I think I just bought a 2004 trailblazer

johnd393 said:

Both front wheel bearing hubs have play. I'm hung up on the idea of making sure I can get the lower control arm bolts loose before I order more parts. I put a breaker bar with a 2 ft pipe extension on one bolt, and put enough force to flex the wrench to where I thought it would break, and nothing moved. I found forum discussion where some broke the bolts trying to get them out. I really really don't want that to happen. I don't think a broken bolt there is something I could deal with. Next time I go out there I'm gonna see if I can find access to spray some penetrating oil on to the captive nuts on those LCA bolts. I know that repeated penetrating oil over several days can help.
I probably should be driving it more before putting all this money & effort into it, but I though I'd fix everything before insuring it.

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johnd393 said:

This alignnment stuff is just too difficult. It requires measuring, lifting the wheel off the ground and adjusting. Setting if back down and measuring again. The lifting part is a ordeal each time. Bottle jacks won't lift high enough. The scissors jack is hard work to use and is too close to it's limit to trust by itself. I can get the scissors jack and a jack stand under it. Repeated raising and lowering the crank scissors jack it too much work for my aging body.

So I've studied this alignment stuff. I've got a couple different vintage bubble level caster/camber gauges, that don't mount properly on modern wheels and a new cheap magnet mount camber gauge. All if it needs some adaptor fabrication to make a measurement. Turns out it's not all that hard to measure camber with a plain bubble level. Just use the tangent trig function on a calculator to figure the angle.

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johnd393 said:

You have to take the weight off the suspension to make a camber/caster adjustment. Otherwise when you try to move the LCA bracket, your lifting the weight of the vehicle.
My lift is pretty close to level.
Just eyeballing it I'm gonna have to shim the car level on the driveway. My turntables are about 1 1/2" thick and might be about the amount that's needed. I couldn't raise it enough to get the turntables under in on the lift.

Here's a link to someones page with a picture turn plates like mine. Mine are as ugly as these but they still move.

VINTAGE WEAVER WHEEL ALIGNMENT TURNTABLES WJ-50 RADIUS TURNING GAUGE | #526355768

I have had these for many years but do not have a use for them. Very handy for checking vehicle caster. They need to be cleaned up but they still move freely.I checked the motion on the turntables and

www.worthpoint.com

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johnd393 said:

I have 2 of these. The bubble level is more sensitive than other gadgets & ways I have for caster/camber. The bubble moves further for 1 degree. I stole the image off the web. Still have to improvise the mounting. The angles on the tool represent the amount the wheel is turned in and out for caster measurement.
The Weaver gauges are more difficult to mount, heavier and the bubble has less resolution. Hopefully if I get this car set up right I'll be able to verify the angles 3 ways.
The air conditioner is on in the garage so I can go get the car ready to pull out without falling over. I should live somewhere in the cool mountains. It's more fun if it's comfortable.
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