[Turbo Dan]

My 8.8 rear has always been about 1/4" to 3/8" more to the driver's side.... which causes the passenger tire to be damn close to the inner fender (where the quad shocks would be). How do I move the rear over about 1/4" to the passenger side?

 

[pj951]

I think the answer would depend on whether the diff. housing was "square" to the chassis or not, (measure housing from backing plate area forward to jig hole under driver/pass. seat on each side, then compare.)
If square, you could probably get 1/4" side to side movement by relocating upper control arm bushings in axle housing as needed.
If not square, then LCA bushings probably shot.

As always, with Mustang underbody dimensions look for trends and large discrepancies, (there are always small discrepancies).


Peter J.

edit: If you have a MM PHB it's easy:
http://www.maximummotorsports.com/instructions/MMPB99A-S.pdf

 

[Turbo Dan]

Well, its been like this for years, with my Steeda Alum uppers and lowers, as well as now with my Wolfe uppers and lowers and spherical bearings. Maybe I need to loosen all of the bolts/nuts on the uppers and lowers, and put the car on ramps and THEN tighten all of the bolts?? I usually just tighten all of that stuff with the rear hanging. Maybe I can center it with it all loose and try that... hmm..

 

[pj951]

That's a good idea to tighten suspension mounting bushings with the suspension at the normal ride height, but I don't think it will affect the axle location at all.

Maximum Motorsports suggests centering the rear housing using the LCA chassis mounting bolts as reference with plumb bobs and a straight edge. Sounds reasonable to me.

Peter J.

 

[Micha]

Its important to remember that the chances of the body being square to the suspension mounting points are very slim. Ford's assembly tolerences were pretty large with respect to hanging body panels square to the chassis.
A good alignment shop can "Square" the front and rear wheels to each other. Getting the body "square" to the suspension is another matter altogether.

I second the plum bob method as explaned in MM K member instructions, avalailable online!

 

[pj951]

A good alignment shop can "Square" the front and rear wheels to each other.

Good luck on that Micha,

In this instance the concern is not body panels, it's getting the rear end housing centered and square to the lower unibody.
There is an old timer or two with depth of experience to actually verify the physical location of suspension parts before hanging the alignment heads.....they're difficult to find however.

Example: you can get a decent basic alignment printout on a car with one of the front wheels pushed back 1" ( frame collapsed), as long as the caster is within spec a laser alignment machine and many techs can't tell the difference.

Get out your plumb bobs and tape measures, size still matters.


Peter J.

 

[Micha]

Good luck on that Micha,

In this instance the concern is not body panels, it's getting the rear end housing centered and square to the lower unibody.
There is an old timer or two with depth of experience to actually verify the physical location of suspension parts before hanging the alignment heads.....they're difficult to find however.

Example: you can get a decent basic alignment printout on a car with one of the front wheels pushed back 1" ( frame collapsed), as long as the caster is within spec a laser alignment machine and many techs can't tell the difference.

Get out your plumb bobs and tape measures, size still matters.


Peter J.

Peter,
You are right, perhaps I didn't make "my" thoughts clear.
The original poster in this thread, did refer to a tire being closer to the fender than the other side was. He, I believe, was using the outer body panels as his guide to suspension "Squareness".

Finding a good alignment tech that understands what "our" definition of a square alignment is, Is indeed rare.

I used MM's description of the plumb bob, and tape mesure method, when I installed my MM K member. My new K member is about 3/8 inch to one side of the mesured center of the front frame rails. But,, It is dead on "square with the rear end! And as we know,,,,, Thats what counts!!

I hope I made more sense this time

 

[302blown]

yeh finding an alignment shop to do that and right is next to impossible. you'll need to do it your self with plum bobs, strings, and a tape measure.

put the front on ramps and put jack stands under the rear. make sure all the rear bushings are good and installed correctly, next use a couple of points and measure the rear side to side. the upper arms control the side-side location, make one longer and the other shorter will move the axle to one side or other without effecting pinion angle. so adj arms as needed to get the rear centered side-side. next you you need to make sure the rear is square, left side and right side wheel base to be the same, use the plum bobs and tape measure, adj the lower arm lengths to get it square. now you need to set the pinion angle, usually 4 deg negative for stock bushed arms, 3 deg neg for urethane, 2 deg neg for solid rod ends, generally, this is the difference between the pinion flange angle and driveshaft angle, the front of the axle should point down a little, now adj both upper arm lengths the same to get what you want. that should set up your rear good, then any old alignment shop can do the rest of the front.