I've seen this method in use a lot at Lime Rock, both with the low-buck
racers as well as with the guys under the huge canopies with the toter
homes and huge trailers. Must be a pretty good method.
Sally or Dick Taylor wrote:
>Stan---There is a way to do this job accurately yourself. The long way
>(most accurate) requires picking up the centerline of the car's frame,
>front and rear, and dropping down a plumb bob. Snap a chalked string
>down, and measure equally to an outside line. From these (outside) lines
>you can then measure back in to the wheels, and shim them to the toe you
>want.
>
>Quicker, which can still get you very close, is to point the front tires
>dead ahead. (A short run to your work area can establish this) Then run
>a taut string from the front of the car to the rear of the car, on both
>sides. Use four jack stands to hold string positions. The strings should
>be parallel lines, about a foot off the floor..
>Taking the two different tracks (front and rear) into consideration,
>measure in from the string to the front and back of each tire. The
>difference between the string and the wheel is the amount of toe you
>have.
>
>This is a lot of words to describe what can be shown more simply in a
>sketch, but I hope you get the gist of this.
>
>I got this out of a Grassroots Motor Sport issue about 15 years ago, and
>have been usig it ever since. It is called the "10 cent string
>alignment".
>
>Dick
>
>From:
>stan.foster@hp.com(Foster, Stan)
>Getting rear wheels in the right orientation prior to setting toe-in
>I've been working on my rear end (goodparts adjustable brackets, poly
>bushes, new springs etc) and I have it all back together but I'm puzzled
>about how to proceed with alignment. I understand the concept of toe-in
>and how to adjust it with shims but the traditional descriptions of how
>to set it don't discuss how to get the rear wheels in the correct
>position to start with. For example if one wheel is cockeyed to start
>with I can still set the correct toe since it is a measurement relative
>to the other wheel and not relative to some known fixed point on say the
>frame.
>So I feel like I'm missing a step somewhere that gets the rear wheels
>facing the right way to start with before I begin to shim to set the
>toe-in.
>I did re-insert the original shims but the new brackets, bushes, springs
>and inserts have left things quite out of whack so I think the shims
>were compensating for a lot of wear and other issues like poorly placed
>inserts.
>Is there some baseline config that I should apply before setting the toe
>and then the camber ?
>Stan
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