Rear end alignment

[Starter986]

Originally Posted by The Radium King

well, camber is set by eccentric bolts on the lower control arms, and toe is set by eccentric bolts on the toe control arms. caster is not adjustable. these are your alignment variables. now, the lower control arms and the toe control arms attach to the rear subframe - this is a big bracket on each side of the car where the tops of the brackets are bolted to the frame and the bottoms are bolted to - all those bars and plates you are referring to.

so, if you were to remove the bars and plates, there is a small chance that the bottom of the subframe would move and affect alignment settings. the thing is, when you put them back in place things will pretty much go back to where they were. so, need to redo alignment? probably not. i think a lot of transmission undertrays have come on and off over the years without a follow-up alignment.

Thank you, RK. That make sense.

I figured that if the car were up on 4 jacks... and not moving around... nothing could really get out of "whack", necessitating an alignment. Now...

Before I tackle the transmission fluid I'm going to drain, flush, and refill the coolant. In an effort to retrieve all the old coolant, after first warming up the car with the heater on, I was going to slightly lower the rear end to encourage the coolant to follow gravity. Further, as I fill the coolant back up... I was going to lower the front end to encourage air to follow the path of least resistance. Do you believe that front/rear lowering will cause enough shift to reconsider an alignment (again, when everything is buttoned up)?

Finally... all 4 wheels are on the car... and unsupported. Will that cause a strain on any suspension parts or the axles? Should I remove the wheels? Likely I'll have the car on stands for the next month.

Thank you, again, for your consideration.