heavy-duty tie rod

Your tie rod controls the toe in alignment.

You can set this with a tape measure. I use the seam in the tire as a measuring point and go seam to seam in the front and then seam to seam across the back of the front tires.

I believe you should have 1/8" toe in. The measurement across the front of the tires should be 1/8" shorter than the measurement across the back.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

Snowboardripper wrote:

Mike, max toe-in is 3/64, which is just under 1/16.

Much of the reason we use the seam is because the shoulder of the tire can have differences that are greater than the adjustment spec. Because the spec is so tight, the holder of the tape must take extreme care to hold it on the same place each measurement.

If that is the toe in from the book, then that is measured from the axle center as the zero to the front correct?

If so, when doing the measuring using the front and rear of the tire, it would be 1/8" less across the front of the tire.

That is how I thought it was, I could be mistaken.

Mike

CRWLR wrote:

Well, that makes sense, and is something I hadn't taken into consideration. The larger tires can result in a larger inch-measurment deviation, and still give the same spec in terms of degrees.

Nice Bill! I've been thinking of checking/adjusting my toe-in since adding 33's and a lift. Just noticed yesterday that my tie rod is looser than it should be, so I'll replace the ends and adjust accordingly. I too think having a little more toe-in than a little less is better for big tires. I'm thinking they will track better. Thanks and I'll post the results. Rich

Actually, I think the best bet is to make your measurements at the rims. That way, unless your rims are bent you'll be setting the proper toe in for the wheels and you have a nice hard, flat surface to measure from which is always the same (7.5 inches from wheel centerpoint for 15" wheels). I would be suspect that either the tire tread pattern or sidewalls could vary too much for the degree of accuracy you are trying to measure.

Here's a slick way that you can measure toe-in: Take a spool of cheap fishing line and tie a nut to the end. Wedge the nut into the tread on the rear of one of the back tires about 1/2 way up from the ground, then string the line around all four wheels being careful to avoid any bodywork between the front and rear wheels on each side so that the line goes across each wheeel at its midpoint and tape or tie it off somnewhere so it is snug.

Make sure that the steering wheel is as straight as possible. It can be restrained in the centered position if you want.

Measure the distance that the line is held away from the rim due to the sidewall bulging (depends on what you have for tires) and then cut 8 identical blocks sized about 1/4 to 1/2 inch wider than that distance. Place double sided tape (thin carpet tape) on the backs of each of the blocks and stick them temporarily on your rims under the fishing line. On stock Wranglers the front and rear track is identical. On other vehicles where the track is wider in the rear you can compensate by making the 4 rear blocks thicker than the front ones by half the difference in the track spec.

Since the fronts edge of the wheels are supposed to be closer together, if you gently pluck the line away from the front block until it still just barely touches the rear block you can measure how much that wheel is toed in. Do the same on the other side. Both sides should be the same amount and the total of the two is the total toe-in. Adjust the tie rod ends first for the total toe, then adjust both sides the same amount (in opposite directions) to get the same toe on each side, which will center the wheel when driving straight ahead.

After adjustment, drive a little bit on a flat road and analyze the wheel centering. If it is not straight, make additional small adjustments (on both sides, opposite directions) until the steering wheel is perfectly centered. When satisfied, run the line around again, measure and record the values for future reference.

The rear wheel angles can be checked the same way, though there is not much you can do about them short of centering the axle.

I've been able to do a better job setting toe-in this way (after replacing tie-rods) than the local alignment shop generally does.

-Fred W

...I noticed the other replies on setting toe....but if you have good alignment, and are replacing the entire tie rod assembly assuming it is not bent...andf in reasonable condition...just make it the exact same length as the one you take off....and surprisingly enough...it will be the same ;-)

...Gareth

obviously, you should carefully measeure the lenghts of the old rod pieces and adjust the new one to the same lenghts.then no alignment is needed. john

Agreed, you can't measure the center of a moving ball socket with any accuracy at all and the new parts won't be the same size or thread depth.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

"L.W.(ßill) Hughes III" wrote:

Back in 1964 when I went through Bear Mfg factory training in Rock Island, Ill, it was more better to drive over the Bear "Scuff Gauge" . We used to set the toe in @ 3 feet. This meant that the tire was dragged 3 feet sideways for every mile (which was equal to 1/8" toe in - but was a dynamic reading). The biggest benefit of using the scuff gauge was to drive over it for the initial reading, then have several "hefty" people stand on the front bumper & drive over it again (to check for toe change while braking) If the

2 readings were different then we would heat up the pitman arm & bend it up or down until they were the same.