Checking Toe end

Post by **John kuehn** » Thu Jul 30, 2020 8:43 pm

My 21 Touring seems to be pulling to the left. I intend to check the toe end this weekend and have read previous posts about it. Seems that folks have different ideas about the cause of pulling to one side. Don’t think the axle is bent but would out of adjustment toe end cause it?

Kerry · Post by **Kerry** » Fri Jul 31, 2020 3:07 am

What sort of wear are the tires showing?

Alan Long · Post by **Alan Long** » Fri Jul 31, 2020 4:48 am

Be it excessive Toe in or Toe out, both tyres will have a similar “feathering”wear pattern across the whole Tyre.
Excessive positive Camber tyres will wear on the outer sides or negative camber the inner sides. Incorrect Caster has no effect
on Tyre wear but handling and wandering side effects
Alan

GrandpaFord · Post by **GrandpaFord** » Fri Jul 31, 2020 8:17 am

While you are at it, check the caster and camber on both sides. You can get a rough idea of the camber by just sighting down the car on both sides to see how the front wheels compare with the rear wheels. Adjust the toe-in last after adjusting the other geometry. If the caster is different side to side you have will have to straighten the axle.

Mark Osterman · Post by **Mark Osterman** » Mon Aug 03, 2020 11:47 am

Fix the toe in as soon as possible. It’s amazing how wuickly you can destroy a set of front tires when the adjustment is incorrect.

Post by **John kuehn** » Mon Aug 03, 2020 12:58 pm

Thanks for the replies.
Crawled under the front end and noticed some looseness in the ball and yoke. Went ahead and ordered some tie rod bolts and replacing those while I’m at it with a new yoke and ball.
I don’t think it’s the reason for pulling to the left and will check things out closer after the new parts are installed.

Also been looking at past posts about straightening a bent axle and noticed a post about checking for straighteners with a straight edge across the length of the axle. It was bowed some and it was straightened with a log chain and a floor jack.
Didn’t look that hard to do and may try it that way after checking the alignment.

GrandpaFord · Post by **GrandpaFord** » Mon Aug 03, 2020 3:59 pm

John,

There are special tools available to straighten an axle but what I used was a 6 foot pipe wrench. I wrapped the axle with 1/8 thick aluminum so that the pipe wrench would not scar the axle. I used a floor jack on the end of the pipe wrench and actually lifted the front of the car off the ground. I have double wishbones and loosened the ones on the side that I bent. You can make the special tool using a piece of 1/2 inch steel and a cutting torch.

Post by **John kuehn** » Mon Aug 03, 2020 4:49 pm

Yes I’ve seen pics of the axle straightening wrench and the repos. It did seem to me that using a 1/2” piece of steel and making the wrench end and welding it on a piece of thick wall drill stem pipe about 5-6 ft long would work. Ive got the drill stem and flat iron on the farm to make one.
Thats another one of those T shop tools that was thrown to the scrappers as years went by that people didn’t know what it was for so it was scrapped. I probably saw one at farm auctions years ago and didn’t know what it was for. Used to see lots of frames and T trailers but wasent looking for old tools at the time.

The post I saw earlier was of an axle that was bowed in the middle and was off the car that was straightened with a log chain and floor jack.

Post by **Steve Hughes** » Mon Aug 03, 2020 4:59 pm

For pulling to the left, I would check to see that the left wheel bearing is not too tight and dragging. I just had a wheel bearing get real hot on a car that I bought recently. Turned out the previous owner had installed the spindles on the wrong side and the left bearing had tightened up so tight that the inner race was spinning in the hub.

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Checking Toe end

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