Upset tracking after lower arm replacement

You could probably get the tracking near enough by just adjusting the side with the new lower arm. Personally I would adjust the side with the new arm until the steering wheel is centred, then have the tracking checked properly. That way, if the tracking is still out, the person checking it should adjust the tracking an equal amount on each side so that the steering wheel remains central.

As for the cause, it will most likely be a slight difference in manufacturing tolerences. It only takes a couple millimeters difference to cause the problems you have.

Moray

Thanks, that's what I thought. It will mean having unequal length track rods but, obviously, the arms are now unequal, so there's really no other solution, is there?

Stuart Sharp

From my Primera experience of having tyre shop alignment vs. doing it myself, I can say that tyre shops do it OK but you can do it better yourself. My '94 Primera was done mostly by myself over 5years and tyre wear was never a problem and it steered true and was rock solid at speed. However, my '97 purchased last year at 40000m felt like it was wandering all the time, needing constant corrections to the steering at anything over 45mph and this turned out to be too much toe-in (about 1.5 times the max factory spec, could have been more as I didn't measure it accurately, it certainly wasn't less).

As zero toe-in is in spec that's what I set it to myself as it's the easiest setting to do. This was much much better but over the weeks I felt it wasn't as good as my '94 was in crosswinds and how 'solid' the steering felt in a straight line at motorway speeds. Anyway, I experimented and the best toe in I could find was approx half the factory spec.

The difference in steering feel between zero, half max spec and 1.5x spec is tremendous and it's definitely worth getting right. For your steering wheel to be offset I would guess that your alignment is way off as my steering wheel alignment hardly changed throughout these adjustments.

Interesting. I wonder if anyone's had any success with those Gunson's Trakrite kits. Are they reasonably accurate if used correctly?

I would have thought that the side I've worked on is toeing in, because it's the OS wheel and the steering wheel is pointing to the right to keep it in a straight line. I am hoping that by adjusting the affected side, I can equalize the toe in and return the wheel to centre. ISTR that the steering knuckle is on the rearward side, therefore I need to shorten the track rod.

Stuart Sharp

I had a trackrite and gave it away as it was not very good. You can make yourself something that works really well using some lengths of straight wood or aluminium and an accurate tape measure. I might get round to making a cheap laser set up, now that laser spirit levels are so cheap.

mrcheerful

I use line of sight along the tyre edges from the front to the back, a bit of trigonometry & maths to work out the subtended distance across the rear tyre with a marker stuck to the tyre, e.g. a 6" plastic ruler sticking out. You have to be careful that front and rear tracks (i.e. tyre to tyre width) are the same front and back and if not, allowances made for it. Harder to describe than do. It's best to do it a few times, rolling the car forward each time, and take the average.

Thanks for the replies. I did a bit of fiddling and have pretty much sorted it now. Initial loosening of the track rod locknut required me to jack up the car and eat some spinach. Once I'd done that, I was able to make subsequent adjustments with the car on the ground. A few adjustments, each time followed by a short run to assess the change, have got the steering wheel back in the centre and it's running pretty straight. I doubt that it's perfect (hard to tell with all the cambers and potholes the roads have round here), but there's no obvious pull and I'm sure I'd never detect one if I wasn't 'looking' for it.

BTW why the hell do they make the track rod end fit the same size spanner as the locknut? Good job I have two 19mm spanners!

Cheers

Stuart Sharp