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TR4/4A Outer tie rods

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bammons

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I am having problems installing new outer tie rod end(s). I tried to install them with no real weight on the chassis (no engine, body etc) and used the measurements in the shop manual from the center of the rack and pinion body to the center of the tie rods. This did not seem to work at least on the passenger side (it made it too long). And I had lots of problems because of the steep angle to get it into the steering arm. Fast forward - I left it be until I got more weight on it. In trying to remove the passenger side tie rod to adjust it inward I destroyed it. So got a new one. Now the body is getting ready to be dropped onto the chassis to go to the body shop and I need to do something so the wheel is not flopping around. Of course I did not mark the original tie rod setting that makes it too easy. My chassis has all the suspension on it, motor, transmission, radiator etc on it now. Is that enough weight to accurately install the tie rod? I left the driver side installed from earlier (used the measurement talked about from above) but it seems to be rubbing on the dust shield. What do I do at this point? I've got about 10 days to do something before it goes to the body shop. It seems if there is not proper weight on it then when the weight is put on it it will push the wheels out. I'm lost Help. Bruce
 
TO be clear, your question is (1) how to install the tie rod ends, and (2) how to align them.

For 1, yes, weight is good. For 2, I'll let the experts chime in - but I suspect that after any suspension work, you want to have the front end properly aligned.
 
Yes My question is how to align them and do I have to have the car completely put together for the weight on the front end to be correct.
 
Bruce,
I am not an expert by any stretch... But, here is what I have done so far.
While on jack stands, I put a tight line on the back tire and got the front as close as I could to parallel on both sides adjusting the tie rod ends.
when the car was on the ground i checked the parallelism again.
I was able to rig a cheap laser level on the back wheel also, horizontally pointed at the front wheel, and take measurements on the front...between both methods and lots of worry this worked good enough for short tests with out wearing the tires and also got me to a garage that had an alignment expert and tools that I don't have to dial it in.
Jim
 
bammons said:
Yes My question is how to align them and do I have to have the car completely put together for the weight on the front end to be correct.
Click to expand...


It's always been my understanding that the car needs to be sitting on the ground, fully assembled in order to align properly.

Check YouTube for the string method of aligning - you can do this to get pretty close.
 
There's no way you can get it aligned right until you have the car entirely together and have full weight on the suspension. For now, just adjust things until the wheels are as close to parallel as you can get them; then it should be possible to roll the car around without problems. It's really not a big deal; it doesn't have to be perfect at this point, and actually can't be. Then, when you're ready to drive it, you can get a proper alignment.
 
They look about the same as tr3 to me, so install the tie rod; the body weight is not that much, and if it effects it a fuzz that can adjust-out
 
Ok guys - I visited with a forum member to get some parts and he showed me I was overthinking this and making it harder than it is. Steve you said the same thing he did - get it close so it can be moved around and it does not really need to be tight. After all the weight is on it then do it. He does the string method and it seems easy enough to me now that it has been explained. So thanks for your answers all were useful. Bruce
 
Sand bags to approximate what is NOT hung on the suspension. If you care to jump into this with both feet, find a used set of Dunlop Alignment gauges. AGO40. They were pricey when new in the '70s'. We've used that set to align the front-ends of everything from my personal Elans to Formula Ford and F-Atlantic race cars for decades with great success. A one-time investment for years of saving on alignment shop fees, too. And you could offer local LBC club members front-end alignments for a small fee. :wink:

Disclaimer: It can't do 'four-wheel" alignment.
 
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