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This is what I did yesterday to check the toe in after the car felt really wonky on the freeway on Saturday morning. Even though I was driving in the rain on a grooved roadway, the car felt strange and not safe. Since I am too poor to keep taking the car to the alignment shop to check the toe in. So, I decided to check the toe setting using the old string method.
This is what I used to do this test. A roll of string, duct tape (Gotta use duct tape!!) and 1/2" wrenches and sockets. I also used a big pair of channel locks and will show it later.
First thing I did was to take an old 4x6 board I had in the wood pile and cut it's length in half. Then I set the front tires on the wood blocks. The reason is that I needed the extra room under the car to work and the car needed to be resting with it's weight on it's tires.
Next, I ran the string from the rear quarter panel, across both tires and up to the front valance. Going across the rear tire allows a straight line up to the front tire.
You can look down at the string going across the front of the tire to see if the string is touching the rear of the tire and not the front; it's toed in. Or, if the string is hitting the front of the and not the rear; it's toed out. Unless you are road racing your car and not driving on the street you want a bit of toe in. Usually about 1//8" to 3/16" is good for a street car. My left tire looked good, but the right front was toed out a bit.
If you look closely, you can see how the string is hitting the right side of the right front tire, but not the left; or the back of the tire. It was toed out about 3/8". Not sure how it got that way as everything was tight under the car.
To adjust the toe, you need to loosen the bolts on the tie rod sleeve and turn the sleeve to pull the tie rods closer together to toe it out, or turn it the other way to push the tie rods farther apart to toe it in. (This is a rear steer car, the steering linkage connects to the back of the spindle. If your car has front steer, you need to do the opposite of this.) Also, take notice how much thread is sticking out of the sleeve on the left side of the car.
The right side tie rods are much closer together than right side which I plan to solve after I adjust both sides. \
I set the toe in about 1/8" on both sides, then I wanted to even out the length of the tie rods to even out the turn radius side to side. I rotated the right side sleeve in 8 turns, then the left side out 8 turns. Then, I rechecked the toe in adjustments to make sure they didn't move. Finally, I tightened up the bolts on the sleeves. That finished under the car.
But, the steering wheel now looked like this. Out of whack. Now, a pro suspension guy could straighten out the wheel by moving the tie rod sleeves on way or the other. But, I didn't want to risk screwing up my adjustments, so I just pulled the steering wheel instead.
If you ever saw the remake of "Gone in Sixty Seconds", you saw Nicholas Cage showing how easy it is to remove a Grant steering wheel. All you need to do is remove the five allen screws and off it comes with the trim ring. That wire is the horn wire. Don't touch it to metal or the neighbors will get mad at you again.
Pulling off the wheel and trim ring, this what you see. The three small bolts hold the adapter to the column hub. The large nut holds the adapter and column hub to the column and keeps the steering wheel from falling off in your hands. A horrible feeling. See the stamped '"UP" mark. It's supposed to be pointing straight up.
Taking off the adapter, you can see the column hub. It also is stamped with "UP" and it's upside down too.
Use a steering wheel puller to get the hub off. I used a gear puller because all my bolts for my steering wheel puller have vanished. It popped right thanks to being removed a few times already. If you are pulling the original steering wheel that has never been off the car; it's a bit more difficult.
I reinstalled the hub with the "UP" pointing up.
Next the adapter is straight up now too. Watch for the horn wire doesn't touch anything metal.
The steering wheel back on. The horn wire gets reattached to the horn button and put back in the steering wheel. This will take only ten minutes if you don't stop to take pictures every minute.
This is what I used to do this test. A roll of string, duct tape (Gotta use duct tape!!) and 1/2" wrenches and sockets. I also used a big pair of channel locks and will show it later.
First thing I did was to take an old 4x6 board I had in the wood pile and cut it's length in half. Then I set the front tires on the wood blocks. The reason is that I needed the extra room under the car to work and the car needed to be resting with it's weight on it's tires.
Next, I ran the string from the rear quarter panel, across both tires and up to the front valance. Going across the rear tire allows a straight line up to the front tire.
You can look down at the string going across the front of the tire to see if the string is touching the rear of the tire and not the front; it's toed in. Or, if the string is hitting the front of the and not the rear; it's toed out. Unless you are road racing your car and not driving on the street you want a bit of toe in. Usually about 1//8" to 3/16" is good for a street car. My left tire looked good, but the right front was toed out a bit.
If you look closely, you can see how the string is hitting the right side of the right front tire, but not the left; or the back of the tire. It was toed out about 3/8". Not sure how it got that way as everything was tight under the car.
To adjust the toe, you need to loosen the bolts on the tie rod sleeve and turn the sleeve to pull the tie rods closer together to toe it out, or turn it the other way to push the tie rods farther apart to toe it in. (This is a rear steer car, the steering linkage connects to the back of the spindle. If your car has front steer, you need to do the opposite of this.) Also, take notice how much thread is sticking out of the sleeve on the left side of the car.
The right side tie rods are much closer together than right side which I plan to solve after I adjust both sides. \
I set the toe in about 1/8" on both sides, then I wanted to even out the length of the tie rods to even out the turn radius side to side. I rotated the right side sleeve in 8 turns, then the left side out 8 turns. Then, I rechecked the toe in adjustments to make sure they didn't move. Finally, I tightened up the bolts on the sleeves. That finished under the car.
But, the steering wheel now looked like this. Out of whack. Now, a pro suspension guy could straighten out the wheel by moving the tie rod sleeves on way or the other. But, I didn't want to risk screwing up my adjustments, so I just pulled the steering wheel instead.
If you ever saw the remake of "Gone in Sixty Seconds", you saw Nicholas Cage showing how easy it is to remove a Grant steering wheel. All you need to do is remove the five allen screws and off it comes with the trim ring. That wire is the horn wire. Don't touch it to metal or the neighbors will get mad at you again.
Pulling off the wheel and trim ring, this what you see. The three small bolts hold the adapter to the column hub. The large nut holds the adapter and column hub to the column and keeps the steering wheel from falling off in your hands. A horrible feeling. See the stamped '"UP" mark. It's supposed to be pointing straight up.
Taking off the adapter, you can see the column hub. It also is stamped with "UP" and it's upside down too.
Use a steering wheel puller to get the hub off. I used a gear puller because all my bolts for my steering wheel puller have vanished. It popped right thanks to being removed a few times already. If you are pulling the original steering wheel that has never been off the car; it's a bit more difficult.
I reinstalled the hub with the "UP" pointing up.
Next the adapter is straight up now too. Watch for the horn wire doesn't touch anything metal.
The steering wheel back on. The horn wire gets reattached to the horn button and put back in the steering wheel. This will take only ten minutes if you don't stop to take pictures every minute.
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