troyguitar

I just finished adding a degree of camber to the front end of my 2004 C5Z in an attempt to combat understeer, went from -1.5 to -2.5 degrees and it also added a LOT of toe in. I had to back out both tie rods quite a bit (~2.5 turns each side) to zero it back out and was wondering if anyone has measured the length of the threaded portion on a stock tie rod. How far can you back them out before you need to get a longer rod and/or end?

I guess I could have backed one all the way out to see but I didn't really think about it until just now.

Bill Dearborn

I have wondered the same thing for the C6Z. With the Van Steel Plates I can get -4 deg of camber. When I switch from the street setting to track setting at -4 the tie rods have to be turned out over 1 inch on each side. That is a lot more than 2.5 turns. I haven't turned them all the way out but I wonder just how much of the rod is left inside.

Bill

troyguitar

Yeah the first thing I tried was just maxing out all 4 adjusters and ended up around -3.6 degrees with roughly 2.5" of total toe in, the car could barely even roll. I didn't actually want that much camber to start with (I might end up there later in the year though...) but I also was afraid my tie rod ends would just fall out at that point.

Maybe I'm worried for no reason and there's tons of thread left - I guess I could just back one all the way out and see for myself but I was hoping someone had already been through this exercise and could put my mind at ease.

brkntrxn

Troy,

When I recently replaced all four tire rod ends with GM parts, I marked and counted the threads on each end so that I could get the toe close enough for an upcoming race. There were anywhere from 13-17 threads on the tie rod inside the tie rod end. This was with over -3.5 degrees of camber... likely closer to -4.

That doesn't exactly answer your question, but gives you an idea that there is a LOT of thread inside the rod end when you run a lot of camber.

troyguitar

Thanks for that Kevin, it looks like you actually have more thread engagement than me somehow. Here's my driver's side after adjusting it out:



I have ~30 threads NOT engaged and it appears from looking at some online stock photos that there are ~40 threads on the rods, so I'm sitting around ~10 threads engaged. Should be fine, I guess?

My passenger side has fewer threads showing so I suppose I could either re-set my steering wheel to even it out or buy some longer rear ends to put up front.