Toe in adjustment

[Dean Lemoine]

Can toe in be accurately set without the weight of the engine in the car?

[Gary WA]

Good question but my take on it would be no!

[J Franklin]

You can't drive it yet so why get in a rush?

[tinkirk]

Originally Posted by Dean Lemoine

Can toe in be accurately set without the weight of the engine in the car?

With a straight axle,I can't see why not
Toe in is toe in
Go ahead and set it and then recheck it before going for a ride


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[redmodelt]

We have often set toe in with car off the ground, don't have room to roll back and forth. Haven't noted a problem yet.

[Corley]

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People make a big deal out of toe in, it's not. Toe in is to take up any sloop in the front suspension, by letting the rolling wheels/tires, as they try to roll toward each other, keep all slack in check. It's a very small amount, because a) it only takes a tiny amount of toe to do the trick, and b) you don't want enough toe in to cause excessive wear on the tires.

That's it! It is not rocket science.

To the question here, since all relevant components are tied to the front axle, and suspension movement can't affect toe in, of course you can set it without the engine in the car.

[KR500]

Toe in is not to take up slop in the front steering. Toe in is to compensate for the fact that with king pin inclination the front tire rotate in a cone shaped formation. If you roll a cone on the floor it will quickly not roll forward or backward in a straight line. So the tires are inclined inward to shape the tire tread touching the road surface so it can roll forward in a straight line.

[Corley]

Originally Posted by KR500

Toe in is not to take up slop in the front steering. Toe in is to compensate for the fact that with king pin inclination the front tire rotate in a cone shaped formation. If you roll a cone on the floor it will quickly not roll forward or backward in a straight line. So the tires are inclined inward to shape the tire tread touching the road surface so it can roll forward in a straight line.

Well, that's certainly a novel thought, but totally wrong. King pin inclination only comes into consideration when turning. When going straight down the road, the king pin could be welded solid, with no effect whatever. (Just keepin' it real here...) Now wheel inclination, also known as camber, that is a different animal, and does cause the cone shape action, but that is a whole different subject, with little relation to toe.

[nick c]

I have followed this subject for years, there are many methods of home shop toe end adjustment. Last year I found one that used stick pins in the tire tread, and rolling the vehicle front and back on shop floor, it made sense to me and I used it. I lost the instructions, maybe someone could post a link.

[sphanna]

nick c

Response to your post in #9. I do the stick pin method I think although I don't use a pin. I make an extremely small dot anywhere near the center of the tread with a pen or ,yes even stick pin. This made on both tires at 6 inches above the floor at the rear of the tires. Measure this distance between the dots and record it so as to not forget it. Be sure to roll the car forward enough before you do the first dot at rear of tire to take out all slack. Now roll the car FORWARD until the dot is 6 inches above the floor at the front of the tire. Measure this distance and repeat until the second measure is 1/16 " less than the rear distance. If you have to do this again then continue moving only forward. If not enough room to do that then roll backward far enough so that you roll ahead again to get the 6 " height at the rear dot.

[Dean Lemoine]

Thanks for the responses, it’s much appreciated

[rotorwrench]

Toe in is to compensate for flexing of the axle during forward motion. A person would be surprised at how much an axle beam will flex with the pressure of forward motion. On a straight axle vehicle, it doesn't change much under normal vehicle weight load versus no load. On an independent suspension, it should be set under normal loading due to the independent movement of each A-arm.

[KR500]

Here is some info in a booklet printed byFORD in 1936

[KR500]

Two more important pages to the above