Here in engineer-concentrated Silicon Valley, if I didn’t indulge over-thinkers, I wouldn’t have anyone to talk to … lol … an engineer might work full time for 2 years, working quite a few weekends as well, in order to reduce the physical size of a circuit board by 10%.
There are two members that should learn to use the forum features. Why reply if you are not interested?
Because I often worked on king pin suspension and 4 wheel drive I bought a manual bubble gauge set and learned to profitably use it. I farmed out other alignment work.
I live near Langley AFB and they have a pretty nice Auto Hobby Shop… It is well supplied and well staffed. They have independent contractors that are allowed to work in the shop on the military member’s vehicles… There is also an licensed State Inspector for your Virginia State Inspection. The contractors can and do almost all types of work (I do not know their rates).
In Photo “A”, on the Left Side is the Wheel alignment machine and then there are three lifts for oil changes and minor work. Behind the photographer is a Drive-On Lift where your vehicle remains on its tires. Mostly used for oil changes… the cost for these lifts is $3 for 30-minites, there is no disposal fee for used oil.
Next to this lift are three more stalls, all walled off and used by the contractors…
They used to be paint booths but the cost to upgrade them to capture the fumes and spray and the little use the got ended the painting.
In Photo “B”, you can see four stalls and four more facing these stalls (total of 8) for more involved, long term work. Although no floor lifts are available here, the vehicle can be lifted onto Jack stands… Each stall has it own work bench and each bench has a loaded tool box. Specialty tools (wheel pullers, etc…) are issued out from the tool bench office.
Not all military installations has such nice facilities, so I guess I am fortunate in this case.
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My neighbor spent 20 years in the Air Force, he doesn’t own an air compressor and won’t fill his own tires. Once I performed an oil change on his truck, the tires were down to 18 psi. Wheel barrel tire and bicycle tires always flat.
5 years ago while at Harbor Freight Tools, I showed him a small compressor that was on sale for $40, he just walked away, too complicated to connect a hose and operate.
My neighbor has been living in the same house for 25 years, his career in the Air Force is not a factor in owning basic vehicle maintenance tools.
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I would use both!
To me, a steering wheel holder is common sense.
If someone told me “you can use one if you like”, that’s fine. It’s my choice.
Somebody saying “Do not use it” is an idiot, in my estimation.
Yes, indeed! That is a nice looking shop. I helped a buddy who was a civilian employee at Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio mount some tires at the base’s auto hobby shop. It was decently equipped but overall not so nice…and it was not so well lit either!
Somehow I find that statement an insult to people who choose not to serve in the nations volunteer service branches .
Adding to that sentiment, not everyone was given a choice. I have the utmost respect for those people who were able and willing to contribute on such a personal level. But there are many others that couldn’t volunteer for direct service but served the country in other ways and were impactful in perhaps less direct ways. Hint- those weapons being used wouldn’t be possible without the technical efforts of people behind the scenes…
Well, let’s hold off on calling people idiots. Hunter Win Toe requires that the steering wheel remain free during alignment. So if you’re using state-of-the-art equipment, no steering wheel lock is used.
Also, my #1 alignment guy never used one, and his alignments always came out perfect. If you need a steering wheel lock, great. But if you don’t, that’s fine too.
We got to the point that we referred out king pins, just too time consuming and there was more profitable work to be done. And for the record I learned alignments with bubble gauges and string. But with a modern-day aligner I can do the same job in 15 minutes that would take have taken me an hour with manual gauges.
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I became the ‘go to shop’ for old 4 wheel drives and Ford I-beams when I learned to re-engineer my old Bronco. The factory specs were never satisfactory even with original wheels and tires and most good ole boys put on big tires resulting in terrible handling on the highway. Needless to say I charged clock time.
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You are not kidding. Did 20 in the Navy but anytime I got near an AF base, I’d use their hobby shops.
But I have never used a tape measure for toe alignment. I find an 8 foot 2x4 (cars) or 2x6 (trucks) and a straight edge and a pencil gets it perfect every time. I typically get 100k miles out of a set of tires so I think it is close enough to perfect for me. I use a string bob for caster and a level for camber.
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You are one serious DIY’er!
Or one of those cars with a single front wheel. I wonder if they even have a toe spec?
The only toe spec on a 3 wheeler would be at the rear axle. Robins have a live rear axle which would not have adjustable toe.
The single front/two rear wheels is the wrong way to make a 3 wheeler. The 2 front/single rear is far more stable.
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Unless enough front rake(cars = ‘caster’) is designed in.
Please explain the caster comment, @ChrisTheTireWhisperer
Edit: If you think more caster on a single front wheel 3 wheeler, it is not that stability I am referring to. Single wheel front 3 wheelers tip over more readily that 2 front 3 wheelers. Just the center of gravity shows that. Add in braking while turning and over it goes. 2 wheel fronts don’t have that problem or in acceleration since you cannot accelerate as hard as you can brake.
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Directionally stable. My obsession!
Tipover stable never crossed my mind honestly.
Why do you think that the 3 wheel (one front) ATV’s stopped production in 1987, it was for safety reasons… As Mustangman said, they are not stable when turning… But you can buy new 3 wheel vehicles that have 2 front and one rear all day long…
3 wheel motorcycles are the exception to the rule…