NOT laser pin point accurate . It should keep you from wearing out those tires so fast.

 

[ice man]

wahay :!: :!: :!:
at last. its done found a man that builds hotrods easy and all for £15