Hunter K111 Alignment machine calibration

[kevakasper]

I recently purchased a 90's Hunter K111 wheel alignment machine from a shop that broke their alignment lift. It is all functioning, boots up and all sensors read. I am able to compensate the sensors but am getting some pretty inconsistent readings. I have tried calling the local Hunter service rep, but he doesn't seem to thrilled about calibrating this old unit, if he even knows how. I understand there is a fixture that the heads are mounted onto, and he seemed to think a prism was also involved somehow. Any ex Hunter techs out there that can shed some light on the procedure? Any help would be appreciated. I have a bunch of cars that need to be lined up.

 

[3 Gun Shooter]

You'll need a fixture and a level rack. They are pretty easy to calibrate, I used to have my Hunter service guy calibrate mine when I was still at the dealership. Then I lucked out and he found an extra fixture he sold to me so I could calibrate my own heads.

You need to calibrate them if the head gets dropped and at the time we had a SM that thought 'the kids' could do alignments if they went through Hunter school. Main thing he didn't understand is it also takes experience to do them right and fast. He couldn't figure out why 'the kids' took 2-3 hours to maybe align a car, and I could do an alignment in 45 minutes floor to floor.

 

[kevakasper]

Can you send me a picture of the fixture? From another thread I saw that the older machines needed a separate circuit board installed on the motherboard to calibrate the heads?

 

[kevakasper]

I finally made contact with the Hunter service Tech, he is coming over tomorrow to do the calibration.

 

[CeloveSpeed_Garage]

Hi Kevakaster, nice you found a hunter service tech to come out and calibrate it for you, do you know how much does that cost for the calibration? I am in the progress of buying a hunter D111 with 4 stands and turntables for $450 is that a decent price do you think?

 

[3 Gun Shooter]

Hi Kevakaster, nice you found a hunter service tech to come out and calibrate it for you, do you know how much does that cost for the calibration? I am in the progress of buying a hunter D111 with 4 stands and turntables for $450 is that a decent price do you think?

If it all works the D111 is a great machine, used one at the dealership for years. Would be a good idea to get a new designed set on the tips for head where they mount to the wheel.

 

[CeloveSpeed_Garage]

If it all works the D111 is a great machine, used one at the dealership for years. Would be a good idea to get a new designed set on the tips for head where they mount to the wheel.

Sorry for the hijacking your thread @keva,

Seller said everything works and the machine was calibrated withing 18 months, I went to see it 2 days ago and screen was little bit blurry hard to read. But couldn't do any further testing, the head sensor has string type.
I own 4 cars that need aligment and that's way I was thinking on getting this machine instead paying 89.99 for each alignment.
Is $450 decent price for the D111 unit,4 stands and turntables or I'm getting ripoff?

 

[kevakasper]

My machine got calibrated yesterday, he charged $100. I am buying an L111 this weekend as it's too good of a deal to pass up. DSP200 heads in like new conditon, 7 discs, and the console is a lot smaller than my K111. I am going to see which works better and then sell the other. My K111 has DSP100 heads and everything works. These are really great bargains as they were thousands new. The technology they developed back in the 80/90's is amazing. The computer basically takes the dimensions that the heads are throwing and zero's those dimensions into memory. The Jig was impressive, he had a brand new disc from hunter to do the calibration. Told him I'll see him in a few weeks.. Actually he agreed with me to set up my machine on my car and record the readings, then hook up the other one. If it reads the same it should be good.
He also gave me the downloads for the DSP100 and 200 manuals!

 

[3 Gun Shooter]

Sorry for the hijacking your thread @keva,

Seller said everything works and the machine was calibrated withing 18 months, I went to see it 2 days ago and screen was little bit blurry hard to read. But couldn't do any further testing, the head sensor has string type.
I own 4 cars that need aligment and that's way I was thinking on getting this machine instead paying 89.99 for each alignment.
Is $450 decent price for the D111 unit,4 stands and turntables or I'm getting ripoff?

If it works AND has the four stands for under a lift, it's a good buy.

 

[CeloveSpeed_Garage]

My machine got calibrated yesterday, he charged $100. I am buying an L111 this weekend as it's too good of a deal to pass up. DSP200 heads in like new conditon, 7 discs, and the console is a lot smaller than my K111. I am going to see which works better and then sell the other. My K111 has DSP100 heads and everything works. These are really great bargains as they were thousands new. The technology they developed back in the 80/90's is amazing. The computer basically takes the dimensions that the heads are throwing and zero's those dimensions into memory. The Jig was impressive, he had a brand new disc from hunter to do the calibration. Told him I'll see him in a few weeks.. Actually he agreed with me to set up my machine on my car and record the readings, then hook up the other one. If it reads the same it should be good.
He also gave me the downloads for the DSP100 and 200 manuals!

Thank you for all the information! I'll pick up the D111 and hopefully everything works

 

[kevakasper]

I picked up another unit on Sunday. It is an L111 and is considerably smaller than my K111. The guy said he was having problems with a head. He had taken it partially apart and gave up. I bought it for the software, good heads and the machine was still booting up. Got it home, re assembled the head and connected it on my workbench. All the heads read. Last night I set up my lift and connected up my K111 to see how it read compared to my bubble gauge alignment. I am pretty much spot on! I can tweak it a bit but I wanted a base line to see how the L111 was reading. It is close but I'm going to get it calibrated too. The deal came with 4 really nice DSP100 heads, the wheel adapters that are almost new looking, 4 newer cables 7 discs, and the L111 machine. I think I'll put it away for a rainy day or maybe sell off the K111. I got a lot of extras with the K111 that I will keep. I'm pretty set up now. Bring on the alignments.

 

[vw_speedsterke]

do you have a user manual?

 

[vw_speedsterke]

You'll need a fixture and a level rack. They are pretty easy to calibrate, I used to have my Hunter service guy calibrate mine when I was still at the dealership. Then I lucked out and he found an extra fixture he sold to me so I could calibrate my own heads.

can you make self a fixture and level rack?
can i have a picture

i have a G111

 

[kevakasper]

can you make self a fixture and level rack?
can i have a picture

i have a G111

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[86turbodsl]

You guys that are familiar with the Hunter alignment machines, is this something you can add to a 4-post lift? I see these things in the craigslists locally for 300-500 all the time, i have a 4post lift. Can i add the turntables and the machine and do alignments?

 

[kevakasper]

The answer is yes with conditions. Your deck on your lift needs to be dead nuts level. You need 2 jacks to lift the car and put the turn tables under, then drop the car. You will need four turn tables.

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[patallen]

Hi, sorry to hijack this old thread but it is the only valuable and unique source of info i found about calibration process for thoses machine.

I do have a K111 under repair for my personnal usage. i made back-up copy of all eeproms and floppy disquette. i am electronic enginner so i can push very far on this.

my local rep is inapt to help me for the calibration. so i am on my own on this.

it needs calibration.

Is there any way to get the elusive 3720t calibation manual and the special disquette ?

i am assuming it requires a calibration software independant of the actual
software.

Thanks for the share of the picture of the fixture this helped me a lot to figure out what was (not realy) needed.


regards,
Pat Allen
CANADA

 

[kevakasper]

Hi, sorry to hijack this old thread but it is the only valuable and unique source of info i found about calibration process for thoses machine.

I do have a K111 under repair for my personnal usage. i made back-up copy of all eeproms and floppy disquette. i am electronic enginner so i can push very far on this.

my local rep is inapt to help me for the calibration. so i am on my own on this.

it needs calibration.

Is there any way to get the elusive 3720t calibation manual and the special disquette ?



i am assuming it requires a calibration software independant of the actual
software.

Thanks for the share of the picture of the fixture this helped me a lot to figure out what was (not realy) needed.


regards,
Pat Allen
CANADA

The process for calibration is as follows. You need the Jig. It is leveled and allows the 4 heads to be perfectly square to each other. The heads are then compensated. He inserts the software and puts the machine into calibration mode. If any of the heads are way out, he has a prism that attaches in front of the optic on the head. He then hard adjusts the head. If the heads are not that far out, the machine take a reading from all heads and then zeros out the machine to those measurements. That is why you can not swap heads. Once they are calibrated, they read to each other and the baseline is the square fixture.

 

[patallen]

Thanks sir for the details.
now it look obvious that i need to find a copy of the disquette/programm.

any idea where i can get one ? hunter is not very responsive on this one...

thanks very much

 

[kevakasper]

Thanks sir for the details.
now it look obvious that i need to find a copy of the disquette/programm.

any idea where i can get one ? hunter is not very responsive on this one...

thanks very much

You need to contact Hunter, I was able to get a hold of the local service rep, who was a pretty young kid who had just taken over the territory. He had a brand new disc. He had to have just gotten it from Hunter. The jig was well worn but intact. It had some other guys name on it. He had to call in for some exact procedures as this was years behind any training he had been given. Between he and I we figured it out on the older machine. The second time it took us 1/2 the time. I paid him $100.00 each time, well worth it! If you can't find anyone in Canada I'll send you my guy's number, maybe he can order you a disc. You will need a jig in order to do the calibration. Maybe Hunter would give you the name of former techs. You need the old school guys.

 

[patallen]

thanks very much for the information. i had same issue, the actual local rep is a young kid, but he is completely unusable on this. the other guy was much nicer, i followed the road force training with him (balancing machine).

i was able, based on the pictures, to make a test jig so i can align the heads perfectly and see how far they are off. its just a matter of putting them together in a prfect square and leveled.

problem is, one of the heads got droped off and it shows wrong numbers a bit off, after repaired.

On another side, as i am EE i am reversing completely the machine. i am on my way to decipher the content of the eeprom in each heads that contains the calibration numbers. there isnt a lot in thoses. so maybe at the end i will be able to tweak the numbers manualy and get back a zeroed head.
i am extremely well trained with assembly programming and eeprom manipulation.
fwiw i can copy the disquette as well.

i contacted hunter few hours ago...lets see what they have to tell me about the calibration disquette...

thanks !!

 

[kevakasper]

After a lot of searching I finally came up with the align rite set that I mimicked with my plates. It has 8 sets of adapters and the plates. I got the whole set for $500.00, It retails for $1400.00. Now I can do any car and get the heads on my L111 to fit even my 22" wheels on my Escalade!

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[patallen]

my local rep doesnt want to do the calibration nor he cannot sell me any parts or calibration floppy....anyone out there would know someone who could sell me a copy ?

 

[kevakasper]

My Hunter tech Mark 224 656 7386

 

[patallen]

My Hunter tech Mark 224 656 7386

would you have his email ?
i dont want to bother him either but...
my native language is french so he may not understand me at all...

thanks very much

 

[kevakasper]

would you have his email ?
i dont want to bother him either but...
my native language is french so he may not understand me at all...

thanks very much

I can call him and ask

 

[patallen]

I can call him and ask

that would be great !!!

 

[kevakasper]

I left him a message

 

[patallen]

awesome, thanks very much

fwiw i do have all the manuals, operation, service, for the machine and the dsp200heads.

 

[patallen]

fwiw i found a way to mechanicaly alter some of the sensors to calibrate the machine without the software, as i didnt found anything else to make it, otherwise the machine was not usable as is, way too unprecise. my attemp worked great, had my car aligned then compared on another friend machine (hawk eye) and it was extremely close, local rep from Hunter and Hunter themselves dont want to help me at all.

 

[Nico_DK]

Hi.

I just bought an old Hunter L111 with DSP200 heads and tunplates for about 75$
Wasn't working when i got it, but i figured out it was the powersupply and threw together a new one out of 3 laptop chargers. Works perfectly.

I had it running for a few days and decided to try to change the floppy-drives for USB-emulators.
Unfortunately in the process one of the old fragile floppy-disks was damaged and is now unreadable.

Does anyone out there have an image-file of the system-floppy? The one for the 3.0-drive?
One that they can share.

Would be much appreciated.

 

[patallen]

fwiw you can purchase floppy on e-bay for a modest sum. theses are very hard to duplicate because of theirs format.

if you throw the floppy into a windows type pc you will eventualy erase it just by trying to read it, just make sure the protection is enable on the disk.

i DO have the image files from the latest udpate (2006 iirc).

 

[patallen]

fwiw i found an ex rep in usa who sold me the calibration disc. with a home made jig, very similar to the original one, i successfuly calibrated my machine.
the whole procedure is relatively easy, but you have to know your stuff. if the jig is bad, the calibration will be bad, of course.
regards
Pat

 

[eberger]

I have a Hunter H111 that was in my shop, but we closed and it's sitting in my garage. We couldn't get the Hunter tech to come out and calibrate the heads. i would watch them when they use the calibration fixture, they are real secretive about that stuff. I'm curious about the fixture you built, can you share some details?

Eddie

 

[albertbobcat]

Anyone know how to mount the older h111 heads to the calibration fixture?