diy steering alignment..

[SkippyThBushKangeroo]

hi groovers .. am doing a  steering align  on ol futile  backyard like  and thought ..  (unusual)..    if any of  you buga,beddicts  . had your own ways of checkin your steering at home... assuming of course it is on straight level ground.. also had a look around site but couldnt fond any specs on what toe in and camber etc  is  ...anyone have this info  or an opinion,      idea ,  understanding of,  or even bugaweigian religious view      on this request... cheers dears skippy 

[rumax]

Skippy, If you have a manual (Haynes, not transmission  ) read page 191 of the hardback version. it reads.. (and excuse any typo's) ..As a temporary measure only, where tie rods have been removed and installed without noting their original position, it is possible to set the toe-in approximately as described below. With the vehicle on level ground, measure the distance between the wheel rim at wheel centre height, at the front and rear of the wheel. If the difference between these measurements is outside that specified, slacken the clips on the steering gear/tie-rod rubber boots, hold the ball joint firmly with a spanner to prevent loading the ball joint seating then slacken the locknut. Repeat this for the other tie rod.

If the measured toe-in was too small (or the wheels toeing out)screw in each tie rod by an equal amount into the ball joint sleeve. blah, blah, blah.... it says no more than 1 turn at a time and to check before tightening everything up by rolling the car a few metres. Toe in should be between .76 and 3.3 mm

Cheers
Russell

[MaTTe]

The way we setup the race cars is as follows.

You'll need 4x house bricks or similar and 2 lengths of 50x50 tube or similar preferably over a metre long. These must be straight, if bent in one direction, ensure it is the up/down direction.

set up the bricks infront and behind both tyres, prop the tube on the bricks. push the tube square onto the tyre, ensuring it is touching both front and back on the tyre on each side.

Get someone to hold the measuring tape on the other side while you measure infront of the tyre and at the rear of the tyre, the greater the distance apart you measure the more noticeable the difference will be.

For a street car 0mm toe in/out are ideal

Crack the locknuts on the tie rods at both ends and rotate the tie rod as needed, you may need vice grips on the tie rod to turn it.

turn the steering wheel in each direction a bit before returning to centre to recheck the settings.

You can tell visually how close you are by whether the front tyre is within or past the back tyre when you sight across the front and back of the front tyre.

Camber you can check with any standard spirit level, for a street car you basically want them true.

Caster we have a special gauge for.

[BusyKiwi]

I think bedfords are 15 degrees offset

[SkippyThBushKangeroo]

thanks for input guys i used mattes  method...   plus a stringline also  and i also equalled both tie rod threads around the same  length  till i had the same measurement of 1951mm both front and back of front wheels, which at an educated guess would make the wheels straight ahead... are u saying kiwi that i will now have to adjust them both 15 degrees toe in ??  which would be rumaxs measurements in mm ??

[SkippyThBushKangeroo]

just talked to the old guy i use for wheel aligning ( arthur from southern wheel alignment clarence gardens for u adelaide bugas if u want a good alignment at half the price of anywhere else in town) he,s not open till next week but he  informed me that the toe in as matte said should be zero... bit of info for u groovers ... so today is the day i head north ( sigh..finally) woohooo keep u all posted on my adventure ...take it easy an all of u have an awesome new year... cheers skippy :-)

[rumax]

Safe trip, Skippy.