Visualiner, Acraliner, Dynaliner - calibration (bar, stands, track toe fixture)

Been meaning to write some of this up for a long time now.  A few weeks ago a guy from Germany sent me an email asking for details on the calibration bar and process for the FMC, John Bean, and Hofmann Acraliner/Visualiner/Dynaliner series of alignment machines.   I have a Visualiner 7904 that I use on occasion in my home shop.  Direct crossover to the 9900, 7900, and 5900 lines - but much similarity to the later machines, too.


He wrote:

Hi,
about two years ago you searched for a FMC Acraliner calibration kit.
I have the same problem :D I own a Hofmann Dynaliner which is the same
hardware but without the bar, the stands and the L. You wrote, that you
found all the parts. It would be very nice if you could measure the parts
that i can rebuild them.

Ok, here goes -

For the regular head calibration (camber, sai, cross toe) there's no critical dimensions to any of it.

At the end of the day, you need two stands that put the bar level above your turntables (or equiv).   The ability to spin the bar on the stand repeatably is needed, and if you can clamp the bar down it makes life a little better - but not required.

The factory stands have a second set of slots that you can use to put the bar at an angle and get a ~~4 degree change in either direction, useful for validating that a camber sensor is still working (I had one that would indicate 10 degress of change over that 4 degress)



For the bar, obviously you'll need pegs to fit your heads - pull the ID of the bushing and make a peg to fit. ;)

Width is not critical - I wish mine was wider, since my narrowest car is still 6-8 inches wider than the bar (so I have to slide my turntables in)
 - I'd say make it so the stands sit on your typical turntable placement and be happy.

The bar will ned some sort of groove to keep it located on the stands - you want it to not slide left/right on the stands, but instead sit in a repeatable location.

The bar will need 3 positions marked on it (and a pointer on the stand to indicate them) - these reflect the same 1/2/3 marks on the wheel brackets for runout.  mark 3 is at "top", with 1 and 2 being 45 degrees to each side of that.  (check your wheel brackets to confirm which direction - but it's not really critical.)


That's pretty much it - you end up with a bar parallel to your turntables that you put the heads on and calibrate to zero to match your floor or lift.  Since you do a runout check as part of the process, the bar doesn't need to be 100% straight - any runout gets factored out during the process.  Cross toe gets zeroed out there, too, since the heads are square to each other (+- runout).


Since I dont use mine daily, I always re-cal before every use.  And since I use the floor w/ home built stands, and not a lift (inside my 2 post, or outside of it for the trucks), my turntable positions aren't repeatable - so I set the car (these days I have the floor marked..) in place, mark it, drop the stands and turntables, then cal for that spot front and rear.



Now, the track toe calibration (front to rear lasers) is a lot more tricky and a lot more specific - the fixture is pretty small, so shipping to .de shouldn't be a major issue - I'd recommend buying one.   I can put you in touch with a guy in Canada who supplies my parts (and advice, Roy's a good guy!), he may have another track fixture.  If not, I have a few old leads I could pass on.

My guy in canada, who's really been the resource that's made it possible to keep this old guy going - feel free to tell him I sent you. :)

RAL Sales <ral_sales at shaw.ca>
Roy Looyenga
R.A.L Sales & Service
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
306.477.0900
http://www.ralsales.ca/



I'm happy to provide advice on calibrating and testing individual sensors, as well.

Pictures below!