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what order to adjust during DIY alignment *I screwed up*

metalneverdies

metalneverdies

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I read through the alignment threads.

I would guess its best to have the front in the air so you can see the adjustments your making rather than have it just flex the side wall and not move the tires.

Do i adjust the draglink to level my steering wheel before or after i set the toe?
 
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Set the toe first, 1/8in to 1/4in in. I would use 2 4ft levels to accomplish this. Then proceed to the drag link. Your steering wheel can be adjusted with the draglink. But really it shouldnt be that far off.
 
You must have normal weight on the wheels to see what the settings have done. Problem with that, is just what you said.
The tires don't move as you adjust until you have gone past where they will wind up.

Front end shops have bearing plates that the front tires rest on, that let them rotate and move from side to side as adjustments are made.

Since you are unlikely to have that, you will have to jack the front end up and down as you make the adjustments.
Be sure to bounce the front end a couple of times with your hands after an adjustment and before measuring the result.

You can get in the ballpark by ignoring the result and concentrating on the adjustment its self.

For instance, if you need to move the toe out 1/4 of an inch, mark the tie rods, and adjust them so they are 1/4 of an inch longer.
The tires won't move if they are on the ground, but when they settle into the new setting, they will be close to 1/4 inch different.
 
454Sub said:
Set the toe first, 1/8in to 1/4in in. I would use 2 4ft levels to accomplish this. Then proceed to the drag link. Your steering wheel can be adjusted with the draglink. But really it shouldnt be that far off.
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well, I just replaced the Draglink ends and the Tie rod ends. The Moog replacement parts were longer on some parts and shorter on the passengers tie rod end than the ones that i pulled off. I tried to match the same distance between where the nut was locked down and end of the tie rod but the alignment is still way off. The steering wheel is about 180* off center.

Which way to I turn the tie rod bar to increase toe? To decrease toe?
 
Alright, the ends are threaded so they either both tighten, or both loosen. So just watch one side and turn the tie rod, if more threads appear on said joint, that is toeing out. The drag link works in the same manner. Now make sure the wheels are pointed straight. Lock the steering wheel in the regular right looking way with the key. Then adjust the drag until it bolts in. That will get you semi close. Then what I did was drove it, and adjusted the drag until it drove straight with the wheel. Not perfect but works for me.
 
Unless you have like 15" tires, the adjustment to the tie rod will be a lot smaller than the change you are looking for at the tread surface. Plus, adjusting the tie rod in moves the front of the tire in and the back of the tire out. So adjusting the tie rod 1/8" may move the tread measurement (front to back delta) 1/2", for example.
 
If you are doing a full front alignment, then toe is almost last. You should do camber first, then caster, then toe, then center the steering wheel. But we typically never change camber on SFA, except when ball joints are bad. If you adjust it with the shim behind the spindle, it will affect toe slightly. Caster is typically only changed when we do a spring swap, change shackles, something like that. Caster can be adjusted independantly using the spring pack shims and done at any time.

So the usual way would be summarized as:
-make sure everything up front is tight and in good shape
-set toe with tape measure
-center steering wheel with drag link adjustment.
 
You can make a poor mans "turntable" by using thick plastic or trash bags sprayed with water between the layers,under the tires,that'll allow the tires to move more easily when your adjusting the tie rod ends ...if you have a peice of plywood to put under the tires and plastic it'll work better than on asphalt or concrete..I set the toe-in on my truck by using two lengths of electrical conduit,one peice of 1" about 5 feet long,and another 3 foot peice of 3/4" that'll slide inside the larger one,and I used a 1" conduit connector that had two set screws to set them to the distance between the front of the two tires--you could slit the larger tube and use a worm type hose clamp instead to hold the tubes at that distance ,then move it to the rear of the tires and measure the gap,you want it to be 1/8 to 1/4" wider at the rear than the front measurement..after that is done to set the toe in,I just loosen the drag link sleeve clamps and go for a short low speed drive down my street,and adjust the sleeve until the steering wheel is "straight ahead" while going straight..then tighten up the sleeve clamps...so far I haven't had to pay a shop to align my trucks ...(and when I did in past years,they never came back with the wheel pointing straight ahead 90% of the time too!and ended up adjusting the draglink again myself!..:mad:)...
 
diesel4me said:
so far I haven't had to pay a shop to align my trucks ...(and when I did in past years,they never came back with the wheel pointing straight ahead 90% of the time too!and ended up adjusting the draglink again myself!..:mad:)...
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Agreed. The last time I went in (10 years ago?) was because I wasn't happy with how it was tracking. They put it in the rack, adjusted nothing, said "within spec", and sent me on my way. I adjusted it myself at home and was happy with it.

Now with a small car with adjustable trailing arms, lateral links, etc. where you can set camber and toe at all 4 corners, I do use a shop. But I insist on talking directly to the alignment tech before and after. Too often they will skip camber adjustment saying "non-adjustable" when I already told the counter guy I had made it adjustable. Or they will give you way different settings front and rear because it's faster and is "within spec".
 
I finally got the time to adjust my steering wheel and alignment. I adjusted the steering wheel to level first. Then adjusted the toe. I loosened both lock nuts and turned the Tie rod shaft until I had about 1/2" toe in.

After driving the truck my steering wheel is now exactly oposite what it was before when it was un level. so now it is "/" instead of "\".

After my test drive i parked the truck with the steering wheel level to re-adjust it and I did a quick walk around and noticed the drivers wheel/ tire is pointed nice and straight. The passengers is all crooked out to the right. How do I adjust that? I thought they both went in or out only?
 
think of it like this. The steering box transmits force through the drag link to whatever tire the link ends at. Driver side for stock steering, pass. for crossover. Then that tire/knuckle transmits force to the other tire through the tie rod. Get the tires to the correct toe setting, then adjust the drag link to get the wheel centered. Rinse and repeat with drives in between to get everything 'settled'. I hope that helped, my logic is a little different than most people
 
1/2" sounds like a lot, especially if you don't have dinky tires. You are "toeing in", right? That means the front of the tires are closer together than the backs of the tires. Try something more subtle like 1/8"-1/4" difference.

When toe is set and wheels pointed straight ahead, the pitman arm should be about perpendicular to the frame rail. When that is checked and you're happy with how it drives, then finish centering the steering wheel by adjusting the drag link. I like to find a flat surface (parking lot, center of a country road, etc) and bring it to a stop while going perfectly straight. Then turn the drag link until the steering wheel is straight. You may still have to iterate a few times, but it takes fewer rounds if you can drive it really straight.
 
I noticed on my truck that the passenger side tire appears to point to the right slightly and the drivers side one looks "straight ahead" if your looking down at the rims standing beside the truck ,but if you back away from the truck and stand about 20 feet in front of it,the tires appear to be pointing the same direction...an optical illusion?...I tried adjusting the tie rod to get both to look "straight ahead" by eye and using a 4 foot level across the rim,but after a short drive it was evident it was WAY off!......my alignment might not be "perfect" but after many trial and error adjustments of the tie rod and draglink,I've managed to get it to "feel" correct while driving (no pulling or veering around when you hit a bump,or tire squealing around corners),and the steering wheel actually is dead center going straight ahead for the first time since I've owned it!....using the two peices of conduit as a crude toe-in measurer helped a lot...I put them betwen the two rims before I adjusted anything ,so I'd have a reference point to start from,and after I got it done,it was real close to where it was when I started,so the toe-in was probably not that far off to start with..I might have a bit less than where it was originally...
 
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