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DIY wheel alignment on a BJ Bug.

6K views 14 replies 8 participants last post by  Mr_Wobble 
#1 ·
Does anybody have a clever way of checking the tracking (toe in) of a Bug? 1970 1300 Balljoint front end.
I've just put a new front axle beam into my Bug. Had two new lower ball joints put in, and new track rods and track rod ends. Every bit will affect the wheel alignment.
I measured the old track rods, and assembled the new rods as closely as possible, so the wheels are straight. However, there is supposed to be a slight amount of toe in. On some cars it's possible to reach the back and front of the wheels, and measure the difference, and tweak the track rods until you get the right amount of toe in. But this looks tricky on a Bug, as there's too much in the way of getting a measuring stick/s through the gap below the petrol tank.
So, does anybody have a clever way of doing it accurately at home?
 
#2 ·
if you get the steering wheel straight, then look at your front wheels. by eye align the front of the tyre on the front wheel with the back of the tyre on the front wheel and then align these two with the front of the rear tyre so all three are in line this will give you a basic staight ahead toe, do the same with the other side. if you can not see the rear tyre with the front and rear of the front tyre aligned it's toeing in too far , if you can see lots of the rear tyre tread its toeing out too far.adjust the track rods to alter this but keep the steering wheel straight.

hope that make sense :eek:
 
#7 ·
satelliteone said:
ive sen DIY jobs done with long planks of wood strapped to the front wheels, down the length of the car. wound the tie rods in or out to get the planks dead straight. Might be of some use to you that idea..
Now that rings bells. Seen something like that before too, but can't remember much about it.
Thinking about it, that's not too disimilar to the tools used with rods and mirrors that I've seen used before. Just more compact, and more accurate.
 
#8 ·
Here's how I have done it:

Jack up front wheels.
Spin each wheel and hold a chalk to the tread to create a
thin line around the tread circumference.

Lower car down.
Slowly push car forward on some flat surface, keeping the car
going in a straight line.
Gently apply hand brake but don't let car roll backward.

Now the tricky part.
Use some measuring stick to measure the distance between the
lines. Do this fore and aft. Subtract fore reading from aft
to give toe-in value.

The chalk line eliminates errors from tyre wobble.

You can get a rough approximation of the camber by placing a small carpenters level on the face of the wheel. Do this on a
road surface known to be level.
 
#9 ·
Cheers Jim. I presume you use the chalk on the very edge of the tread. So, I presume the idea is that the chalk leaves two lines, or one fat one, and it's the measurement between the lines left, and width of the lines.
I followed what you were saying until the "tricky part" When you said fore and aft. It's there that I get confused.
 
#11 ·
Another simple check is to find if the wheels are all in align!!

Use a couple of sticks across the boot and bonnet at roughly axle height. The sticks stick a little outside of the body work. Use a sprit level to get them dead level before you tie them down.

Now run some fishing line from one stick to the other down the sides of the body. Now push the line in untill it just kisses the tyre edge at the back and then so it does for the same at the front. Do both sides
And now by measuring and seeing where fishing line touches rubber etc you can begin to tell which wheel is pointing in the correct direction. This ia always revealing on a rebuilt car and can be quite frigtenning!!
 
#13 ·
I'm suprised no-one has recommended that you "string it". You can get millimeter accuracy with no more than two pieces of string. Tie a piece of string to two axle stands and place them so the string is parallel to the front and rear wheel. Do the same the other side. Move the axle stands till the string is the same distance from the rear wheels either side and parallel(string is the same distance apart infront of the car as it is behind the car). Just to make sure check that the string is the same distance from the front wheel centre either side.
Now the clever bit. Measure from the string to the front of the front wheel and then measure from the string to the back of the front wheel. Adjust each side til the front is 2-3mm toe in. If its good enough for a 140mph race car its should be good for a road car.
 
#15 ·
Cheers Jim. The diagram helps. I knew what was meant by fore and aft, but just couldn't figure out from the description where to measure.

Vee Racer & metric thumbs. That sounds like a brilliant idea with the string/fishing line. I'll have to think it through a bit, but sounds simple enough. ...As long as it's not a windy day, blowing the string/line everywhere.
 
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