Adjusting front toe
 

I'm thinking of messing with the front toe of my 82SC with turbo tie rods. I really don't want to break out the jack stands and set up the strings. Does anyone know how much toe will change (in degrees, minutes, inches...) with one turn of the tie rod adjustment?

I wouldn't mess with it without setting up some strings.
I can adjust mine while it's on all four....not easily but have done it.
Might need to jack the front up to break the lock nuts free as it's hard to get leverage on them when on the ground.

For toe you can get some really simple 'toe plates' at least that what I think they are called - I have a set of rebel racing ones that are aluminum plates that set against the wheels and let you meaure the front and rear distance between the tires and quickly see difference, and whether you have toe in or out.

That said, I have moved my tie rods during adjustment and I make very small changes (1/4 turn of each rod) to move about 1/4" or so, maybe a touch less, of toe adjustment. I have my crossmember marked on each side with an arrow and 'TOE-IN' direction so I don't goof up and turn them the wrong way during adjustment.

Question though - how do you know which way to adjust if you can't measure whether you have toe in or toe out to start with???

BTW I'm very cautious to drive very far with toe or camber very far off, because I believe this wears your tires in a way that isn't easily corrected once the tread gets feathered. May be no truth to this, but I at least like to get my alignment 'close' before driving, and I'm not sure how you are going to do this without some measurement method...

Chuck.H
'89 TurboLookTarga, 363k miles

i have been doing my cars with a tape measure for years. just hook it on a tread block that remains consistant . measure as high up as you can in front and back . with two people. you can get it pretty spot on like that.

I do this about once a year on my race car. You can make some measurements and do the math yourself. It's so easy I do it from scratch each time. Measure the distance from the center of rotation (ball joint) to the tie rod end. Note the number of mm per turn on the tie rod threads (I think it's 1.5 but it might be 1.0mm), you can measure that as well. The rest is just geometry. Siri can tell you the ARCSIN of the ratio of the arm to thread width. Convert from radians to degrees (about 57 degrees per radian).

For example if the distance is 200mm and you turn the tie rod 1 turn the ratio is 1.5 over 200. This is the sin of the angle you just made. In this example the angle is .0075 radians or .4275 degrees.

-Andy

Thanks for all the input fellas. Just trying to figure an easier way to adjust toe. I've done the string method more times than I care to count.

I use what would loosely translate to "toe fork". It consists of a carbon fiber tube with two aluminum tubes fixed to it.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1380353024.jpg

The toe angle can then be measured using a ruler or a slide caliper, depending on the degree of precision required.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1380353093.jpg

It takes some practice to use, but it's worked like a charm on all my cars. It's also been used on several race cars.

/Peter