Toe out setting

I recently changed the track rod measured the old 1 and put new 1 what I thought was identical but on driving the steering wheel was down to right so I tried the string adjustment and passengers wheel was straight and drivers toed out, I disconnected rod again and adjusted end so wheel was almost straight then tweaked with adjuster it's not bad to drive but steering wheel is down slightly to left and if I look down flanks you can see both front wheels toeing out, so my question is how much should toe be and am I wright in thinking if you can see it looking down flanks it's probably to much and would adjusting it a little improve steering wheel, it was terrible when it was down on right but only slightly to left now

After doing mine took it straight to my local tyre shop and got them to put it on their laser testing equipment. Sorted

On the P38 I think it is just and only just a tad toe out.
If you set the tracking first as best as you can and then set the bar from the steering box to hub afterwards.

My local is 30mile away, did they just adjust tracking bar or drag link aswell

You should have the steering box center of its travel i think there is a mark on box , the wheels should then be set to be parallel with the rear link then you adjust the front link to center them up, if i remember it all correct but stand to be corrected, wammers is the man for the settings.

Tracking first and then the drag after

Steering box is lined up with marks and wheel straight my point was I'm assuming the tie out is so fine if you can see it it's to much?

It's a 0 degrees and 5 to 15 minutes toe out. You can get a rough idea by putting a measuring string between the back of the front rims, and then front of the front rims (but you need straight rims...). I popped down to the local National to get it checked definitively - although the same place told me I had a toe out on the rear too : o), so I guess even then there equipment wasn't great (or my rims...). You're probably only one or two threads out - which is just a few mm and it's hard to get that accurate without rigid measurement tools - even if you thread count when you replace things, the threads will be the same pitch but the geometry of the TREs can vary.

I'm not sure you should really be able to "see" the toe out though, as you mention, I certainly can't on mine. When you make the adjustments I'd suggest using paint dots so that you can keep track of the number of threads you turn the adjuster back/ forth until you nail it.

If I stand at the front and look straight down sides I can see front of front wheels pointing out from body that's what I was meaning I assume I shouldn't see it

You drive forwards then backwards let the wheels do their thing, then adjust so steering wheel is straight.

Blob, grab yourself an assistant and a non-extendable piece of string, and then go to the inside front and then back of the rims - if the front gap is longer then the back by a few mm then you prob want to get it checked before doing many miles. Is it only the track rod you've had off, or the drag link as well? If it was just the track rod then I think that if you get the s/w and wheels to drive straight ahead by adjusting the track rod (and not the drag link) then you will more or less have corrected the toe to its original setting. Assuming your geometry was good before you started - and if you have touched the drag link since, then that short cut won't work.

Still the best method is to get it properly tested - these are just ways of getting you roughly right.

Was just track rod bud

OK - well then it's worth getting to straight wheels and s/w just by adjusting the tracking. There may be a lot of trial and error - so putting paint dots on the rod/ adjuster and TRE will help get there quicker - and then obv. make sure both TREs are aligned in the same plane before tightening up the adjuster.
The string method may also give you a quick and dirty idea of an adjustment too, to minimise the amount of times you have to drive forward and back over and over. I've made this bit up, but 3mm out at the rim is probably 2mm at the track rod and so 1/2 to 1 turn of the adjuster ( which is, double-threaded at c. 1.5mm per thread)

The way I do mine is with a couple of thin battens - strips of wood - about 1" x 1/2", and about 4 ft long. Get underneath, place one end of each on the front of the rims and holding the two together in the center mark across both with a pen/pencil whatever. Then do the same on the rear of the rims and you can see the difference by any offset of the drawn line from one piece of wood to the other. For me this is easier and more accurate than struggling with string, not saying that's wrong, just not for me.

Some places now wont do the tracking on a p38 as they dont know how or there system wont do it

brianp38dse said:

Some places now wont do the tracking on a p38 as they dont know how or there system wont do it

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True, wheel size was an issue when I asked - and then several swore blind that the P38 had adjustable rear toe, and so they couldn't do that either. Now though, it's probably just a struggle to find one that's open

I have mates at KWIKFIT and they can

Blobthebuilder said:

Was just track rod bud

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If it is a p38 ,and it was the front bar with the damper on, you changed ,it gets adjusted so the swheel is straight ..The rear one does the tracking.....RR....

The front bar with the damper is the drag link and the rear bar is Track rod, buddy but I think problem is lower passengers ball joint