Track rod approx how many turns

Alright lads shoot me down if you want but here is my Question.Car failed mot due to track rod ends and cos i never had the time to do them foolishly let the garage do it.Now the tyre's do not look like they are sitting right! i don't think they counted the turns off and back on.So all i am asking is approx how many turns so i can get it somewhere near.I know they are not all the same but i took one side off and counted 22 turns which seems a lot to me.Also the steering wheel now sits off centre when the wheels are supposedly pointing straight.

go and get it set correctly

yep it needs tracking

if the wheel is not sat center then they have put one track rod on more than the other but the way i have always done it was to count OFF the old one and put the new one on to the same amount of turns same on the other side then had it straight down to have tracking done it set it correctly garages near me only charges me £21 for tracking

when you take it to them to have the tracking done tell them the wheel is off center so they can straighten the wheel during tracking

Yes matt that's what i always do count the turns off and then back in and yes i know the inner wheel has slightly less on the turn than the outer wheel.But just want to put this somewhere near until i can get it tracked properly.No one near me will touch the freelander for some reason.

well its completly upto you bt you have this as an option

take off track rod ends and right down how many turns each one if one is 20 and 1 is 22 then put them both on 21 and see if improves..

if you make a note of how many they are right now at least you can put them back to that if you dont have any luck maybe this would be of some use to you

matt1295 said:

well its completly upto you bt you have this as an option

take off track rod ends and right down how many turns each one if one is 20 and 1 is 22 then put them both on 21 and see if improves..

if you make a note of how many they are right now at least you can put them back to that if you dont have any luck maybe this would be of some use to you

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or measure from the end of bar to shoulder of ball joint

good idea to be honest i had never thought of that

thanks thor but if you have your steering wheel out you may find your problem lies with just one track rod

will try to explain what the garage told me when my steering wheel was off center

when one of the track rods is turned more than the other side it causes the steering to be off center to line the wheels up as you have to compensate for the track rod being put on to far one side

hope you understand what i mean it was harder for me to explain than i thought but i thought id still try to

after you are done jack up the front end and put of jack stands. Then take a screw driver and spin the tyre and put a make all the way around the tyre, do the same on the othere tyre. Then use a long 2x4 and put it against you back tyre to get the fron straight with back tyre. Then take tape measure ( takes 2 people) measure the line in the tyre at fron and back, as looking at the 3 and 9 as if looking at a clock with loosening the clamp you can use the nut to move it in or out to get your measure pretty close.

But nothing can beat a front end alignment after replacing ball joints. saves your tyres

worn rear bushing can effect your steering wheel also, as you turn your wheel to compensate

The time you will spend ****ing about counting turns and measuring stuff would be much better spent looking for a garage to do it properly. If a garage "wont touch freelanders" then find a better garage. Remember that it is only a couple of millimeters difference between tracking being ok and ruining your tyres.


Or buy a trackace and do it yourself.
Trackace DIY laser wheel alignment tracking gauge. Poor wheel alignment wastes fuel, damages tyres & increases your CO2 emissions carbon emissions.
simple, cheap and reliable. However, the results are only as good as the effort you put in to the job yourself.

i have had our freelanders 4 wheel tracked where they check the front and back tracking it only cost me £25 per car and the front of the freelander tracking is the same as any other car so why they will not touch freelanders i do not know

alkaja said:

Question.

Car failed mot due to track rod ends and cos i never had the time to do them foolishly let the garage do it.Now the tyre's do not look like they are sitting right! i don't think

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How could they LOOK wrong ? If they're way out , they will pull you all over the road . .

Did mine yesterday, 24 on one side and 22 on the other, but this was just as a double check as i measured from a fixed point i marked on the track rod to the centre of the taper on the ball joint (using calipers). I will still have it checked at garage at some point just to be sure.