Alignment Specs

Q: Alignment Specs

I have had a lot of questions about the alignment specs for the 1967 – 69. Does anyone have this information in their resources and would like to share?

A: It’s right there in the 69 Factory Service Manual, page 3-18.

Caster…………+1/2 degree
Camber…………+1/4 degree
Toe-in…………1/8″ to 1/4″
SAI……………8-3/4 degrees with 1/2 degree camber (steering axis inclination)
Toe-out on turns..2 degrees, measured in left to right direction of toe-out at 20 degrees turn of inside wheel.

Caster and Camber specs were listed by the aftermarket (like alignment equipment manufacturers; Hunter etc.) to have a range, like caster was +1/2 degree, plus or minus 1/2 degree; and camber was 1/4 degree plus or minus 1/2 degree. These were prone to lesser technicians stating “good enough” when the car was wearing tires and pulling to one side. Evenly matched settings from one side to the other are best, with a slight offset to compensate for road crown in some parts of the country, where the road shape pushes the car towards the ditches.

When I used to do alignments (and I’ve done probably thousands) during the 70’s when people were putting radial tires on cars that came with bias or bias/belted tires, the industry standard was to add 2 degrees of caster to whatever the specification was. It is not usually possible to get 2-1/2 degrees of positive caster on most 67-69 F-cars unless you add offset control arm shafts, but anything over the 1/2 degree is very helpful on radial tire, especially with wider tires. In addition, keep the camber and toe-in minimal with wider tires for prolonged tire wear life.

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