87 Cab - stock tie rods (non-turbofied - yet)

The tie rod has a left-hand thread on one end & a right-hand thread on the other. Right?

This means that they both undo in the same direction. Right?

I've bled enough already.

And any idea of which direction to spin the rod center to reduce toe?

Thanks

Ian

 

Ian: With both jamb nuts loose the center of the tie rod can be turned one way to lengthen the rod (increase toe in) or vice versa. Adjustments of this nature should never be done when the car is not on alignment equipment! Also, no changes should be made without first clamping the steering wheel in the center position. Also, with pre-Turbo tie rods you have to be extremely careful that the inboard connection at the steering rack doesn't come loose - that is a precision setting before it's torqued! My advice is to leave it alone and get the car to a quality alignment shop, maybe one that takes care of some PCA cars, etc...
Pete

 

As memory serves me, there isn't a left or right part for tie rods. They are both the same. To adjust the non-turbo rods you loosen both 22mm nuts on an individual tie-rod. You then turn the center shaft to lengthen or shorten the tie rod. If you think of it as screwing the center shaft onto the end connected to the spindle (clockwise), you'll be shortening the arm, reducing the toe.

Given the brute strength it took to remove my non-turbo tie-rods, I don't think knocking them loose from the rack will be an issue.

I'll leave it up to you to decide if you know what you're doing. Personally, I'd at least mark the rods with some paint so I could get back to the original setting if need be.

 

Guys

I value your judgment. As you know, there is no mystery to an alignment, just very precise measurements & calculations. And I’m determined to do it. Armed with the Scrugg’s booklet, the Bentley, Rennlist & Pelican, a tape measure, levels, string & patience, I’m ¾ the way through set-up & alignment. Rear bushings, rear shocks, ride height & camber – front & back, rear toe; I’ve done them all. It’s been a blast & I can feel the car falling into place bit by bit.

Yet to do (or redo) is re-index the rear torsion bars (I’m max up on one spring plate & max down on the other), adjust front toe & reduce rear camber. Then I’ll weight balance using the tripod method discussed at length on Pelican.

Am I confident that I can set it up safely & accurately?

Yes.

And I know I have a great resource here & at Pelican when I get myself into trouble.

Ian

Btw Here are the setup figures to date. Not bad, but no cigar just yet. But it's feeling good. 15" wheels explain the low ride height.

 

Oh. I forgot. Thanks for the info.

I'll have another go on Sunday.

And Capt. . . . good point. I'll mark them with the nail polish I stole from my wife to mark the camber & toe bolts on the springplates. As you can see above, they are toe out by 1/8. I want to go to neutral or minus a smidge.

Ian

 

I thought the drive wheels(rears in this case) were the ones normally toe'd in a smug because they flexed outwards under torque, and the others set at neutral/0deg.(??) I suppose it depends on application.

As a temporary solution to set toe: I used two 1x1's C-clamped together with 6 penny nails through them as pointers at the ends in order to get a rough estimate between the front and back treads.
Mark the nut with pen/paint/scratch/chisel and count threads when removing.

 

More importantly, toeing the rear tunes the yaw rate. They're toed in a smidge so the rear trails the front in a corner. Think of your car going through a RH sweeper. The weight is shifted toward the LR wheel, which is pointed a touch to the right because it's toed in. Now imagine if that wheel was toed out.

And BTW, some FWD cars, like the Toyota Celica, are set up from the factory so the rear will toe out as the suspension compresses. It's to help the car rotate, and feel sporty on the street. On the track it does not feel sporty. More like evil...

As for front toe, toe-in imparts an on-center stability. It's also much easier on tire wear then toe-out. While toe-out imparts some stability, it's really used to induce a quicker turn-in. Again think of what happens when making a RH turn. As the front wheels turn to the right, the weight begins to shift to the left; however, for a split second, the RF corner is already pointed right, and is loaded. As the LF tire changes direction, the RF tire is already taking the car to the right.

 

Capt: In light of the fact that I've found the inboard tie rod yoke either set incorrectly, or loose, on no fewer that 100 cars I must disagree with you that it's not an issue.

Ian: Sorry, I had not read your other thread prior to writing my intial post on this thread. I know what you're going through, I had to do the same thing back in 1985 in order to cure an ill-handling race car. I spun in Turn 6 at Riverside, for no apparent reason, didn't trust my alignment shop, and set up those time consuming strings. Guess what, my car was a parallelogram, and my effort proved worthwhile. Pictured is the car, and the tools that I purchased at the time to set camber and measure weight. Go for it, and by the way, a 6' long carpenter's level really helps to get the car "shimmed" properly on the floor.
Pete