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Re: Cockeyed wheels after new tie rod ends, long reply Posted by Cmyles [Email]  (#1126) [Profile/Gallery]
(more from Cmyles) on Sat, 11 Sep 2010 08:40:04
In Reply to: Re: Cockeyed wheels after new tie rod ends, greatlarz, Sat, 11 Sep 2010 00:08:55 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
swoody,
Larry has the right idea there. It seems that you can't trust new tie rod ends anymore to be identical to the old ones. Having the wheel slightly off center is annoying but having the toe set wrong will eat your tires real fast to say the least. The main reason for a tie rod end to be barely screwed on is that it was installed with the rack shifted way off center so do like Larry described and center the rack first. The direct way to do that is to remove the tie rod ends and then screw them both back on the same number of turns. If you do that the rack is centered but your "toe" setting is unknown and your steering wheel may be off center. Centering the steering wheel is the least concern and always done last after centering the rack and setting the toe in.
So now that the rack is centered you should set the toe. The standard setting is 2 (+ or - 1) mm toed IN (front edges closer together than back edges). I made a measuring tool by carefully bending a length of 3/4" EMT (thinwall electrical conduit) into a giant "U" shape with the two upright arms precisely 90 degrees to the base and precisely parallel. To use it you find a nice flat, level, hard, smooth, dry place and approach at low speed, straight in so you know that the wheels are equally positioned (ignore steering wheel orientation). Then you measure the toe and turn the tie rod ends equal amounts, both in or both out, until you have the desired measurements. It helps to have an assistant for using the measuring contrivance which is slid under the car and then rotated so that it lies on the ground with the ends upright against the outermost part of the tires, first at the front edge then at the back edge. By the way, the technique for adjusting is to rotate the shaft not the tie rod end. You don't detach the tie rod end from the steering knuckle every time you adjust. I take the small clamp off of the outer end of the gator and rotate it back after the tie rod end is locked. You don't want the gator twisted or it will soon rip.
Lastly, centering the steering wheel is a matter of screwing one tie rod end in and the other out exactly equal amounts until the wheel is centered. If the steering wheel is more than a little (say 10 degrees) off center it will need to be reset on the steering shaft splines. If that's the case, since you have an airbag, go read this post:
# Re: steering wheel adjustment, Larry West , Wed, 19 Aug 2009 09:34:59
After doing that you should check the toe measurement again and adjust if necessary. You may have to alternate between setting the toe and centering the steering wheel for a while before it's perfect and you'll find that small fractions of a turn (of the tie rod end) will make a significant difference. Hold the tie rod end straight up while you rotate the shaft and lock the nut, the small amount that it rolls over will eventually become significant. Drive the car a bit and re-check the measurement a few times just to be sure it's right and then keep an eye on your front tires for pronounced wear on both inner or both outer edges as that indicates an alignment problem typical of incorrect toe. Of course you could always have your work checked on an alignment rack too but look out for findings of incorrect caster or camber as most of those guys can't deal with the shimming process on these old cars and you'll end up in a trick bag. If your car has never been wrecked and no one has messed with the shims then the caster and camber are most likely just fine anyway so tell them to just check the toe. Wow, my typing finger is sore, good luck.
posted by 198.233....
, Sun, 12 Sep 2010 08:55:41, Sun, 12 Sep 2010 09:39:43, Sun, 12 Sep 2010 10:10:57, Sat, 11 Sep 2010 09:54:29, Sat, 11 Sep 2010 09:33:30, Sat, 11 Sep 2010 08:40:04 <-- Viewing This Message, Thu, 16 Sep 2010 07:15:36
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