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Great thread. My 78 is off about 7 degrees. I just put it back together after speedo rebuild and fixing horn contacts. It's bothering me as I don't recall it being off center prior to dissasembly. I took it apart again and the marks are aligned on the hub but clearly off center. Is there any way I could have messed it up by dropping the colum (not removing)? My intuition tells me no however I just can't believe I have been driving it this way since my alignment last year and not noticed....maybe old and senile I guess!
St. Jude Donor '03-'04-'05-'06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16
Everyone should really get alignment re-checked before doing what the OP suggests. remember, these cars have 4 corners that should be checked for alignment. Whose to say it's not something with the rear causing the issue. Anyway, just my .02.
Found this and figured I'd give it a bump back to life.
My car came back from the alignment shop (Pfadt street specs) with the steering wheel slightly to the right. Will try this technique to get the wheel straight again.
Found this and figured I'd give it a bump back to life.
My car came back from the alignment shop (Pfadt street specs) with the steering wheel slightly to the right. Will try this technique to get the wheel straight again.
Great thread and props to the OP (BEZ06).
Its been discussed before that this simple adjustment is NOT the way it should be done. Its OK in a pinch but should not be used since all suspension adjustments will adjust something else in addition...its just the way suspension works. Proper equipment should always be used when making suspension adjustments.
Since they clearly didn't do it right, I would take it back and make it them do it again. A straight steering wheel IS part of a proper suspension alignment, regardless of the bull they might try to feed you.
Its been discussed before that this simple adjustment is NOT the way it should be done. Its OK in a pinch but should not be used since all suspension adjustments will adjust something else in addition...its just the way suspension works. Proper equipment should always be used when making suspension adjustments.
Since they clearly didn't do it right, I would take it back and make it them do it again. A straight steering wheel IS part of a proper suspension alignment, regardless of the bull they might try to feed you.
How can moving the tie rods a very short, equal length on the same plane change anything else on the alignment?
How can moving the tie rods a very short, equal length on the same plane change anything else on the alignment?
It doesn't, and has been proven time and time again in my garage with DIY alignments and measurements to validate....
Nonetheless, if somebody paid for an alignment, I'd recommend taking it back if they had the time and patience. Most shops will give you the run around and waste your efforts.
How can moving the tie rods a very short, equal length on the same plane change anything else on the alignment?
If this information isn't accurate, i'm sorry. However, don't kill the messenger. I'm only repeating what has been told to me on here, as well as by 2 reputable shops. I've always been told that affecting toe, camber or caster will inevitably affect one of the other. I was told that it's what makes doing a perfect alignment so time consuming. Whether or not its attempting to drum up business for them, I don't know. It's just what i'd been told.
Most of what i'm saying appeared in a previous thread I dealt with years ago here. Furthermore, the issues on the other thread that I was more concerned about was how it might affect systems such as the steering wheel position sensor which may or may not affect when the nannies kick in.
If you read into the other thread I started, you'll see that I also manually adjusted mine in attempts to fix a ****-eyed steering wheel as well. However, all of my concern I previously had overwhelmed me, and I had it done properly only to discover that many aspect of my alignment were indeed off that weren't before. When I adjusted the tie rods, I followed the instructions to a T, but it still wasn't correct. This is where much of my concern came from.
If this information isn't accurate, i'm sorry. However, don't kill the messenger. I'm only repeating what has been told to me on here, as well as by 2 reputable shops. I've always been told that affecting toe, camber or caster will inevitably affect one of the other. I was told that it's what makes doing a perfect alignment so time consuming. Whether or not its attempting to drum up business for them, I don't know. It's just what i'd been told.
Most of what i'm saying appeared in a previous thread I dealt with years ago here. Furthermore, the issues on the other thread that I was more concerned about was how it might affect systems such as the steering wheel position sensor which may or may not affect when the nannies kick in.
If you read into the other thread I started, you'll see that I also manually adjusted mine in attempts to fix a ****-eyed steering wheel as well. However, all of my concern I previously had overwhelmed me, and I had it done properly only to discover that many aspect of my alignment were indeed off that weren't before. When I adjusted the tie rods, I followed the instructions to a T, but it still wasn't correct. This is where much of my concern came from.
What you were told was correct, caster and camber can affect toe and vice versa, and you're sure right that it's important to get everything adjusted to spec.
However, what happens is the car doesn't lock the wheel dead ahead and a sloppy tech will not pay attention to correcting the steering wheel when making adjustments called for by the rack. I insist upon it when I get an alignment and I've had good luck.
But what Bez06 is doing, not affecting the toe but rather just moving the rack slightly between the tie rod ends won't affect toe or anything else if it's carefully done.
You indeed raise a valid concern, if for whatever reason one doesn't get the adjustment proposed by Bez06 correct, then you could indeed mess up the toe of the alignment. So this technique isn't without that risk. But the way Bez06 is proposing is indeed how a good tech will correct the wheel when they are done with an alignment. They do have the ability to double check the alignment when done, which of course we can't do as accurately.
But Taken19 has come up with a pretty darn good home brew method to do just that.
02-13-2015, 09:42 PM
Off center
