The American Council of Frame and Alignment Specialists will offer a technician training clinic on alignment August 20-21 in Scott, Louisiana, at Lafayette Spring Company.

The event will have both a classroom component and a hands-on opportunity to better teach technicians the proper ways to perform an alignment, as well as gain first-hand experience in putting these skills into practice.

The classroom sessions will be led by James Roark, owner of Akron Wheel and Frame, and Gordon Botts, owner of Botts Welding and Truck Service. The hands-on training will be presented by Bee Line Company trainer Chris Schutt.

"The most basic question is: What is an alignment?" notes Botts. "We all know that it is the process of ‘gauging and correcting’ to ensure that all axles are parallel to each other and perpendicular to the vehicle centerline. What technicians frequently overlook is that this means gauging and correcting all aspects of the frame, from front to back and top to bottom.... Too many truck owners have been educated in the tire shop mentality of 'set the toe and let it go.'"

The topics to be covered during the classroom sessions will include:

• Vehicle inspection: steering components, tires and wheels

• Steer axle suspension

• King pins and wheel end play

• Steering gear and linkage

• Drive axle suspension

• Chassis frame

The hands-on instruction will provide real life experience in the following areas:

• Inspect and calibrate front and rear axle alignment equipment

• Review the use of a computerized laser alignment system

• Review and perform vehicle pre-assessment

• Identify tooling used for caster and camber set-ups

• Set up and adjustments of caster and camber (including toe-in adjustment)

• Rear axle alignment (setting up gauging)

For more information or to register, contact Gordon Botts at gbotts@bottswelding.com.