Alignment

[bpossel]

 :oops: I tried to get an alignment today, but didnt have any luck...

What I took with me were the following specs:
According to the 1969 Technical data book:

For 230/250/280SL:

Front camber: car in curb condition (full fuel, full oil, spare) +0 deg 10 sec (+ 20 sec). under test load 0 deg +20sec

Toe in (rolled) (in mm) 2 +/- 1, or 0 deg 20sec +/- 10 sec

Caster with mech steer - 3 deg 30 sec +/- 15 sec
with pwr steer - 4 deg +/- 15 sec

Kingpin inclination 5 deg 30 sec

Rear toe in (rolled) (in mm) 0 +/- 2 or 0 deg +/- 20 sec.
Rear camber +1 deg 30 sec, +/- 30 sec.

For some reason, the technician couldnt figure this out.  What he asked for were "Minimum, Preference, and Maximum" setting in degrees.

I did some conversions taking the above info and converting to degrees.  Does this table make sense to you?  Any advice?

Min, Pref, Max (in degrees)
Front Caster: 3.75, 4.00, 4.25
Front Camber: 0.17, 0.17, 0.50
Front Toe-in: 0.16, 0.33, 0.50
           
Rear Toe-in: -0.33, 0.00, 0.33
Rear Camber:  1.00, 1.50, 2.00
            
Thanks!
Bob


bpossel
Memphis, TN.
1971 280SL
1997 E320

[erickmarciano]

Hi Bob what is your fax # I will fax you the sheet  I got from The alignment place from their machine with min and max etc...

1971 280sl
1962 VW
1954 Allstate vespa
1958 gs150 vespa
1962 gs160 vespa

[bpossel]

Hi Erick,

I dont have a fax number.  Could you scan it and email it to me?
robert.possel@stjude.org

If not, let me know and I'll see if I can find a fax machine, number.

Thanks!!!
Bob


bpossel
Memphis, TN.
1971 280SL
1997 E320

[erickmarciano]

sorry don't have a scaner you can send the fax # to erickmarciano@hotmail.com


1971 280sl
1962 VW
1954 Allstate vespa
1958 gs150 vespa
1962 gs160 vespa

[Benz Dr.]

Caster and camber usually won't move very much unless you have the whole ront end apart to install king pins.
I set the toe in close to 0 as it pulls in a bit at speed generating normal stability. Setting toe in to maximum will result in heavy tire wear.

 Rear camber moves all over the place as the swing axel moves up and down so what you want to look for is any measurments that are way out of spec. Some of this can be corrected using the cross strut or turning the spring plate. There's very little said about this on this site so I take it that people are either not interested or don't know about how to set up a rear axel. Until all the rubber bushings are replaced most of these adjustments are moot anyways.
Shock absorbers affect to overall handling of the car far more than you might believe so replace them if you have problems with handling that feels '' all over the road ''

Dan Caron's
 SL Barn
benzbarn@ebtech.net
 slbarn.mbz.org

[bpossel]

Hi Dan,

Thanks for your comments.  I agree.  I didnt find any info on our site regarding folks adjusting the rear.  I did read in the BBB about adjusting the rear via the rear spring retainer (of course, need to have good rubber on the rear springs, etc).  Also note that my shocks are nearly new, ~1 year old and car doesnt move around on the road.  I wanted to get the alignment since I changed the front king pin and upper & lower control arm bushings, etc.  I dont have any record of an alignment ever being done, so thought that it would be good to do.

I will see if Erick can fax his spec sheet to my office tomorrow.  If anyone else has any comments on how they did their alignment, that would be great!
Thanks again,
Bob

bpossel
Memphis, TN.
1971 280SL
1997 E320

[Bob G ✝︎]

I installed John Olsons progresive rate springs, can you tell me if this will change aligment specifications ?

Bob Geco

[bpossel]

Hi All,

Still trying to obtain the "correct" alignment specs (in degrees) for the 280sl...

Please look at the attached file.  The table shows what I have calculated based on the bbb.  The rows highlighted in yellow show the alignment numbers from Erick (the place that did his alignment)

Can anyone shed any light on what the "correct" numbers should be?

Anyone else done an alignment?

Thanks!!!
Bob

Download Attachment: alignment specs.jpg
49.43 KB

bpossel
Memphis, TN.
1971 280SL
1997 E320

[George Davis]

Bob,

For what it's worth, I checked your specs against the data book, and agree with all your numbers (not the ones in yellow).  However, the rear camber is measured WITH the hardtop installed (footnote 2).

Hope that helps.

George Davis
'69 280 SL Euro manual

[bpossel]

Hi George,

Thanks for your reply and confirmation on the numbers!
Regards,
Bob

bpossel
Memphis, TN.
1971 280SL
1997 E320