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Poor mans wheel alignment

hvann

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Location
Hampton/Viginia
Checked my front end alignment yesterday and I found it to be way off.
I performed what I call a poor man’s alignment on my truck yesterday with a friends (Andy’s) help. This can be done solo but it requires a lot more running back and forth when you are aligning the strings to the wheels. Also it would be considerably more difficult to check string to string alignment without some to help hold the stupid end of the measuring tape. And by the way, Andy made me hold the stupid end all the time. Hhhmmm?
What we did was to tie a string between some concrete blocks and place one end of the string just behind and around 12 inches out from the front wheel. The other end of the string was stretched out around 20 feet in front of the truck. (See the images) The string was centered in the wheel from top to bottom. We had the same string set up on both sides of the truck.
Our first step was to insure that the strings were perfectly aligned with the front wheels. We assured the alignment of the string to the wheel by making sure the string was exactly the same distance from the front and rear of the rim. We checked the string to wheel alignment on both sides in this same manner. After aligning the strings to the wheels we proceeded to check the strings out in front of the truck for parallel alignment by measuring the distance between the two strings just ahead of the front wheels and comparing that to the distance between the strings out at the furthest point from the truck. We found the strings to be around 3 inches further apart at the outer string location as compared to the inner or closest string to the truck location indicating a toe out.
We then loosened the jam collars on the tie rod and made adjustment to it that eventually had our two strings perfectly parallel to each other. Keep in mind that every time we made an adjustment to the tie rod our first step was to realign the strings to each wheel and then to check for string to string alignment. After getting string to string alignment as close as you can get it, it’s a good idea to move the steering wheel back and forth a few times and check the alignment all over again. If you find the alignment changes each time after moving the steering wheel, it could be an indication of looseness in ball joints or kingpins.
We took the truck out for a run afterwards and found the side to side shimmy I was getting at certain speeds was gone.
The only problem I had with this entire procedure is that Andy now thinks I owe him a pay check and medical benefits.
Van
 

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buccaneer

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Harrison, Arkansas
Why not just measure between two fixed points on the front of the tire tread and adjust tie rod to equal the same measurement for the backside of the tire tread.

WIth tires that big your radius of measurement(which will determine accuracy) is 24 inches or so... and that should be good enough.
 

hvann

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Hampton/Viginia
Why not just measure between two fixed points on the front of the tire tread and adjust tie rod to equal the same measurement for the backside of the tire tread.

WIth tires that big your radius of measurement(which will determine accuracy) is 24 inches or so... and that should be good enough.
Hey buccaneer.
I do believe you are correct that it could be accomplished using the tires but I was looking for the best possible accuracy under the circumstances.
It has been my experience that tires can have some fairly large inconsistencies in them, and the larger the tire the more these flaws can become amplified. You can jack up most any vehicle and rotate the tire while holding something stationary near it and in doing so you will see some sort of rotational wobble. Flaws in the molding process and even in the mounting to the rim will end up causing the tire to have some sort of small rotational inconsistencies.

Van
 

TenTires

Member
169
3
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Location
Hampton Roads, VA
An excellent example of SS ingenuity!!!
[thumbzup]
:ditto::grd:


......And by the way, Andy made me hold the stupid end all the time. Hhhmmm?........

The only problem I had with this entire procedure is that Andy now thinks I owe him a pay check and medical benefits.

Van....

Sounds like this "Andy" character is a real jerk! Man, good help is so hard to find nowadays...:wink:
 

sermis

Active member
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Temple, TX
The way I do it is to jack up one tire at a time. Drive a nail into a 2 X 4 and place the nail on the tire tread and ground and spin the tire to scribe a line. Repeat on the other side. Measure up each tire as close to the center as possible and mark the tire on the line (same distance up on each tire). Use a tape measure to measure the front and back. Make the front of the tire 1/8” – ¼” tow in. Has always worked for me.
 
Last edited:

Verkstad

Member
88
1
8
Location
Idaho panhandle
The string method works, But as you noted it needs a lot of running around to measure and re-measure etc. and if you bump the string holder or something its all start again.

I have a flat smooth trowel finished section on my shop floor. But one could use something like a sheet of plywood or similar, Just so one has a ridgid smooth surface to park the axel over and make marks upon.
I park the wheels on that surface and using a framing square transfer marks from the front & rear edges of the rims down to the floor. Then roll back the vehicle and measure the difference between the front and rear marks. From there its easy math to determine the amount to adjust the toe in/out.
Now it's just a job of measuring the distance the front edges of the rims move as one is under the vehicle wrenching the tierods. Of course you can't measure the backside because the driveshaft is in the way, (But not if one has a Unimog)

I always double check with new floor marks when I am done, But careful measurement during the adjustment, each time its always spot on.
And if its more than 20 min, I just needed a stronger coffee before working !

Good luck to all,
Jakob
 

hvann

New member
76
0
0
Location
Hampton/Viginia
The string method works, But as you noted it needs a lot of running around to measure and re-measure etc. and if you bump the string holder or something its all start again.

I have a flat smooth trowel finished section on my shop floor. But one could use something like a sheet of plywood or similar, Just so one has a ridgid smooth surface to park the axel over and make marks upon.
I park the wheels on that surface and using a framing square transfer marks from the front & rear edges of the rims down to the floor. Then roll back the vehicle and measure the difference between the front and rear marks. From there its easy math to determine the amount to adjust the toe in/out.
Now it's just a job of measuring the distance the front edges of the rims move as one is under the vehicle wrenching the tierods. Of course you can't measure the backside because the driveshaft is in the way, (But not if one has a Unimog)

I always double check with new floor marks when I am done, But careful measurement during the adjustment, each time its always spot on.
And if its more than 20 min, I just needed a stronger coffee before working !

Good luck to all,
Jakob

Another good idea. Thanks Jakob

Van
 

GoHot229

Member
The way I do it is to jack up one tire at a time. Drive a nail into a 2 X 4 and place the nail on the tire tread and ground and spin the tire to scribe a line. Repeat on the other side. Measure up each tire as close to the center as possible and mark the tire on the line (same distance up on each tire). Use a tape measure to measure the front and back. Make the front of the tire 1/8” – ¼” tow in. Has always worked for me.
Having watched the Pro's, I'll agree with this method
 
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