wheel alignment

[tmckeon88]

Does anyone know the sort of dummy's trick for aligning the front end? It seems to me I saw Les Parker do a demonstration at a rally in Petersham, MA years ago which involved tying a long string around the perimeter of the four wheels and then adjusting the steering rods to get the string to lie flush with the front wheels? Does this sound familiar to anyone? If anyone has done this, or Les, if you have time, can you fill me in on the procedure?

thanks,
Tom

[parrie]

Does anyone know the sort of dummy's trick for aligning the front end? It seems to me I saw Les Parker do a demonstration at a rally in Petersham, MA years ago which involved tying a long string around the perimeter of the four wheels and then adjusting the steering rods to get the string to lie flush with the front wheels? Does this sound familiar to anyone? If anyone has done this, or Les, if you have time, can you fill me in on the procedure?

thanks,
Tom

Hey Tom, that's the basic idea & should get you pretty close but first the front wheels should be squared-up so that they are tracking the same and relatively square with the frame...the green bible gives the initial spacing dimension of the front wheels. Once you feel good that everything is square an easy check is to get the tires wet and drive in a straight line on dry pavement...if everything is square the tire tracks should line up and track on top of one another, if not square the tracks will not line up and over-lap each other. Once you get it where you like it it would be worth having it checked professionally as it doesn't take long to chew up a tire or two. Good Luck.

[blueseriesii]

My quick and dirty solution to align the front tires involves a few pieces of wood and seems to work well for me. I start with a 1 x 6 about 6'long. I place this flat on the ground under the front of the car with one edge touching each front tire. Next step is a 1x2 about 30" long. I hold this vertically on the sidewall of one of the front tires and make a reference mark where it lands on the 1x6. Move to the other side of the vehicle and make a reference mark here as well. Now place the 1x6 in back of the tires and holding the 1x2 against one of the tires slide the 1x6 to align it to the corresponding pencil mark you made. Now go to the other side and compare the first reference mark to where the vertical stick lands now. This show the amount of toe-in or toe-out and adjust tie rods from there till you get the toe-in where you like it.