Alignment off with Toes out

[wagoon]

I recently noticed my tires are with the wheels pointing outward. Before I take her to get an alignment will this affect the drive over to the shop?

 

I have front cut springs, with Sensatracts, 16x8's that were rubbing in the inner fender and I recently rolled them to clear the wheel well because it rubbed on my turns.

 

Is the adjustment on the tie rod ends and does anyone have any pics of how to adjust them?

 

 

TOE-IN

All Models (Except Pickups) - Adjust by loosening side rod lock nuts and adjusting length of side rod to change toe-in to correct specifications. NOTE - Left and right side rods should be moved equally. Tighten lock nuts.

 

LEFT SIDE

 

RIGHT SIDE

[Ratwagon1600]

Quick answer.

 

Have a look under the car to see if it looks like anything is going to fall off or come undone.

 

As long as the shop isn't too far away i.e 100's of miles away, drive sensibly, and to the speed limit and you shouldnt have any problems.

 

P.s., advice based on your pics alone :)

[datzenmike]

Long as camber is ok (Vertical rims) set the toe yourself. http://community.ratsun.net/topic/24412-my-76-710-goon/page-16 about 1/2 way down the page. You can still drive to a shop but if you take the time probably not worth it. It's been on an 1,800 mile trip to Canby and more, and no wear and steers beautifully.

[wagoon]

So I am loosening the two end bolts on the tie rod ends? Just loosen and it will adjust itself and bring the toe in?

 

I checked the steering and nothing is loose. It self adjusted when it was scraping the inner wheel well. Just need to get these toes back in.

[datzenmike]

Yes there are two lock nuts to loosen (on each side) then turn the center threaded rod and this will draw in or out the wheel. You should do half on one side and an equal amount on the other or the steering wheel will off center.

 

I did this on my goon and it doesn't take much. Be sure to let the car down and bounce the fender to normalize the wheels after being in the air. Check your alignment and repeat till there is slight toe in.

 

My 620 when I got it had tires that were worn on the insides and if you hit a puddle would pull hard to that side. When parked in the driveway I walked across the street and both tires were so toed that they were pointing at me in the other ditch. It was always hard to steer and if one wheel slightly aquaplaned, the other was already turned and the truck would dart to that side.

[wagoon]

Alright, I will try it this weekend. I can use yard on a pair of jack stands. I'll post picks of it.

[q-tip]

Sounds to me like you need to string the car and start from scratch. If you're going to have an alignment done then just drive it there and have them fix it, 3/16 toe out is where mine is set and it tracks straight unless it follows a rut in the pavement

[datzenmike]

Never heard of toe out on any alignment.

 

My '78 FSM supports a 5-7mm toe in setting.

 

510 sedan... 6-9mm toe in

510 goon..... 3-6mm

 

 

Found this. If your 620/510 wanders this may reduce or eliminate it....

 

UNDERSTANDING TOE

When a pair of wheels is set so that their leading edges are pointed slightly towards each other, the wheel pair is said to have toe-in. If the leading edges point away from each other, the pair is said to have toe-out. The amount of toe can be expressed in degrees as the angle to which the wheels are out of parallel, or more commonly, as the difference between the track widths as measured at the leading and trailing edges of the tires or wheels. Toe settings affect three major areas of performance: tire wear, straight-line stability and corner entry handling characteristics.

For minimum tire wear and power loss, the wheels on a given axle of a car should point directly ahead when the car is running in a straight line. Excessive toe-in or toe-out causes the tires to scrub, since they are always turned relative to the direction of travel. Too much toe-in causes accelerated wear at the outboard edges of the tires, while too much toe-out causes wear at the inboard edges.

 

So if minimum tire wear and power loss are achieved with zero toe, why have any toe angles at all? The answer is that toe settings have a major impact on directional stability. The illustrations at right show the mechanisms involved. With the steering wheel centered, toe-in causes the wheels to tend to roll along paths that intersect each other. Under this condition, the wheels are at odds with each other, and no turn results.

When the wheel on one side of the car encounters a disturbance, that wheel is pulled rearward about its steering axis. This action also pulls the other wheel in the same steering direction. If it's a minor disturbance, the disturbed wheel will steer only a small amount, perhaps so that it's rolling straight ahead instead of toed-in slightly. But note that with this slight steering input, the rolling paths of the wheels still don't describe a turn. The wheels have absorbed the irregularity without significantly changing the direction of the vehicle. In this way, toe-in enhances straight-line stability.

If the car is set up with toe-out, however, the front wheels are aligned so that slight disturbances cause the wheel pair to assume rolling directions that do describe a turn. Any minute steering angle beyond the perfectly centered position will cause the inner wheel to steer in a tighter turn radius than the outer wheel. Thus, the car will always be trying to enter a turn, rather than maintaining a straight line of travel. So it's clear that toe-out encourages the initiation of a turn, while toe-in discourages it.

 

With toe-in (left) a deflection of the suspension does not cause the wheels to initiate a turn as with toe-out (right).

[q-tip]

Just drive it to the alignment shop and have them do what they need to

[Uber Deaf One]

Just drive it to the alignment shop and have them do what they need to

 

This.