Front Toe Question

[kyngfish]

So I have my rears dialed in, in camber and toe, and I shifted to set the front toe, which should be easy. But what I found is that when I turned the threads on the tie rod, it had no impact on the toe. It was already late at night and I wasn’t thinking clearly. I called it a night for now.

My guess is that my mistake is that since the car was up in the air, with no resistance on the rack, the turn on the tie rod was pushing the rack in the other direction rather than pushing the wheel. So actually I’m probably jacking the opposite wheel toe.

Two questions:

1. In this scenario does using the normal steering wheel lock work? (The seatbelt doesn’t fit around the wheel and back to the buckle.
2. Or... Do I need to do this with the car on the ground instead? I’ve tried the grease bag thing before without a ton of success, and also with the car being rather low, I’d rather have the car up, but...figured I’d ask.

[dannobee]

You can't check toe with the wheels up in the air because of bump steer. The toe will change as the suspension goes through bump and rebound. Another thing to consider is that changing the toe on one side will result in a steering wheel that is no longer centered.

If your steering wheel is straight on your initial test drive, you'll need to move both tie rods to keep everything aligned. If the steering wheel is off to one side or the other, you can usually manipulate one tie rod to fix the toe and steering wheel at the same time (or at least improve both).

When you say the "normal steering wheel lock," are you referring to the anti-theft column lock? If so, it doesn't usually lock with the steering wheel centered. You'll need a steering wheel holder or something on the seat to hold the steering wheel in place.

A few layers of waxed paper under the wheels will let the tires move enough to check your readings.

[kyngfish]

I’m not checking the toe while up in the air. I check it on the ground and bring the car up to make it easier to adjust. This works well with the rear. But maybe not with the front. I think there needs to be resistance on the opposite tire otherwise essentially the steering rack has less resistance pushing BACK to the opposite wheel as I adjust vs pushing the toe out for the other wheel.

Clear on adjusting toe only on one side, but in measuring, I noticed one wheel was correct, while the other wheel has 1/4” toe-in which isn’t correct.

[Mahler9th]

Takes some practice to adjust toe. I have lots of practice on many different Porsches.

My race car is lower than most street cars yet I can reach the tie rod ends without raising and lowering the car.

Toe can be set/adjusted without a level surface. I have used a variety of things to help the front tires move freely (they are 12 inch wide slicks). Example-- two pieces of garbage bag material with WD 40, oil, lithium grease... just something slippery to help things move.

When challenged by a car's configuration for front toe measuring and adjusting, one can place "something" under both front tires... then put the slip contraption between the tires and the "something."

An example of a "something" one can buy are the budget rolloffs from Longacre:

https://www.longacreracing.com/products.aspx?itemid=1790&prodid=7154&pagetitle=Budget-Roll-Offs

Something like this can be easily made as well.

I usually do toe with full alignment and since I also do my own CB work and have scales, I decided about 10 years ago to invest in a set of these:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Longacre-Computerscale-Rolloffs-For-2-5-Longacre-Intercomp-Scales-ROLL-OFFS/132214506258?hash=item1ec8994312:g:sJ0AAOSwQpZgPw~ 3

[kyngfish]

Yeah i think i need to invest in something like that. I do 100% of everything for my car and honestly having the right tools to just make the job a bit easier is not something I’ve ever regretted investing in.

[Knockdown]

Hubstands really make it easier!

[Eagledriver]

You can make the adjustments with the car in the air, then check when back on the ground. You have to do both sides the same amount to keep the steering wheel straight. I calculate how much to turn the tie rods based on the pitch of the threads and the steering arm distance from the ball joint. Usually hit it on the first try but sometimes it takes a couple of iterations.

-Andy