Which adjustment most affects Return to Center? I had the front end aligned on my 66 442, and it does not do a good job of centering up after a turn. It tracks nice and straight, with no pull or shimmy. Of course this was done at shop like a Les Schwab, not by anyone with experience with these older cars.

 

Insufficient toe-in, camber and steering box adjusted too tightly. Can you post the finished specs?
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They’re supposed to “lock” the steering wheel in place at dead center when performing the alignment. They unfasten (loosen) both tie-rod clamp(s) during the alignment process. They then perform the alignment. The last thing to get tightened up are the tie-rod clamps. Since the steering wheel still remains in place at dead center and the last thing to be tightened are the tie-rod clamps, then the tie-rod clamps “position” when tightened down determines where the steering wheel position is currently located (e.g. dead center) at the end of the alignment. At least that’s my take on returning steering wheel to center during an alignment process.

 

Steering box is new from Rock Auto. Front suspension is all brand new. Steering wheel is straight, just doesn't want to snap back to center after a turn.

------------LF ---------- RF
Camber .2 -----------.1
Caster -1.4-----------2.0
Toe In .16------------.17

 

Caster affects return-to-center.

You would ideally like a positive number for this adjustment for strong centering.

If that can't be done, set to highest possible (closest to zero). I believe the high end of factory spec is negative 1/2°.

 

Yes caster needs adjustment. When i got a new box from rockauto, it took approx 300 miles of every day driving to loosen up and provide easy RTC, even w caster settings of about +2