I have a bit of an issue,

I was at the alignment guys place today and he couldnt get any adjustment from my pass side tie rod to actually register on his machine.

Mechanically the adjustable rods where adjusting but why didnt it show up on his guage?

He ended up doing it ghetto style by measuring the lengths of the rods. They are equal and she pulls nice and straight.

Everything is new and adjustable.

Nothing appears to be loose...

any ideas?

thanks all

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I guess the tie rod was the rack end ball joint, so he would be just doing toe in/out. I would say his laser stuffed up. If it is tracking OK and not pulling to one side then should be OK.

When I get home you can borrow my wheel aglinement bars and double check it all

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Research is the difference between speculation and investment. Anyone who copys some one else will always be second
www.minisprintgt.com

dave it was the tie bar rods he was adjusting.

He set the toe in with the lazer as per norm with no issues but he could no get the tie bar rod adjustment represented on the screen.

He did not put his clamps on the rear tires only the fronts. He just ran an elastic cable through the centre line of the rear wheels and clipped it to the rear underneath.

We had the same issue last time I took it to him. so we just set it up even and left it at that.


After the first time I took it home and pulled the adjustable rods out, checked the threads, put new bushes in, checked the steering rack, checked all the subby mounting bolts...

meh, It drives fine and feels safe...


something to think about I spose....

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Caster is a measure of the fore and aft angle of a line between the top and bottom ball joints. The top one can't move (as long as the joint is healthy), the bottom moves forwards and back as the length of the tie rod changes.

If the front mount is not moving then the position of bottom joint (and hence caster) MUST change as the rod length is adjusted.

Maybe the gauge is faulty....try somewhere else.

Cheers, Ian

maybe the upper arm is moving?

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I doubt it, because......





Your wheel aligner guy is required check all the susension components before starting to do the wheel alignment.

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If I do it again I will just measure from the center of the rear wheel to the center of the front. I will keep the 30$ in my pocket.

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That's fine if your rears are in perfect alignment, which I'll bet $50 they aren't

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Simon

The adventures of an owner builder in the Tallarook Ranges

tell me about it... I looked under a car that had a wheel alignment by a major suspension sales and support chain and found the right bottom ball-joint had 2 threads left before it dropped off



I did my own rear alignment, it was crabbing badly so I fitted rear brackets and did it with a piece of string. When I went to the wheel alignment place to have it done properly, I'd set it up with +0.2* on one side, and -0.2* on the other - pretty close! my front-end job wasn't flash, same on both sides, but 3* total toe out

but as long as each side is an equal distance apart it will pull straight?

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Not necessarily.

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