Wheel tracking and alignment

[George the Disco]

Help! I replaced the bushes on George several months ago now changing them for Deflex polybushes. Since then the rides been a lot better, not to mention the fact that they are now not an MOT failure point.  :D

However when I took George along to have the tracking checked and adjusted the lasers indicated that the distance between the front and rear axles was different on each side! I say this because the drivers side laser pointed to 10 at the rear while the passenger side pointed somewhere into the tyre! The toe out was showing -1 (ie slight toe in).

Having read the workshop manual and the Haynes last night the toe out should be 0-2mm toe out (not toe in). My question is this; is it possible that the axels coule be different distances apart? :?  (The chassis is straight and there is only a very slight bend in one of the rear track rods).

Any help greatly appreciated!

Chris

[strapping young lad]

trailing arm and radius arm bushes are new yes?

if one side is more worn than the other that could be a reason why the wheelbase is out.

[George the Disco]

Hi Dyf, yes. I replaced all the bushes with the exception of the rear upper link (A frame) ones, but these can't make the difference. As far as I can tell the front axle is out of alighment from the rear.

The only other thing that I can think of is that because the drivers side laser pointed to 10 on the scale (ie away from the side of the vehicle) that the passengers side would point at -10 (ie in the same direction as the drivers side) and that if the steering wheel was turned so that the drivers side was pointing at say 0, then the passengers side would also point to 0. In which case the passengers front wheel would be massively toe in, assuming that the axles are the same distance apart at each end.

Chris

[George the Disco]

For the help of the thinkers out there I'll tell you exactly what happened.

I drove onto the ramps with the wheels pointing straight ahead. I've had a new steering box fitted in the past and the mechanic didn't straighten the steering wheel when he fitted it so the wheel gives the impression that the car should be turning to the left when driving straight ahead.

The mechanic decided that the wheel should be straight and turned the wheel to the right to strighten it, hence turning the front wheels to the right. The drivers side laser pointed to 10 away from the side of the body, and the passengers side also pointed in the same direction striking the rear tyre (effectively -10), giving the impression that the road wheels are turing the car to the left, but the side to side (toe in/out) measurement showed -1 (ie toe in). This should be 0-2mm. The tyre to wing measurement was 4 fingers wide on the drivers side (you can see that I'm technically minded can't you!) while it was 5 fingers wide on the passengers side. We then took a tape measure and measured from the edge of the plastic centre caps on both sides and they were 3/8th of an inch different.

Been thinking while typing... First thing to check is the distance from the front wheel pivot point (not the edge of the centre cap!) to the rear axle and compare it to the other side. If these are both the same then the OK and move on to point 2.

Point 2 is to take it back to the tracking centre and get them adjust the huge left hand toe in!

Chris

[strapping young lad]

not many garages know how to track and align landies mate

there is a knack as they are different to other vehicles

tom tully tires i think they're called, in speke, liverpool, and did mine for 15 quid

go to yell.com and find their details

next to liverpool airport

[George the Disco]

Cheers Dyf. I'll get the tape measure out tonight as ISTR that there's a detailed dimensioned plan of the chassis in the workshop manual so I should be able to confirm that its straight. After that its off to be retracked.

Chris