At 05:27 PM 4/29/2002 -0700, you wrote:
>I just got the car back from alignment and the tie rods are angled
>differently. Instead of going straight out from the rack and trailing back
>to the wheel. One is angled up and the other is angled down. They don't
>seem to hit anything and other than looking odd, seem to function ok. The
>rods are pretty chewed up from the pipe wrench used to make 'adjustments'.
>Some club members recommended this shop.
>Anyone have any comments to reassure me this is normal?
>Curtis in Santa Clara.
I believe that Curtis is referring to the rotation of the bent tie
rods. One is tending to bend upwards and the other is downward. This is
because the threads at the rod end are both right hand and tightening the
jam nuts will cause this opposite rotation. The shop should have leveled
the bends when they finished the alignment. If the tie rods can be rotated
so that the bends are in the level position, and this is essentially
neutral in their limit of rotational travel, then their is no
problem. This neutral rotation is the middle of the rotational limits of
the tie rod ends. Both ends (rod end and the internal rack joint) are
spherical, so rotating this tie rod makes no change in length. If the
level bend is not the neutral location, the jam nuts need to be loosened to
allow this minor turning adjustment. The change in toe will be minimal and
will prevent potential binding.
Tom
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