Alignment Question

[colonelpowers]

Hello everyone,
I just had a quick question before I get to taking things apart to try to align my 27 tudor. I just had to change two new front tires. After less than 1500 miles I had worn them down to the belts. So I decided that I had better get to doing an alignment. Everything else in the steering is pretty tight. The service manual says to measure off of the felloes but since I have wire rims should the measurement be from rim edge to rim edge? I assume that it should be measured at the center of the wheel so on my car that it about 14 3/4 inches from the floor. If my measurement locations are good then I definitely know why the tires wore out so quickly, there is nearly 2 inches of toe in.

Thanks and God Bless,

Joshua A Powers

[CudaMan]

https://dauntlessgeezer.com/DG104.html

[speedytinc]

Your front must have looked like a pigeon toed kid.
Use the center of the tire, not the rim. Rims run perfectly true? Not likely.
Measure & mark 1/2 way up the tires. Anywhere, really, as long as you are consistent with your second measurement.
Roll the T wheels 180 degrees for the back measurement to pick up the same marks.

Using the inside of the rims assumes the wheels run perfectly true.

[Craig Leach]

Hi Joshua,
I like to jack each tire up, spin it and spray a lite color paint in the center of the tire, then spin again and scribe a line in the paint and use that to measure from. Put the wheels back on the ground and role it forward and back settle everything the check. If you don't have a trammel bar you will need to sweet talk someone into holding the dumb end of the tape measure for you. This way you get the center of wheel and eliminate any wobble in the wheel from the equation. If you can't get to the center of the rear of the tire you will need to measure the same height up on the front and calculate the difference. 2" is a lot of toe in and you're right that will wear tires out quick.
Craig.

[Moxie26]

Check for worn out spindle bushings and Mal adjusted wheel bearings

[ABoer]

Joshua ; I do it always this way .

Toon

[Art M]

I scribe a mark on tape attached to the tire tread instead of Craig's method. I measure the distance between the marks with a 6 foot straight edge. I get the straight edge close to position with jack stands, then I clamp the zero end of the straight edge with a large clamp. Mark the straight edge where the scribed line is at the other wheel. Do this front and back and the difference is the toe-in.
In my opinion the toe in should be as close to zero as possible, but not zero. Keep in mind that the tie rod must be turn in complete one turns. One turn changes the toe in by about .21 inches.

Art Mirtes

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[Norman Kling]

The wheels should be on the ground when the measurement and adjustment are made because that is the way it is when the car is running. I like to adjust to zero toe in and then rotate out the adjustment to the nearest place where the bolt can be installed. Any other finer adjustment would require bending the spindle arms.
Norm

[TWrenn]

I use the inside edge of the tire, mark with a carpenter square both front and rear of each tire. Using 2 yardsticks (clamped together) I measure the distance of each, and compare the two, adjusting appropriately for whether it's toe-in or toe-out to correct. Simple, and very effective. My '13 is on zero toe and handles like a dream. My other 2 cars, plus a couple of friends I did, I was able to get at 3/16" toe-in and they too handle well.

[Jerry VanOoteghem]

If you're only measuring the from rim-to-rim or from tire-to-tire, etc., keep in mind that any wheel wobble will throw error into your measurements. How many T's have wheels that don't wobble??? That's the beauty of the method using the tape and magic marker line. It eliminates all of the runout error of the wheels.

[colonelpowers]

I want to thank everyone who has written. I think that I will try the tape method. If my thinking is right, the marker line doesn't have to be exactly in dead center as long as it is straight. I suppose that if i brace my hand on a jack stand or something similar so that it doesn't move as I spin the wheel that that will suffice. I will get to it in the morning. Hopefully she will be driving like a new one by lunch time.

You all are always appreciated. God Bless!

[TXGOAT2]

I believe the check is best made with the car on the ground with steering straight ahead. After making reference marks, oil everything, and roll the car straight forward for 5 feet or so on level ground, then let it stop and set the brake before it rolls back any. That should have the steering system in its normal running position. Do the measurements and make any needed correction, then repeat the measuring procedure. I'd set the toe in to the Ford spec. If you have camber, and you should, you need to have some toe in. For the car to steer correctly, caster, camber, and toe in need to be correct, and the entire steering system and front and rear suspension need to be in good condition, along with all four wheels and the motor mounts. Uneven caster will make a car handle poorly, and a bent spindle will cause steering problems.