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I saw something at the track

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jlaird

jlaird

Great Pumpkin
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Were a couple of peices of alum that sat outside the front wheels that could be measured to to adjust the toe in. They were about 2 feet by 10 inchs and were bent a bit on the bottom so they would set by themselves and you could measure by your self.

Really something nice to have for us spridget folks.

My raceing buddy says he has a set and yep I intend to use them, much more accurate than a string.
 
$78 at Summit Racing.

Click ~HERE~ . (but I made my own...very useful!)
 
Jack,

Agree sting method can be imnproved upon but for a quick diagnosis of are both wheels pointing in the same direction strin method is tough to beat for the $ involved and time.
 
I've used the one Moss sells for many years and it works OK(part # 387-085). You need to set it on two drink cans when using it on LBCs. The attached stand is to tall when doing the rear of the tires. It's simple to use, but it could be improved. I have no uneven wear my tires, so it must be close enough. I think when I bought mine it cost $30. That was 15 years ago.
 
Those are close to what I saw. I know I would not pay that for a couple of peices of Alum, hehe. Will make em when I get a chance.

Yep string also works for front to rear tracking. I supose both systems should be used in tandam from time to time.
 
The one at HF is a copy of the one Moss sells which was actually made in USA when I bought mine. It might work just as well.
 
This only takes the front toe into account with no regard to it's alignment with the rear end, in other words if you car was crabbing (moving down the road sideways, this won't fix it) I never do a simple center line toe adjustment, I always do a thrust alignmemt. I made my stuff to do it with on the cheap, but you can do with 4 jackstands and some string. you need to sqaure the car in the strings, account for the lesser rear track of a Spridget when compared to the front, once the car is squared you just measure the front and rear edges of the rims to get toe readings. This is a far better way to do it and do it right.
 
Heh, did all that, but I don't trust me. Wish someone around here had one of those old drive over things that measured the toe in/out.

My one good drive to the license place, 16 miles round trip where I discovered the oil pressure problem also reminded me of the sensitive stearing. Boy oh boy, I had forgotten that. You can be all over the place just breathing. Think I best check the rear end bolts and such during this rerestoration period.

Oh yea, hate to admit it but when pulling the Dizzy I just pulled it, guess what was not locked in tight. Duh. Sometimes I wonder about me.

However, on my check over of the race car before we hit the track I did find a nut missing on the front stearing arm. No, I did not change the engine, that was done elsewhere. Guess who checked real close. All went well. Found that nut missing and a bit of safety wire as well. My rule is drive it on the track, drive it off the track ready for the next race with only gas and checks.
 
I agree with Hap on the 4 wheel alignment. However, if there are no problems with the rear and only the front has been rebuilt or disassembled, setting the toe-in may be all that is needed. Doing the 4 wheel method should only be required after having some kind of accident or incident and also after replacing rear springs and more likely on race cars. If something has happened to get the rear off square with the chassis, it's going to require a lot more work to get it right. I prefer to check it when the car is on its tires to see the full impact the suspension plays into it.
 
Here's a free way to check four wheel alignment: find a parking lot with a big puddle. Drive straight through the puddle then count your tracks. If you have more than 2, you better beg Hap to tell you how to do a 4 wheel alignment.
 
Beg Hap?? Shoot he just loves to help us out.
 
sqbsprite said:
I agree with Hap on the 4 wheel alignment. However, if there are no problems with the rear and only the front has been rebuilt or disassembled, setting the toe-in may be all that is needed.
Click to expand...

Steve, that's not the point I'm trying to make, if you set the front toe without accounting for it's alignment with rear wheels, then you can get a car thats crabbing, all it would take on a alignment rack would be the car be ever so slightly crooked on the rack, doing it yourself, front toe, only, it would be real easy to be slighty off as for as thrust alignment. The front toe setting for race cars only does one thing in my opinion is give a racer a really quick way to set toe if needed in a hurry if he's had a problem, and it should never be the way you do it on your street car. It doesn't get much cheaper than 4 jack stands, some string and a measurement tape. For turntables, I have 4 squares of .100 thick aluminum, that I put wheel bearing grease and a shot of WD40 in between two of the plates, so they will rotate as you set the toe , and I don't have to roll the car back and forth, but I seen alot of guys do the same thing with 4 floor tiles. You don't need a $50K alignment machine and rack to do a thrust aligment you can do in your driveway with $10 worth of tools.
 
And that folks was part of the point I was trying to make and obviously did not.
 
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