Alignment

I recently replaced my tie rod ends in my '66 TR4 (yes, I know they stopped making TR4s in '65 but we bought this one in '66 so that's what the title says). I carefully counted the turns to remove the left side tie rod end. On the right side I was distracted talking with my neighbor and next thing I knew I had the old tie rod in my hand. So, anyone know an easy way to align the front of a TR4? I installed the new tie rods and the car has a nasty pull to the left.

Originally posted by Nigel Dashpot:
I recently replaced my tie rod ends in my '66 TR4 (yes, I know they stopped making TR4s in '65 but we bought this one in '66 so that's what the title says). I carefully counted the turns to remove the left side tie rod end. On the right side I was distracted talking with my neighbor and next thing I knew I had the old tie rod in my hand. So, anyone know an easy way to align the front of a TR4? I installed the new tie rods and the car has a nasty pull to the left.

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Hi Nigel, first welcome to the forum! I am faced with the same situation on my EType (doing total restore). The manuel isn't much help, so I decided to get it close, I would center the sterring wheel, then adjuct each tierod until the wheels are as straight ahead as I can get them by sight. Then I'd take it somewhere had have it fine tuned, as it were. Just out of curiosity, can you tell for any discoloration in the threads about where the originals used to be?

Basil
(By the way, I love Lil British Cars, but I never claim to be an expert on any of them!)

Basil;

I had received the same advice regarding the tie rod ends. I will try taking a few more turns on the right side and then take it out for another spin and see how it is. I enjoy doing my own work on all my cars, or at least doing as much as my skill set allows. Wheel alignment should be fairly simple. If all else fails I was thinking of removing both road wheels and then simply measuring the distance between the leading and trailing edges of the brake rotor. Since I believe I did the driver side correctly when I replaced that tie rod end I was figuring to make the fine tuning on the right side tie rod end and then hoping for the best.

I've always been able to get a pretty fair alignment with just a carpenter's folding ruler and a rafter square.

Use the rafter square against each front tire at the fattest part of the rearward sidewall (e.g. 3:00 on the drivers side). Mark this point on the floor (some masking tape & a sharpie work well). Do this on both sides of the car, label the marks "R".

Roll the car backward one-half a wheel rotation and do the same with the fattest part of the frontward sidewall (e.g. 9:00 on the drivers side). Label them "F". Note, this is the same spot on the tire that you used for the rear measurment.

Roll the car out of the way and measure the distance between each set of marks, the difference is your toe-in/toe-out.

You'll need to do a bit of math to compare to the book setting, particularly if it is in degrees, but save your work and the setting you go with and future adjustments will be a snap.

I usually make the final adjustment by what feels best on the road then measure one final time to know what I've got.