Tie rod and wheel alignment

Ramrodfunk

I've replaced the inner and outer tie rods.

I probably should have made some sort of note about the position of the outer tie rod but……

How many turns of the outer tie rod is acceptable when putting them back on?

Is there an way to get the alignment into a reasonable spec?

I have a laser level and I'm thinking about attempting a DIY home laser alignment.

Cheers

ramrod

The rough way is to count how many threads are visible before removing the old tie rod ends, then thread the new ones on with the same number of threads showing. You’ll still need to get an alignment to have it perfect again

Spac

I do basic home alignments but placing a straight edge on the side of the wheel/tyre and looking along it towards the back tyres.

On a car with equal track width front and rear, with zero toe in/out, the line of sight should be on the outside edge of the rear tyre.

It’s enough to get you safely to a wheel aligner, at a minimum.

I do slightly more sophisticated home alignments by driving onto the car trailer and measuring the distance between the wheel rim and the sides of the trailer. Do this for the front and the back of each wheel and some very basic maths will tell you how much toe you have.
This method has given better outcomes than the so-called “performance specialist” wheel aligner in Canberra…

I keep meaning to build a frame to do this in the garage, but it hasn’t happened in the decade or so since I started using the trailer… 🙄

The usual motorsport way to do wheel alignments at the track is to build frames that attach to the front and rear of the car, and then run string lines between the frames.
I haven’t done this because I see a lot of them are inconsistent - you need a reliable way to get the string lines parallel to the car’s centre line.
Although (like my trailer method ) if the string lines are parallel to each other and not to different to the car’s centre line, you will still get a good outcome.

Anthony

Screw in at least half way of the long thread lenght, then do a visual check on both sides and tweak accordingly. Lock it tight. Then off to the wheel aligner with their laser beams to get spec perfect.

One needs to be quite practiced and know ones toy really well to get close otherwise.

nh2868

I have a trammel bar home made for the track width of the XC90 and the P1 cars. A little patch of chalk on the tread of each front tyre at the back, and mark 2 lines with the trammel. Roll the car half a tyre revolution and compare the length between the marks now at the front of the tyre - this is the toe in / out. Takes a lot less setup than a stringline, although I really like the car trailer method. The trammel can be a length of steel pipe with some bends and points fabricated - doesn't need to be sophisticated, just reasonably stiff.