Tracking gauges - WTF??

I had a trakrite and gave it away as it was too inaccurate. If you have welding gear you can make a tracking gauge yourself, it will be perfectly accurate if solidly made. I mainly use a Dunlop drive over tracking thing, it seems fine and is very quick to use.

================================== There were rather mixed opinions about it (Trakrite) when I asked here a few days ago so I shall be making my own eventually. Here's one home-made design I came across whilst looking for ideas:

Cic.

the advantage to the design you point to is that the gauge can be used from just the front, the one I made had to be re-inserted behind the wheels. I used a steel ruler on one side to give a reading which could quickly show the toe setting. The disadvantage is the room it will take up in storage.

================================== I agree that it is rather convenient to be able to use it entirely from the front, and of course storage is always a bit of a problem for large and rarely used tools. My intended design will probably use a single 3" square tube with swivelling arms - basically similar to the design cited but capable of being folded for storage.

Cic.

I never got into welding, unfortunately. I keep thinking about night- schooling it for fun.

Being one of the 'bright kids' at school I had to do things like Ancient History and Music instead of the woodwork and metalwork I wanted to do, and it carried on from there. It's only in the last 10 years or so that I got into woodworking and actually doing 'real' stuff :-(

================================== You don't actually need to weld to make such jigs. Accurate drilling, a few nuts and bolts and fishplates will do just as good a job for most purposes.

Cic.

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But welding is much quicker :-)

In the past I've just used a tape measure from under the car and have had very good results, but I keep thinking I'll make some gauges using some cheap laser pointers :-)

But welding is much quicker :-)

In the past I've just used a tape measure from under the car and have had very good results, but I keep thinking I'll make some gauges using some cheap laser pointers :-)

Great minds think alike, I bought a couple of cheap laser spirit levels a while ago intending to make a laser tracking gauge, but do you think I can find the time and inclination to actually do it?

================================== Agreed - welding is generally much quicker, but not for the intermediate poster (PCPaul) since he would have to learn to weld first.

The point you make about the tape measure is of course the significant thing since wheel tracking is really only a simple measuring process, slightly complicated by the presence of a car body between the wheels.

Cic.

Cic.

That looks interesting, but I rather like the idea of the trakrite-type being a dynamic tracker, so it should for instance take account of worn out bushes which alter the toe-out when you're moving...

adder1969 expressed precisely :

I actually tried to do something similar in the pre- (cheap) laser days. Two clamp to the wheel brackets with a couple of 21w 12v lamps - the idea being to cast an accurate shadow, then measure the line width at several at several points to calculate the angle. It failed miserably at the 'accurate shadow' part.

It would be so easy with lasers.

adder1969 (adder1969 ) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

But not as quick as two bits of wood and a biro, which is all you _really_ need.