How to adjust Camry wheel alignment?

I installed a whole new steering rack with new outer tie rods on my 88 Camry 3SFE. Works fine. However, I was hoping that I could get by without throwing the alignment off by setting the number of exposed threads on the tie rods the same. This didn't work at all. With Steering wheel/rack and left wheel centered, the RH wheel was pointing outward about 20 deg. or so! I just put a metal rule across the wheel with tire removed, and saw where both wheels were aligned with the inner lower lip of the wheel- well to get a rough idea. So using this method I added a lot of exposed threads so that the space between the tip of metal rule and the inner lower wheel- well lip was the same on both sides of car. This was not close enough, as when I drove it, it ws pulling to the right quite a bit. ( Before the rack replacement the car tracked straight as an arrow) It seems that this would indicate that the RH wheel is still pointing towards a right turn. So I added another turn/thread to move the front of the RH wheel left a bit more....but it still pulls to the right, can't really tell any improvement. I know I really need to have it aligned professionally, but there isn't money right now. So I am hoping there is some make-do procedure I can improvise to get it close enough that I won't wear out the tire in 500 miles. Ideas?

Reply to
geronimo
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There's a reason that professional alignment shops purchase equipment that enables them to align wheels properly. There's no real way to do it in the garage by yourself, AFAIK.

Reply to
mack

There is a rough and ready way:

If you got the steering wheel shaft located on the rack/pinion correctly, the wheel will not need removing. Some splines have a blank strip which makes it impossible to locate the steering shaft out of correct position.

Wind both outer (usually) tierods so the front wheels move equally *inwards* towrds the vehicle centreline. Do this is small amounts, say one turn of the tierod each side. Then take it for a slow drive. Once the roads wheels are toeing IN, the front of the vehicle will rise slightly-do this at crawling speed on a road which is not busy-once you note the front has started to rise, you then wind off the toe-in, 1/3 or so of a turn at a time until the front of the car no longer rises,..then go 1/4 of a turn more. This means the wheels are pretty close to parallel. and the car should track reasonabley straight. If it does BUT the steering wheel is off centre- work out which way you need to shift each wheel's tierod *the same amount but in opposite directions* so they remain parallel but will then make the steering wheel move towards its normal straight-ahead position.

Once you get the swing of it, its not hard to do. Remember the tirerods may have reverse threads to each other,..check for that first.

Jason

Reply to
Jason James

One thing I forgot to add- when you are testing for the slight rise in the front of the vehicle, you do it on a quiet piece of road, as it takes up to

15 or more yards/metres for the effect to occur, plus you can cancel the effect by reversing the car, then moving forward again to cause it again. The theory here, is that a car with both front wheels toed in, the wheels actually cause the steering and suspension to "pull" or exert an "unloading" effect on the front wheels. This can be hard to visualise, but it does happen. Once this effect has been reached, you wind off a little toe-in at a time till the front stops doing it, then a little more (1/4 turn) to ensure the toe has gone to parallel (no toe). There are other ways of setting your own caster and camber but these are preset or unadjustable in many strut front-ends.

Jason

Reply to
Jason James

Make a wide chalk mark all the way around the center of the tire tread. Make a fixture to hold a nail? against the tire & rotate the tire leaving a very thin line on the tread Measure the distance in front & in the rear get them close to same measurement & it will enable you to drive to an alignment shop

Reply to
sqdancerLynn

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