Trying to get my Daily driver completed. It still have a few issues. Right now I am worried about an alignment. I have changed the upper control arms in the front, lower ball joints and tie rod ends.

I don't know how to word this, what parts do I need to check to make sure that they can do the alignment?

There is some part I have never heard of before on the front, the radius rod or something. I also read somewhere about the use of shims for alignments on our cars. can anyone comment on these two things?

I have taken cars in for alignment before and was told they could not do the back tires due to rust or something stupid. They also said that it did not matter as the alignment was not off very much.

last two things. I need to replace my axles. Should I do this before the alignment or does it matter.

I also plan to replace my rotors. I will be taking off the bearings to do this, this way they wont be opened. The bearings seem good but they are 20+ years old with 200k on them. Should I change them? I will use timken bearings or buy complete hubs with bearing on them from am auto (made by Detroit axle or something). anyone use the am auto complete hubs?

Thanks guys

 

The only alignment on the rear is the toe. It is adjusted by a bolt acting as a cam to move the front lower arm pivot point in or out. Sometimes these rust solid and replacing them is a real bitch. The shop didn't want to fool with them for little or no gain.

 

Thanks for this. I did this today. The nut came off easy but the bolt was tough to move. I was able to break it loose with a box end wrench on the bolt and hitting it with a rubber mallet.

 

I think you replaced the important parts in the front before an alignment. You don't adjust the radius rods for an alignment.

To replace your axles you will need to at least partially remove your knuckles. You will need an alignment after that.

I replaced my rotors almost a year ago and didn't replace wheel bearings. Haven't had any problems but it is probably smart to go ahead and replace them while they are right there. With the "captive rotors" I had trouble separating the knuckle from the rotor. I ended up getting them loose by inserting the bolts partially and hammering on them. Good luck.

 

If you are going to replace anything do it now before the alignment.
New axles should not affect alignment in any way, but you may disturb a bushing or balljoint during dis-assembly that may change your settings.

There are shims that can be installed on radius rod between the washer and bushing. These shims are used to adjust caster on the front wheels.

Toe and caster are adjustable from the factory on the front.
Toe is adjustable from the factory on the rear.

Camber is only adjustable with an upper BJ on the front or adjustable Arm/shimming on the rear.