Tweedybird

I just finished the steering tie rods on the savage, according to specs, 44mm for both tie rods on the front end. and 44.5 for both tie rods on the rear.

When I finally snapped them on, the turning radious on the front and rear were way off from center.

The front wheels one was cocked left and the right was almost straight, upon moving the steering left and right with the current setup I noticed this was wrong, as well as the tie rod on the right was actually making hard contact with one of the shocks.

The rears were way off from center with the book specs.

Any assistance in this matter would be much appreciated. Thanks

The boggled Tweedy Bird

Vortec_Rat

I actually made an alignment rack for my truck using a small adjustable protractor I got at Sears for $5 and a 24" ruler. Keep in mind, I'm a mechanic and have been doing alignments for ten years so if I confuse you, let me know.

First make sure that the surface you're working on is flat. A wooden workbench is not always completely flat.

Next, set the ride height to where you want it by adjusting the shocks and springs if you can. Now if you have adjustable upper arms, set the camber (the lean angle on the tires either in or out at the top). I don't race the truck so I used the protractor and set the wheels 2 degrees in at the top (figuring the little bit of lean will help it corner).

Now you can set the toe (the tie rods). Set the protractor so it's at 90 degrees or you can use a basic t-square is you're not doing the other adjustments. Lay the ruler under the wheels at the front and using the t-square up against the tires take a measurement from the side chassis plate to the outer edge of the wheel at each side. They should be equal. Try to get them so they look like they're pointing straight. Then measure the total distance between the outer edges of the tires (total width of the truck) at the front of the tire and at the rear of the tire. These should also be equal. Do this for the rear first and then the front.

Don't forget, if the rear is pointing off to one side, the truck will dog track. I don't know if you've ever seen an early '70s Chevy Nova going down the street sideways because the rear spring pins were broken but that's called dog tracking. There will be an enormous amount of play in the wheels but try to bounce the suspension around every time you make an adjustment just to make sure you didn't go too far.

Tweedybird

I figured out the problem, was a stupid build error :P once I solved it all was ok, all that remains is tweaking the linkages abit and I should be all set, thanks for the help.

Tweedy