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jaca300GD
Veteran
Date registered: Apr 2010
Location: TORONTO,CANADA
Vehicle(s): 1987 MB 300 GD
Posts: 113
| W460 wheel alighnment
Went to do alighnment in my W460 but dont know what they took money for . Its better but still have to kind of hold steering wheel 30degree to the left in order for truck not to trying to go to shloulder.
Mechanic told me there is not much of correction of this and he says :"thats normal for older jeeps with this type of steering "
Kind of learned to drive like this but cant let go of steering for a second bucouse will change lane.
Is there a way to correct this problem or should go to other alighnment shop with jeep experience ?
Thanks J |
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Titus Pullo
Elite Veteran
Date registered: May 2007
Location: Ottawa, ON, Canada
Vehicle(s): '90 Wolf 240GD, '06 G270 CDI.
Posts: 1010
| RE: W460 wheel alighnment
jaca300GD - 9/7/2011 5:29 PMIs there a way to correct this problem or should go to other alighnment shop with jeep experience ? Thanks J The answer is in your question - go to other alignment shop with jeep experience. I did mine some time ago and it was perfect straight after. |
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hipine
Date registered: Jul 2006
Location: US, CO, Bailey
Vehicle(s): 460 1980 280GE w. 617A
| RE: W460 wheel alighnment
Bummer. You gave your money to an idiot. My 30 year old G with over 400,000 miles goes straight down the road with no pull or wobble, with my hands off the wheel.
There are a bunch of things that could be causing your problem. One is the axles not being parallel. There can be a number of root causes for that. To figure out whether that's a problem you can measure hub center to hub center yourself, or tell a good alignment shop you want a "thrust alignment", based on a check of the direction the REAR wheels are pointing before considering the fronts.
Worn components in the steering will make it difficult to get a good alignment on the G. Anything from bad kingpin bearings to bad tie rod ends can play havoc with an alignment machine.
Next time I suggest you ask the alignment technician to go for a ride with you. Let him drive. Point out how the steering feels. Tell him if it's like that after he's done, you don't expect to pay. Then go for a ride with him again after.
If you don't know someone local you can trust to do the alignment, you might consider calling an online tire mercahnt like TireRack.com and see if they have a shop in your area that they recommend for tire instalation and alignment. If they recommend the idiot you got the first time, kindly inform them of your experience and ask them to recommend someone else.
Good luck!
-Dave G.
PS - once any gremlins are sorted out, you can align the G yourself in the garage with 4 cinder blocks and a long piece of string. That's how I do mine and it drives great and takes perfect care of tires. |
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Jonathan Joseph
Expert
Date registered: Oct 2006
Location: Charleston, South Carolina
Vehicle(s): 2004 G55
Posts: 1538
| RE: W460 wheel alighnment
Don't go to someone with "Jeep" experience. Go to some one with Mercedes experience, or any kind of experience that taught them to do a good job and not let a vehicle leave until it was fixed. Period.
Jonathan
PS Oh and it's not a Jeep, if they think it is, they have already proven their inability to work on it. |
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jaca300GD
Veteran
Date registered: Apr 2010
Location: TORONTO,CANADA
Vehicle(s): 1987 MB 300 GD
Posts: 113
| Re: W460 wheel alighnment
Thank you guys for those words of advice .
Will look for shop with Mercedes experience and yes this time will Not pay unless goes straight after service.
Front suspension components were checked and there is no play or sound coming from suspension so im thinking all my truck needs is someone who knows whts doing if comes to wheel alighnment .
Thanks again .J |
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DUTCH
Administrator Doppelgänger
Date registered: Apr 2006
Location: US, GA, Atlanta
Vehicle(s): 2015 Audi Q7 3.0 TDI,2018 Sprinter
Posts: 9963
| Re: W460 wheel alighnment
jaca300GD - 9/8/2011 12:51 AM
Thank you guys for those words of advice .
Will look for shop with Mercedes experience and yes this time will Not pay unless goes straight after service.
Front suspension components were checked and there is no play or sound coming from suspension so im thinking all my truck needs is someone who knows whts doing if comes to wheel alighnment .
Thanks again .J
The only real adjustment possible in the front wheel alignment is the toe-in. However, the thrust angles of the axles can be affected by shimming the trailing and leading arms in the suspension. Attached is one example that is not at all uncommon.
Attachments
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 Right_Pull.pdf (641KB - 73 downloads)
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jaca300GD
Veteran
Date registered: Apr 2010
Location: TORONTO,CANADA
Vehicle(s): 1987 MB 300 GD
Posts: 113
| Re: W460 wheel alighnment
Thank you Dutch for this info.
There is no side wear on tires this makes me think that maybe Dutch youre right ,might need front axel adjustment .Those rubber bushings are bit cracked and maybe this shifted axel bit towards back and making truck go right even though front wheels are aligned straight .
How hard is it to remove this trailing arm and replace those rubber bushings or add this shim ? Could this be done by home mechanic o driveway ? I see there is 2 big bolts on front and 1 attached to frame . Do i have to take shock out in order to remove one of bolts ? Is this hard complicated job with unexpected problems ? Just wanted to find all these answers before attempt to work on it myself.
Thank you .J |
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AlanMcR
Expert
Date registered: Apr 2006
Location: US, CA, Los Altos
Vehicle(s): G300DT E300DT 230SL
Posts: 3500
| Re: W460 wheel alighnment
Simple in theory. Stuff can get in the way and the bolts are large and can be quite firmly corroded together. It is well within the realm of home-mechanic-with-patience.
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DUTCH
Administrator Doppelgänger
Date registered: Apr 2006
Location: US, GA, Atlanta
Vehicle(s): 2015 Audi Q7 3.0 TDI,2018 Sprinter
Posts: 9963
| Re: W460 wheel alighnment
AlanMcR - 9/8/2011 11:43 PM
Simple in theory. Stuff can get in the way and the bolts are large and can be quite firmly corroded together. It is well within the realm of home-mechanic-with-patience.
Agreed, especially on removing the large bolts with high torque.. I replaced all the rubber bushings in the front suspension myself using jacks and lying on the floor of my garage. |
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jaca300GD
Veteran
Date registered: Apr 2010
Location: TORONTO,CANADA
Vehicle(s): 1987 MB 300 GD
Posts: 113
| Re: W460 wheel alighnment
Does shock has to be disconnected at bottom in order to remove one of the front big bolts?
Im worried that even i take this trailing arm off i might have a problem to put it back and align holes if axel shifts. Will i need to pull it by jacks.... chain... to align axel with holes?
Thanks |
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AlanMcR
Expert
Date registered: Apr 2006
Location: US, CA, Los Altos
Vehicle(s): G300DT E300DT 230SL
Posts: 3500
| Re: W460 wheel alighnment
Once the bolts are loose things moved around fairly easily (on mine). Laying under your G and observing all the angles will pay off later when you actually try to do the work. Also, start soaking the bolts w/ Kroil or whatever your favorite elixer is. |
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DUTCH
Administrator Doppelgänger
Date registered: Apr 2006
Location: US, GA, Atlanta
Vehicle(s): 2015 Audi Q7 3.0 TDI,2018 Sprinter
Posts: 9963
| Re: W460 wheel alighnment
jaca300GD - 9/9/2011 10:12 AM
Does shock has to be disconnected at bottom in order to remove one of the front big bolts?
Im worried that even i take this trailing arm off i might have a problem to put it back and align holes if axel shifts. Will i need to pull it by jacks.... chain... to align axel with holes?
Thanks
Shock does not need to be disconnected.
I did find that one jack to support the axle and another small bottle jack to help position the lower two bolts was beneficial.
Put the frame end in its mount, but don't tighten. Position the lower to get one bolt in and started. Then use the small bottle jack to help line up the other hole on the axle. Do not torque everything until the vehicle is resting on the ground in the ready to drive position. |
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jaca300GD
Veteran
Date registered: Apr 2010
Location: TORONTO,CANADA
Vehicle(s): 1987 MB 300 GD
Posts: 113
| Re: W460 wheel alighnment
Alan ,Dutch ,
Thank you so much guys. Great site! |
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ontum
Veteran
Date registered: Nov 2009
Location: Portland, OR
Vehicle(s): 1979 300GDT Cabrio, 1994 W124 603
Posts: 131
| Re: W460 wheel alighnment
Tires can cause your G to pull to the side. A quick way to check is by rotating the tires and observing if the tracking changes. |
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512bbi
Expert
Date registered: Jan 2007
Location: North western US and Europe
Vehicle(s): 05G55kge,Range rover classic,clk55amg,ML 430
Posts: 1313
| Re: W460 wheel alighnment
ontum - 9/9/2011 1:44 PM
Tires can cause your G to pull to the side. A quick way to check is by rotating the tires and observing if the tracking changes.
Great point.
A proper alignment check should have a print out of ,total toe front and rear and each wheel, camber , caster, and thrust angle etc
Most good shops will not even charge for the reading unless they adjust something and give you an after adjustment printout.
Toe , camber and thrust angle being out of spec can make your G pull also as well as of camber roads (due to thrust angle change by design)
A broken spring can do it also as well as one blown shock.
If vehicle is level empty (left to right) most of the above possible causes should not be the issue except cross camber,toe , and tires.
Did you change recently one tire on your G?....a small change in diameter and large differences in tire pressure can cause a pull also.
Mario |
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jaca300GD
Veteran
Date registered: Apr 2010
Location: TORONTO,CANADA
Vehicle(s): 1987 MB 300 GD
Posts: 113
| Re: W460 wheel alighnment
Shop i went to for alighnment has good reputation and was there and my friends with their cars and all been happy. They do it old fashion way by projecting light on scale and adjusting then test drive till is good before give back to customer . Way they explained was all componets are tight and they did toe in adjustment nothing else to adjust there. And no they did not touch rear wheels.
I think like Dutch suggested i need to shim or replace rubber bushings on passenger side trailing arm.
Question ; what is torque spec for those big bolts and one on the frame to trailing arm? Do i tighten to end of thread?
Thanks J
PS
I did change wheels side to side and made sure for pressure and size be same. No difference.Thanks for sugestions Mario and Ontum
Edited by jaca300GD 9/10/2011 6:33 AM
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DUTCH
Administrator Doppelgänger
Date registered: Apr 2006
Location: US, GA, Atlanta
Vehicle(s): 2015 Audi Q7 3.0 TDI,2018 Sprinter
Posts: 9963
| Trailing Arm Torque Values
jaca300GD - 9/10/2011 6:30 AM
Question ; what is torque spec for those big bolts and one on the frame to trailing arm? Do i tighten to end of thread?
Thanks J
Trailing arm to frame - 130 Nm. This usually brings it down to the end of the threads.
Trailing arm to axle - 225 Nm
Torque with all four wheels on the ground. |
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jaca300GD
Veteran
Date registered: Apr 2010
Location: TORONTO,CANADA
Vehicle(s): 1987 MB 300 GD
Posts: 113
| Re: W460 wheel alighnment
Thanks a million Dutch! |
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titus10
Member
Date registered: Dec 2011
Location:
Vehicle(s):
Posts: 5
| RE: W460 wheel alighnment
After changing the tie rod I brought my truck to alignment shop using the John bean visualiner 3D alignment machine. Here is the result . |
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DUTCH
Administrator Doppelgänger
Date registered: Apr 2006
Location: US, GA, Atlanta
Vehicle(s): 2015 Audi Q7 3.0 TDI,2018 Sprinter
Posts: 9963
| RE: W460 wheel alighnment
titus10 - 9/18/2013 11:46 AM
After changing the tie rod I brought my truck to alignment shop using the John bean visualiner 3D alignment machine. Here is the result .
In addition to posting your result, please also go into your My Profile and tell us the year and model of your G, as well as where you're located. That info helps us to get to know and help you better. Thanks. |
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