Wheel Alignment: Straight Axle Rigs

[Brody]

People have mentioned taking their big tired rigs into alignment shops for alignment. I have found over the years that this is a pretty needless expense, especially if you wheel your rig. Essentially every time you are going to go out wheeling, you are going to knock the alignment off. You could easily bring your rig into the alignment shop after every wheeling trip!

Here is the down and dirty of doing it yourself:

Get your rig onto a level surface. Use a carpenter's square or tape measure and measure from the floor up, marking the same distance at the same spot on the inside of the front tires, both front and back. A sliver Sharpie works great for this.

Raise the front of the rig so that the tires are off of the ground, being careful not to rotate the tires. Measure the inside measurement, front and back. Loosen the adjustment bolt or nut on your tie rod and take a pipe wrench and turn the tie rod so that the front measurement of the tire is between 1/8" and 1/4" less than the back side. You are now aligned good enough for a rig with oversized tires that gets wheeled.

You may also notice that your steering wheel is now off center. Adjusting the drag link much the same way will recenter your steering wheel. The drag link will also affect the steering radius left and right, so you don't want to get to radical with this adjustment. If more than a turn is needed, especially with major lifts, it may be necessary to remove the steering wheel and relocate it to get it centered perfectly.

This process takes about 20 minutes start to finish. If you don't think this has been done for awhile, spray PB Blaster or another rust buster product on the tie rod ends or adjustment sleeve a couple of times a day for about a week before you attempt this. Do not expect the tie rod or drag link to move easily.

As an aside here, whenever you replace your tie rod or drag link, or just the ends, liberally coat the threaded ends with anti seize compound to make this process a little easier. Since I have a hollow rod for both of mine on my Toyota, I actually go one step farther and dump some regular oil into the rods before putting the rod ends on. This helps with rust forming up on the inside of the threads and inside of the rods.

Here is a really nice write up on the subject:

http://www.4wdandsportutility.com/tech/0702_4wd_steering_wheel_alignment/index.html

Hope that this helps.

[Brody]

The easiest way to tell if you are starting to have issues with wheel bearings is to drive your rig for a few miles then put your hand on the hub. If the hub/cap/locking hub/ is hot, your bearings are either fried or badly in need of a grease job.

This way also will show if you have ball joint/knuckle bearing wear, but will also show that your bearings are shot or loose. Get the front wheel up on a jack,and e brake or block the other wheels. Grab the wheel at the top and bottom and try to move it in and out in relation to the rig, on a vertical plane. If you get much movement, chances are that the ball joints are going to need replacement, but tighten up the wheel nut first and try it again to make sure. You should not be able to move the wheel this way at all.

[bowtied1]

Another way to get the toe correct ( I figured this out because I do this by myself without help ) is to use a straight stick or dowell, and mark where the center of the tire falls both in front and back at hub height and the front should be about 1/8" narrower than the rear measurement. Also note if you have a track arm or pan hard bar, you can measure the tire to the frame rail on both sides and make sure that they are equal. If not adjust the track arm to make them equal. I would recommend this prior to adjusting the drag link to straighten the steering wheel.

---------- Post added at 04:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:22 PM ----------


cheat, pull the steering wheel off and clock it.

This isn't a good idea, the steering box has a high point at center so the system returns to center after a turn.