inclinometer manual adjustment - how to

[dlb]

i was lucky enough to get my hands on another inclinometer, this one from gottolovem (thanks dan!). the only problem i found with it was that even using the 'adjust' knob, i couldn't get the angles anywhere close to 0*—the best side/side angle i could get was 20* and the best front/back was about 5*, and when i used the lock dial, it set their neutral positions to 30* and 25* respectively. i initially thought something was really messed up so i took it all apart expecting some complex, interesting solution, but it wound up being so simple it was silly. i took pics anyway though so here it is.

the angles locked in their supposedly neutral positions.



adjusted as close to 0* as i could get them.



to level those things out, first remove the screws at both ends of the inclinometer.



firmly hold the guts of the device in one hand and the cover in the other and give a hard tug. the metal clip my finger is pointing to needs to be freed from the plastic tab that my thumb is pointing to. (note: it's best to do this in a warm place so the plastic is less brittle and less likely to break.)



do the same thing on the other end. there is also a clip in the middle, shown here. pull it apart too.



now that the cover is off, remove the screws that fasten the guts to the mounting plate and separate them. i'm pointing to them here with my finger and the screwdriver.



use a very small flat blade screwdriver to remove the tiny screws securing the lock and adjust knobs. these are extremely small, special screws, so don't lose them! hold each knob with one hand while you undo the screw with the other. firmly pull the knobs off.



remove the four face plate screws and pull the face plate off.





remove these two small screws from the back side of the inclinometer guts.



now the angle-measuring unit will just fall out.



twist the 'lock' shaft to get the graphic wheels in their neutral positions. then, for the front/back angle, hold the weighted gear on the side of the unit still with one hand and simply twist the front/back graphic wheel until it looks flat, like so.



for the side/side angle, hold the weight on the back of the unit still with one hand and twist the side/side graphic wheel. here is the side/side weight.



once the both graphic wheels are flat, reassemble in the same order. the only thing to note is to make sure the the graphic wheels are sitting perpendicular to their shafts. when i first put this back together, the side/side wheel wouldn't move but it was only because the wheel was off at a slight angle and getting stuck against the face plate. i just had to push down on one side of the wheel lightly to get it to sit with the necessary clearance from the face plate. in this picture, you can see how slightly angled the wheel was so try to keep them quite flat.

[ARCHINSTL]

Another great how-to from dlb!
To ease the possibility of breaking the plastic that the metal clips engage in photo #4 (and the plastic one in #5) - is there room to get the straw from an aerosol silicone spray can to pretreat it?
Maybe ditto on reassembly, or perhaps plumbers' silicone grease?
Tom M.

[dlb]

thanks tom! yes, i think from the bottom of the inclinometer you should be able to reach a straw up there to lube the clips on the side. that's a really good idea. i don't think the clip in the top center can be reached on disassembly but it doesn't hold very firmly anyway.

[Gottolovem]

I wonder how it got out of "square" in the first place?
I thought it was all good when I pulled it!
It's good to know there manually adjustable I have left them behind in the past thinking they were totally out of wack.

[dlb]

I wonder how it got out of "square" in the first place?
I thought it was all good when I pulled it!

i've been wondering that too. the graphic wheels are pretty firmly set on their shafts so it seems like the only way they would get into incorrect positions would be if someone took it apart and messed around with it like i did. the only other thing i could think of was maybe a really hard, jarring blow to the vehicle, like being in a hwy-speed rollover accident, could alter them, but i think most tercs that went through that would end up in the crusher right away and not a pick n' pull. so i really have no idea.

hmmm, continuing with the above thought—maybe it was fine when you pulled it but it got violently shaken around in shipping! i don't know what else it could be.

[Petros]

maybe the inclinometer got confused when it was shipped? It thought the car was turning over and over. you opened the box and found it in a state of confusion.

[nightcrawler07]

Solid write up, and for that- I thank you. I had to take mine a little bit further and troubleshoot the adjustment more. It was just being....weird. Anyway, after just looking at the internal unit for several minutes, I found if you follow the metal rod that holds each image, there is a circle spring at the base of each one. It didn't take me long to realize that one of mine appeared to be....uncoiled?

I tried to grab a pair of tweezers and pull it where it anchors into the unit, however this did nothing. I then realized that by rotating the picture of the Tercel, the spring appeared to be either tightening or loosening further, depending on the direction you spun. What I think happened to mine, and potentially most of these that are out of alignment is that someone just tried to spin the adjustment knob and didn't stop. Or maybe a little kid was just playing with the knobs or something, tough to say.

Sadly I was not ever able to get mine back to perfect. When it lines up in the lock position, it is nowhere near correct in the unlocked position, and vice versa. I just set it as close as I could to the unlocked mode for the time being. Now it wont show me as doing a monster wheelie down the streets

[Mogordo]

My car has an inclinometer that I didn't pay much attention to. I didn't know what the lock and adjust knobs were for so I just didn't touch them (I didn't want to accidentally tip my car over with the touch of a dial...Hehe (: ). Driving the last stretch of my driveway is a bit like off-roading but otherwise my driving is pretty tame. I was just perusing posts and after reading about it I decided to risk turning the knob to unlock the meter and wouldn't you know those little cars started moving around. Good thing I was just in my driveway because I was watching them more than where I was going, I just kept cracking up. Sometimes it doesn't take much to amuse me...I re-locked it when I got home. Still haven't tried the adjust knob. Easing into it I guess (: I think it may not be quite adjusted right.
Thanks everyone! I'm glad to know a bit more about the inclinometer.

[dlb]

Nice, everyone loves the inclinometers. They're so fun. Whenever I gave friends rides in my cars with inclinometers, they were all mesmerized by it too.

If yours is out of adjustment a bit, it probably just needs a normal adjustment using the dial. But if that doesn't work, this guide can help with getting it sorted out.

[Mogordo]

I think you are right that mine is probably fine to be adjusted with the the knob. I was looking for more information on that but didn't find it (perhaps because it is often self-explanatory...). Mostly a lot about people having them for sale or wanting to buy one. And a few threads like this one explaining actual repairs. I thought I might understand after I tried the knob but have yet to. Do you just park it somewhere level and adjust so the meter shows level? I don't how precise it is and I might only think I'm on level ground and not be. Does that matter? Or is that not even the right guess?
Thanks
Cari

[dlb]

Yep, park somewhere relatively level and then push the lower knob and turn to adjust the side to side angle, and pull it and turn to adjust front to back angle. It's just for fun so it doesn't need to be precise.

[Mogordo]

Great! I think I can handle that (: Thanks!