almost out of room to adjust alignment on tie rod for toe?

[idosubaru]

1999 Subaru legacy - all bushings, control arm, strut seem fine.

 

the nut is basically all the way towards the inner part of the vehicle and out of threads on the inner tie rod for adjustment.  i'll have to check one more time but i think i'll need more to get it in specifications.

 

passengers side is fine.

[nipper]

Did you replace anything recently?

 

This is not normal by a long shot. How is the tire wear. How is the ride and handling? How big was the pothole you hit?

[idosubaru]

Can't I turn the steering wheel to gain more threads for alignment?  I only need like 5mm so it would be a miniscule amount, wish I would have thought of that while i was doing it. 

 

Come to think of it - each wheel needed turned to "the left", the same way and approx the same amount - suggesting it has drifted off from prior alignments, work, owners, etc...i'll bet that's what it is.

 

before doing that, i'll pry once more with a large bar to check bushings.

 

replaced brakes, axle, steering rack boots, and steering rack ujoint with car on ground, so no way for rack to move.

ride and handling are fine.

[nipper]

Gary i did not realize it was you

 

Is it the original steering rack? Are the outer tie rods original, oe, replacement or cant tell?

[Fairtax4me]

The u joint was not put on quite the same as it was before.

I'd remove the joint again and put it back one notch to the left, or should it be to the right? I can't think straight enough to figure how that should go right now.

Either way, your rack center is off by 1/2" or so, and adjusting the position of the u joint (and thus the steering wheel) relative to the input shaft of the rack will bring the rack back to center to allow proper adjustment of the tie rods.

[idosubaru]

Fairtax - weird, that does sound like it's the case. thanks. confusing that i drove the car, drifted to a stop while driving dead straight, i made sure to do that. i guess it just drifted a tiny amount or was pulling.  at least it's super easy to adjust, i'll look at the ujoint.

 

technically speaking the ujoint placement doesn't matter - a car can be perfectly aligned regardless of how the steering wheel or ujoint is oriented. but i guess the steering wheel being aligned gives you the dead center to work off of?

 

so how would one do an alignment on a vehicle that has the steering column/wheel/swapped, etc and can't use that as a "centering" marker?

[nipper]

Basically you would use a ruler. Sometimes you have to take off the tie rod ends and measure the rack to make sure it is extented equally on both sides, make a refernce mark and go on from there. The steering wheel is actually a very poor reference to use at times.

[Fairtax4me]

Right, U joint placement doesn't matter as long as the rack is centered and the steering wheel is centered. But it's easy to get the u joint 1 notch off when putting it back and not realize it.

It's also possible the splines in the "new" u joint are in a slightly different position.

 

It sounds like you haven't driven the car since replacing these parts?

[idosubaru]

got it, i'll check it tomorrow if weather cooperates.

 

i've put lots of  miles on it since replacing these parts, drives perfectly fine, but tires are wearing on the inside edge.

[johnceggleston]

check the visible threads on one of your other cars.

this should give you an idea of what you are looking for on each side.

 

i would un-thread, lengthen, the short side, counting the turns, until you get close to your other car.

(remember the axle seal ring deal?)

then go back and screw on, shorten, the other tie rod the same number of turns.

this should put you back to your same alignment but with the threads about the same on both side of the rack.

now you have room to make your adjustment.

 

re-centering the steering wheel is easier than the u-joint.

but you do not want to run out of clock spring before you run of of steering rack.

Edited July 10, 2013 by johnceggleston

[johnceggleston]

almost missed this part.

 

 

tires are wearing on the inside edge.

 

check the camber.

 

i stupidly took my 97GT to merchants tire for an alignment after i swapped in obw struts.

they did it and 8 months later my tires were wearing on the inside. (drove fine.) 

so i go back and do it again.

and again 9 months later.

 

finally i watch the process.

it turns out the alignment computer keeps telling the technician that there is NO camber adjustment without after market parts.

so i have paid them to align my car WRONG 3 times.

and my tires are wearing out.

 

i did get my money back.

 

check the camber.

[idosubaru]

thanks guys.  the steering wheel being out of whack probably made it hard to get a good starting point.

 

readjusted today and all seems to be in spec now for toe and the steering wheel is aligned. oddly the steering wheel was a few degrees off before i started this and had been for awhile since the ujoint replacement, and after aligning was dead on so i never had to adjust that....weird.

 

will plan on checking camber, though i don't know how to do that at home, but can't be that hard.

 

probably should check the toe one more time with all this back and forth and steering wheel off and make sure the suspension is all settled though i don't see toe moving or settling much.