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Diy Wheel Alignment Check

whitefish

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whitefish Enthusiast

whitefish

Posted
Posted

Hey guys - I just changed the Inner Tied Rod Ends with TRW's and Outer's with Moog on my 05 1500 Z71. I was careful measure number of turns for the outer tie rods and bolted everything back together using these references. When I look at the front tires, they seem toed out (steering wheel at center). No idea if it was like this before the repair. I was planning on taking it to an alignment shop, but I'm a little worried to take it down the road too far if both tires are visibly toed out.

 

Soooo....I found a number of You Tube videos from the street racing fanatics out there on how to check and adjust toe using a string line and ruler. This method uses the front and rear tires (rims) as reference, but assumes front and rear wheels track identically (i.e. front and back tires are square to each other). I assume this is the case, no? :lol:

 

Another method required a reference scribed around on the tire tread at then the distance between the tires is measured at the front and back to establish toe. This last method seems abit crude, but would likely work.

 

What do you guys think? :D

jimlem Enthusiast

jimlem

Posted
Posted
Hey guys - I just changed the Inner Tied Rod Ends with TRW's and Outer's with Moog on my 05 1500 Z71. I was careful measure number of turns for the outer tie rods and bolted everything back together using these references. When I look at the front tires, they seem toed out (steering wheel at center). No idea if it was like this before the repair. I was planning on taking it to an alignment shop, but I'm a little worried to take it down the road too far if both tires are visibly toed out.

 

Soooo....I found a number of You Tube videos from the street racing fanatics out there on how to check and adjust toe using a string line and ruler. This method uses the front and rear tires (rims) as reference, but assumes front and rear wheels track identically (i.e. front and back tires are square to each other). I assume this is the case, no? :lol:

 

Another method required a reference scribed around on the tire tread at then the distance between the tires is measured at the front and back to establish toe. This last method seems abit crude, but would likely work.

 

What do you guys think? :D

 

Oh yeah!!! Can't give you a measurement but I just had mine aligned w/o any problems or issues and when I look at it parked w/ the steering wheel straight, from D's side it appears the tire is starting a left turn. Walk over to P's side and it looks like the tire is ready to turn right. Very noticeable and disconcerting when you 1st see it. The shop I went to is reputable and has done my truck many times and they assure me it is 100% normal. Scary huh? For some reason I had it in my mind that only (older) Ford cars used a Toe-out setting like that. I always thought most everything was a toe-in now days. Don't remember where I got that idea.

 

Anyway, per my shop's FE Tech "It's normal for those trucks." No matter how careful you were you know you need the whole FE aligned now to pull it all together but I would not worry a bit about driving it to the shop to get it done. Especially if your steering wheel is fairly well centered and you don't pull hard any one way, you should be close enough to get it into the shop in a day or two. While you're working on it, check out Readylift's Tie Rod Armor sleeves. They're hardened steel sleeves you thread over both tie rods in place of the lock nut. You put the outer ends on and turn the sleeves back out to lock the setting and they cover the entire skinny threaded part of each tie rod end. Supposed to be great for off road safety but I just liked the idea of overall re-enforcement. They're less than $100 on most parts sites. Just point them out to the tech. They don't see many of them I guess. Good luck.

Jim

jblakeney Senior Enthusiast

jblakeney

Posted
Posted

I do this anytime I do front end work. Pick a rib on the tire. On both sides. It is critical you use the same rib on each tire front and back. Have a friend hold the tape measure on one side of the truck record measurement on front and rear. Try and get the tires to as close to the same front and rear as you can.

 

Each time you make and adjustment you must back the truck up several feet and drive it forwards several feet. This allows the tires to relax the suspension again. If you don't you will still be off after you get done. Remember to keep the steering wheel straight while making the adjustments.

 

But afterwords get it to the alignment shop asap.....

 

Jbo

kdixer Enthusiast

kdixer

Posted
Posted
I do this anytime I do front end work. Pick a rib on the tire. On both sides. It is critical you use the same rib on each tire front and back. Have a friend hold the tape measure on one side of the truck record measurement on front and rear. Try and get the tires to as close to the same front and rear as you can.

 

Each time you make and adjustment you must back the truck up several feet and drive it forwards several feet. This allows the tires to relax the suspension again. If you don't you will still be off after you get done. Remember to keep the steering wheel straight while making the adjustments.

 

But afterwords get it to the alignment shop asap.....

 

Jbo

 

If the toe is out of spec the suspension will not relax while driving in a straight line. It will pull the bottom of the tires one way while backing up and push the bottom the opposite way while driving forward. That is why i compare the two and adjust until there is minimal difference between driving forward or reverse in a straight line.

 

But a professional alignment is always recomended. However I had to fine tune the alignment using this method on an old nissan I had in order to make it stop eating tires.

whitefish Enthusiast

whitefish

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thanks for the info. The steering wheel was off to the right when I was driving today so obviously I didn't put the tie rod ends back to spec> But the truck wasn't pulling either way when I was driving on flat pavement, so I shouldn't be out that much.

 

These are the DIY I was talking about. Again, not sure this would work on a Silverado. Note that the first is a Part 1 of a series of three.

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.astrosafari.com/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=1366

 

I have an appointment with the local shop. I'm going to ask them for the toe spec and then I'm going to measure myself with the above vids and see how close they were. I'll post the results after.

 

Cheers

kdixer Enthusiast

kdixer

Posted
Posted

Toe adjustment should not make your vehicle pull to either side because the tires will self center as you drive. However it will cause a shimmy at high speeds if it is out very much.

kdixer Enthusiast

kdixer

Posted
Posted
the tires will only self center if 1-they're aligned parallel with one another, and 2- if there is slack in the steering system

 

 

The tires will self center to the point where the different directions they are each pulling is equalized, although the steering wheel might not be centered. In proper toe adjustment will not make the vehicle wander left or right. The vehicle will still track in a straight line.

herkdriver007 Enthusiast

herkdriver007

Posted
Posted

think if both are toe'd out...they will not be able to center themselves because there isnt enough slop in the steering to allow them to toe back in, thus scrubbing the tires.

kdixer Enthusiast

kdixer

Posted
Posted
think if both are toe'd out...they will not be able to center themselves because there isnt enough slop in the steering to allow them to toe back in, thus scrubbing the tires.

 

 

Right. But the vehicle will not pull to one side or the other. When I typed center I did not mean the toe would correct itself. I just meant the steering would center and the vehicle would track straight (actual steering wheel position is cosmetic).

 

In other words if you turn the steering to the point where the drivers tire is straight and the passenger tire is toed out. Then drive forward without holding the steering wheel, the directions will equalize to the point where both tires will be toed out and the vehicle will track straight forward (the steering will center, but not necessarily the steering wheel). But the tires will scrub and wear as you stated.

 

:rant:

whitefish Enthusiast

whitefish

Posted
  • Author
Posted
think if both are toe'd out...they will not be able to center themselves because there isnt enough slop in the steering to allow them to toe back in, thus scrubbing the tires.

 

Yeah, I was a little confused about this as well at first. Thanks for the clarification kdixer.

 

I took the truck into the local shop in our little town and I'm glad I did. Think I found a little gem. It cost me $84, but it was cheap peace of mind and it was actually less then the shops in the city wanted. They put the truck on the rack and measured toe, camber and caster. I asked for and got the measurements for toe, caster and camber for factory spec, the allowed variance and the actual measured on my truck. Everything was fine except for the toe, as expected.

 

Now that I have the measurements, I can try the DIY method and see if I get the same results!

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