Steering rack and alignment

Fabio

Hi all,

I was talking to a guy about an old van and he mentioned that, having replaced the steering rack because the old one had developed a power steering fluid leak, he's been finding it tough to get a place to do the alignment for him.

Does this make sense to anyone? Alignment can't be that hard to have done after a steering rack being replaced, can it?

colm_mcm

Doesn’t make sense to me unless he butchered the track rod ends.

Toyotafanboi

Tough to find a place to do the alignment or tough to find a place to do the alignment for half nothing?

Speedline

A lot of tracking machines now are automated. You have to input the make and model etc. His van may not be on their systems if its really old.

He would be better off looking for someone with an old set of guages.

wotzgoingon

I done the alignment on my car myself with a piece of string and measuring tape after changing a lower wishbone/control arm. But it's a hassle jacking up and down a fair few times to get it right. But the car drove straight afterwards if I let go of the steering wheel and watched what would happen. But saying that I changed my alloys recently and decided to just go into the tyre place and get them to do it this time with the machine.

Fabio

Speedline wrote: »

A lot of tracking machines now are automated. You have to input the make and model etc. His van may not be on their systems if its really old.

He would be better off looking for someone with an old set of guages.

I think this was the issue tbh - it was hard to understand him but this is what I came away thinking. It's a JDM import too so maybe it ain't on the new automatic systems...

Pops_20

Any tyre and alignment place worth their salt should at least be able to google the specs for the vehicle if its not on their system and adjust accordingly.

If it's a van then they are probably only going to be setting the toe on the front anyway, and if they can't find any specs, they should know what the range of toe should be at the front.

CoBo55

Fabio wrote: »

I think this was the issue tbh - it was hard to understand him but this is what I came away thinking. It's a JDM import too so maybe it ain't on the new automatic systems...

Is it 4WD? A lot of places won't touch those 4WD Jap imports as they're almost impossible to set up correctly.

Richard_parker

CoBo55 wrote: »

Is it 4WD? A lot of places won't touch those 4WD Jap imports as they're almost impossible to set up correctly.

Why, how? How are they different to most other 4wd? Or are alignment places only able to work on the latest models of LC's and Pajeros with independent suspensions?

Fabio

CoBo55 wrote: »

Is it 4WD? A lot of places won't touch those 4WD Jap imports as they're almost impossible to set up correctly.

I think it's a little more hassle than something modern - you can just tap it into the database on the laser-tracking machines. Has to be done manually and I'd say a good few places don't know the settings or don't want the hassle.

I kinda just wanted to make sure that the issue didn't point to something catastrophic.

Toyotafanboi

Kinda but not really. If you're using something like a Hunter Hawkeye and the specs for that make and model aren't in the software then there's not really anything you can do. The tool you have relies on having the specs, that's it.

You could try and get someone with old tracking plates to set up the front wheel tracking but that isn't really a great job on most modern yokes.

CoBo55

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Translation, people relying too much on computers and cant actually do the basics.

Not true, work colleague had a jap import corolla with 4wd a beautiful car in fairness with all the gadgets, he brought it to the best of fellas but the bloody yoke still kept chawing through tyres like the billyo, personally I think Mr hykayo in Tokyo gave her a clatter and packed her off to the Paddy's:D