First of all, I wouldn't leave any of my cars at a front end shop unless I was
firmly convinced that they were qualified to do the work.
Back in 1975 I foolishly left my '65 Imperial at Sears Service, because it
needed upper control arm busings and an outer tie rod end. I blindly trusted
Sears, and I had a credit card to pay them with, which played a major role in
the selection of their shop. They actually ruined my car.
Like Dick Benjamin says, anything that was ever built can be rebuilt, but they
botched the car so badly that it required extensive additional repairs totaling
over $1,000 to fix it right. At that time the car wasn't worth $1,000. If the
cost of the repair exceeds what the car is worth, that to me is the point where
I would say that they ruined the car. Worse, they accepted NO responsibility
for what they did, even though it was blatently obvious by looking at the car
that they had done something terribly wrong.
Since then, I get to know the shop very well with other work on lesser vehicles
before I ask them to work on one of the Imperials. I also make sure that they
know what they are getting into with the Imperial before they see the car. I
have offered to provide the factory shop manual for reference. I never mind if
they ask me questions, but there are certain questions that they should be able
to answer themselves.
The reason that the adjustments are SO different between your '56 and the other
cars that you mentioned is that it has a king pin front suspension system. I
believe that the other cars that you mention are torsion bar front suspension
systems. There is nothing so unusual about the front end on the '56 that
should require a "special explanation". I believe that many pick up trucks used
that type of system quite late.
If the procedure in the shop manual wasn't correct, I would guess that it would
have been noticed before now. Since my shop didn't require the shop manual to
do the work on either my '55 or my '56, I can't say how they made the
adjustment. I do think that if the car requires more than the adjustment will
permit to be aligned, then it probably needs some new parts.
I am having some front end work done on my '84 Buick tomorrow morning at the
"shop that has served me so well". I will ask them your question and see what
they say. I am thinking that they may want to have the car there, which won't
be an option. I will bring the shop manual and see what they can add about the
caster adjustment. I will report back later tomorrow.
Paul
In a message dated 2/15/2004 8:43:49 AM Eastern Standard Time, JCantor791
writes:
>
>
> Ah, but that doesn't answer my question. The factory service manual doesn't
> provide very useful information on caster adjustment which IS different from
> later model Chrysler products. Even though I've never done an alignment
>myself
> - no space for one of those $50K Hunter rigs :-) - I've had enough older cars
> and watched enough alignments performed to know that the adjustments
> available on my '67 Monaco and '73 Satellite were different and, appeared,
>more
> extensive.
>
> When it comes to repairs on my cars, I'm the type who wants to have some idea
> of how the work is done even if I don't do it myself. That's one of the
> reasons I like this particular shop - they allow customers to observe they're
>work
> and are willing to take the time to explain it. A mechanic who asks no
> questions and simply hands the keys back saying everything's done, scares me.
> I've
> had that happen only to find out that they had no idea what they were doing
> but were afraid to ask or admit as much.
>
> So back to the original question: does anyone know the procedure for caster
> adjustment on the '55/'56 Imps? The service manual indicates that MINOR
>caster
> adjustments can be made with an eccentric bushing on the upper control arm.
> This bushing is NOT labeled on the exploded views but appears to be on the
> outboard end of the upper control arm which I believe, as does the tech,
>would do
> more to affect chamber than caster. The inboard end of the upper control arm
> appears to be rigidly attached to the frame unlike newer Chrysler products
> with which I am familiar where there are slotted holes that allow for the
> adjustment.
>
> Obviously we are missing something here, I just need some help finding it.
> Paul, perhaps if you are in at the shop that has served you so well, you
>could
> ask them for a brief description or comment on where the adjustment is. I'm
> confident that with just a little help, we can figure this out. The tech who
> is helping me isn't ancient but he is in his late fifties and has been
>working
> on cars professionally since his twenties.
>
> Thanks,
> Jeff
> '56 Sedan
> Trenton, NJ
>
>
>
> Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2004 19:51:07 -0500
> From: RandalPark@xxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: IML: Alignment Proceedures - '56
> Reply-To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> My shop has aligned the front end on both my '55 and my '56 Imperials without
> asking a single question. In fact I was so pleased with them, that I ALLOWED
> them the privilege of rebuilding the front end on my '62. After some
>confusion
> over whether or not I had supplied the correct lower control arm bushings,
> they did a fabulous job.
>
> I would say that if your front end shop doesn't know how to align the front
> end, you need to find another shop.
>
> Paul
>
> From: "Matt Hopkins" <mhoppy@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: RE: IML: Alignment Procedures - in general
> Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2004 07:43:42 -0600
> Reply-To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Good old alignment shops are still out there. I live in a community of
> about 40,000 and we have 2 such shops. The one I use is owned by a car
> collector. When I took my 66 Crown in for alignment and front check, he and
> his son who works for him had to take it out for a test drive which entailed
> closing the shop for 20 minutes. He needed no direction on how to align, he
> knew how to do it and had the old books. His shop also replaced the
> accumulator for the ABS on my 92. Now that I have seen it done, I could have
> done it but was not familiar with these systems at all. He charged $25 in
> labor, so everybody needs to make a living. This shop is known for "If you
> can't get it fixed anywhere else, take it to Ray Snider." In the long run
> if you take your cars to this type of place, you will have less money spent
> and a much more pleasurable Imperial experience
> Matt Hopkins
> 66 Crown
> 75 Lebaron
> 92 Imperial
>
>
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