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Setting toe in/out for axle swap

RunningProblem

RunningProblem

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Sep 12, 2020
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Can someone tell me in GREAET detail how I could set (ball park) the toe for a front axle I plan to swap into a vehicle in the near future? It is a Dana 60 (Kingpin if it matters) and all I've see is people measuring the front axle and setting it 3/16-1/4" in. I don't really understand any of this or how people are measuring the length a tie rod needs to be without having the axle under the vehicle or tires on it.

Do I just put a straight edge on each side of the axle and measure the width at the front and back?
When people say 1/4" toe in is that total, or 1/4" on each side?
I'm using the Ruffstuff 1 ton cross over steering kit. Just wondering how much of the tie rod needs to be threaded in to the bung, and if there is any sort of benefit of leaving most of the threaded portion out of the tie rod. My instinct would be to have it about halfway in or as much as possible.
 
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DIY Toe Alignment Tool

TMR Customs stocks the tools to get your off-road project finished! Check out the DIY Toe Alignment tool and save the cost of an alignment after a rough off-road use!
www.tmrcustoms.com www.tmrcustoms.com
 
Go to the metal store/lowes or whatever. Buy a piece of angle iron. make yourself some diy alignment tools like linked above. mount it to the axle.

set the toe. Ive always run 0* toe, so even front and back. Lot of people like about 1/8" toe in, so shorter in the front than the rear.

You don't need fancy bolt holes in the tool or anything. I just put the angle iron across two studs and hold it in place with lug nuts installed backwards. Level them both out with a level. and start measuring. you want the two pieces to be the same length and you want to measure the same distance from the axle center front and rear. On a solid axle, you only adjust toe and caster. Both can be done at home with basic tools. This doesnt have to be a ball park alignment. Its good enough to drive every day.


Its pretty simple, way more simple than swapping an axle...
 
I set some bar stock on 5 gal buckets across the sidewalls. Seems to run well enough for the Dailycommute 500.
 
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I've used a set of bare wheels that fit whatever I'm messing with, helps if they're large enough that you don't have to worry about snagging your tape on the pinion or its yoke. If the yoke gets in the way you just need marks on the wheels that are equally spaced away from the center of the axle.
 
gt1guy said:
2pcs of angle iron
2 bungee cords
1 tape measure
Click to expand...
1 Man
Infinite possibilities
:flipoff2:

TreeFarm said:
Ive always run 0* toe, so even front and back. Lot of people like about 1/8" toe in, so shorter in the front than the rear.
Click to expand...
Doesn't toe out help with RTC? I thought that's what most people did, me included.
 
ive been aligning the steering for over a decade without ever taking into a shop to get aligned, i pick a place on the tread to measure from and i rotate the opposite tire so the same part of the tread is even with the other tire. measure from the front and from the back, i always set it at 1/8" toe in, the rare awd i do gets 0 toe

never had a problem tires always wear evenly, i can let go of the steering wheel at 60mph and it stays straight :grinpimp:

some day i will make a jig out of angle iron :smokin:
 
TrikeKid said:
I've used a set of bare wheels that fit whatever I'm messing with, helps if they're large enough that you don't have to worry about snagging your tape on the pinion or its yoke. If the yoke gets in the way you just need marks on the wheels that are equally spaced away from the center of the axle.
Click to expand...
I thought about this until I considered bent rims.
 
So say you're running 42+" tires, would the tools that mount to the WMS actually be incorrect?

By the time you are at the end of the tires would the total number not be more exaggerated?

When I was working on a race car team we had a set of aluminum boards (probably from Joe's racing) that we held up against the outside of the tires.

Hopefully that makes since.
 
If those boards were 42" long, 1/8" toe in would be X degrees. Now make those boards 20" long and 1/8" toe in would be more than X degrees.

So if you set the toe with the long board and rechecked it with the short boards, your tape would tell you that you were not at 1/8" toe in yet.

That difference could very well be less than you can normally read on a tape though.


edit: Switching to boards that were half the length as the long ones, your measurement would be 1/16" off............................I think:flipoff2:
 
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I just put a mark on each tire towards the middle of the tread and measure the distance with the marks facing forward and then with the marks facing backwards.
 
Over here in Yurp it's always degrees, so if I DIY the toe, I convert degrees to inches with this calculator, based on the size of the angle iron I'm using:

Convert Toe Degrees to Inches

Convert Toe Degrees to Toe Inches
robrobinette.com
 
I adjust toe using the eyeball method and a mason line. Wrap the mason line around all four tires at the height of the axle center line and give it some tension. Steer the front wheels and adjust tie rod until the mason line is visually square (i.e. no toe-in or toe-out) at all four corners. Done. If you want some toe-in or toe-out then tweak the tie rod until there is a small (and equal) angle at both front tires. If you want to be really anal, hold up an angle finder.

The problem with measurements taken at just the front tires (like the TMR tool at the link above) is that they don't take into account the relationship between front and rear axles. Once you start driving down the road and the front "centers" itself you probably end up with one tire toed-out and the other toed-in.
 
Eric said:
I adjust toe using the eyeball method and a mason line. Wrap the mason line around all four tires at the height of the axle center line and give it some tension. Steer the front wheels and adjust tie rod until the mason line is visually square (i.e. no toe-in or toe-out) at all four corners. Done. If you want some toe-in or toe-out then tweak the tie rod until there is a small (and equal) angle at both front tires. If you want to be really anal, hold up an angle finder.

The problem with measurements taken at just the front tires (like the TMR tool at the link above) is that they don't take into account the relationship between front and rear axles. Once you start driving down the road and the front "centers" itself you probably end up with one tire toed-out and the other toed-in.
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You can compensate for this with fishing line, jack stands (or some other way to hold the line at about hub height) and a lot of measuring.
 
arse_sidewards said:
You can compensate for this with fishing line, jack stands (or some other way to hold the line at about hub height) and a lot of measuring.
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Too much work.

I set the toe via tie rod first and rough in the drag link centering the steering wheel, then center the steering wheel during the test drive.

a car of any kind cannot go down the road straight with one tire toed out and other toed in. Lol
 
TrailTamer said:
a car of any kind cannot go down the road straight with one tire toed out and other toed in. Lol
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It depends on how you measure it. The "correct" way to measure and set toe is the angle relative to the vehicle centerline. Any technique that sets toe as the difference between distances measured at the front and rear of the front tires (or rotors or wherever you choose to measure) does not take into account symmetry about the centerline nor does it consider the relationship between the rear axle and the centerline. Keep in mind that for the junk most of us drive its not a given that the axis of the rear axle is normal to the vehicle centerline.

The technique I mentioned above with the mason line is pretty much guaranteed to establish a toe setting that is symmetric with respect to the direction the rear axle travels. Furthermore, if the axis of the rear axle is normal to the vehicle centerline then this method will also produce a toe setting that is symmetric about the vehicle centerline. If the axis of the rear axle is not normal to the vehicle centerline then you are still going to drive down the road OK but the chassis may be "crabbing" a bit and it is entirely possible that one front wheel is toed out and the other toed in when measured relative to the vehicle centerline.
 
Eric said:
It depends on how you measure it. The "correct" way to measure and set toe is the angle relative to the vehicle centerline. Any technique that sets toe as the difference between distances measured at the front and rear of the front tires (or rotors or wherever you choose to measure) does not take into account symmetry about the centerline nor does it consider the relationship between the rear axle and the centerline. Keep in mind that for the junk most of us drive its not a given that the axis of the rear axle is normal to the vehicle centerline.

The technique I mentioned above with the mason line is pretty much guaranteed to establish a toe setting that is symmetric with respect to the direction the rear axle travels. Furthermore, if the axis of the rear axle is normal to the vehicle centerline then this method will also produce a toe setting that is symmetric about the vehicle centerline. If the axis of the rear axle is not normal to the vehicle centerline then you are still going to drive down the road OK but the chassis may be "crabbing" a bit and it is entirely possible that one front wheel is toed out and the other toed in when measured relative to the vehicle centerline.
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thats why when i build spring hangers/mount spring hangers to a vehicle i square them off the other axle so they are exactly perpendicular to each other. if i am doing both axles the first axle gets squared to the vehicle then the second axle gets squared to the first axle
 
rockyota83 said:
thats why when i build spring hangers/mount spring hangers to a vehicle i square them off the other axle so they are exactly perpendicular to each other. if i am doing both axles the first axle gets squared to the vehicle then the second axle gets squared to the first axle
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I had someone tell me to do this for an axle swap. I think YouTube has made it popular to make all kinds of marks on the floor and spray paint them to measure from. Why swap one axle at a time when you can swap both at the SAME time?
 
I've used a laser level to check alignment, set level on a bucket held against the sidewalls of all four tires. Shoot laser dot to the front and rear and mark them all (garage door, sheet of plywood, etc). Now you can check your 4 wheel alignment.
 
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