Values for steering

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alf
Posts: 124
Joined: 03 Oct 2008 06:00 pm
Location: Bucharest, Romania

Values for steering

Post by alf » 20 Sep 2010 03:04 pm

Hy guys. On saturday i managed to change both of the ball joints and connection rods, but i forgot to measure them before taking them appart.
Is there a standard dimension? i know i have to go to a garage, but i want to do a "raw" tune.
Thanks.

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Ride_on
Posts: 2262
Joined: 26 May 2009 05:34 pm
Location: Belfast, N. Ireland

Re: Values for steering

Post by Ride_on » 20 Sep 2010 08:03 pm

There isn't a fixed value, that's why there is an adjustment, they can't build the rest of the car accurately enough (cheaply).

Just make sure the front wheels are roughly parallel. You could try a long bit of wood against the wheel and compare with the door /sill line on each side, or comparing the distance between the front and back of the front wheels.
1980 345 DL_______1987 360 GLE (project car restored to GLT spec and B230FT'd)
1984 360 GLT______1987 360 GLT
1983 360 GLS______1989 360 GLE
1985 340 GL_______1986 340 1.4
1985 360 GLS______1995 940 SE 2.3 Turbo Estate (daily)
1987 340 GL 1.7

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Alex Laidlaw
Posts: 230
Joined: 10 Nov 2009 01:54 pm
Location: Oxford and Worcester

Re: Values for steering

Post by Alex Laidlaw » 26 Sep 2010 12:15 pm

There's no need to take a car to be tracked, with some string and axle stands you can track just as accurately as any tyre place will with their laser tracking gauges.

Get the car on flat level ground then setup a piece of string tied to axle stands running along each side of the car, make sure the axle stands are clear of the front/rear of the car. Then move the pieces of string a set distance away from your sill at the same point front and rear on each sides (about 10cm). Measure the distance between the pieces of string at each end of the car and if one is shorter than the other adjust it to match the other one. Now you can measure to the front and rear edge of the wheel from the string and the difference between these two numbers is your toe measurement, the values for which are in the Haynes manual but from memory I think you need about 4mm of toe in (over both sides so 2mm a side).

I will try and find a better explanation later but it is really not as hard or scary as those selling tracking services make it sound ;)

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