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sgian
Valued Contributor
Posts: 4438
Loc: MO
Reg: 12-25-03
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07-13-12 08:50 AM - Post#2247759
95 Chevy K2500
I took it to a local tire place and had them do an alignment. They adjusted the toe in all the way, and said the toe was still out of specs and can't be adjusted any further. They said that it won't cause any problems.
What would cause this? I don't see any obvious damage, but I'm not good with suspension. The tie rods look straight, and I could see on one side that it is adjusted all the way in so the ends are touching.
I'm probably going on a long trip with some towing, so I need to know if the truck will be ok. I already blew the budget for this month fixing the A/C, so I'll have to wait until next month probably if this is going to be a major repair.
| 04 Silverado Z71, 10 Cobalt |
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 jham0077
"2nd Year" Silver Supporting Member
Posts: 320
Age: 36
Loc: Greenville, Il.
Reg: 11-04-11
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07-13-12 10:05 AM - Post#2247786
In response to sgian
I'm not an alignment expert by no means, but I don't see that being possible without some major wear in something. Be it the gearbox, pittman arm, idler, tie rod ends, and I guess maybe the ball joints. But you would think someone intelligent enough to do an alignment could figure out where exactly your problem is. Tires will wear unevenly with the toe out of adjustment and steering may be lacking. I guess it depends on how bad it is. I would look into another tire shop too.
Keep throwing money at it, it'll get better...
95 Tahoe 5.7 w/5 spd
Gone but not forgotten,
87 LWB 4x4 5.0 w/3 spd granny,
84 SWB 4x4 5.7 w/3 spd granny,
93 Full Size Blazer 5.7 w/5 spd,
97 Step-side Vortec w/5 spd.
I like shifting gears. |
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 stumppuller
"3rd Year" Gold Supporting Member
Posts: 437
Loc: Canada
Reg: 11-01-04
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07-13-12 08:12 PM - Post#2247977
In response to jham0077
First, use another alignment shop.
Toe is a critical tire wear adjustment. Improperly adjusted, the steering wheel may be centered and the vehicle will usually drive fine, but the tires will wear down unevenly and very fast.
As for running out of adjustment, have you ever replaced your inner or outer tie rod ends? The 2wd and 4wd parts will physically interchange, but one is longer than the other. I suspect this may be your problem.
And again, find another alignment shop!
-91 Sierra C2500, now K2500
-81 Chev K20 |
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Allan In NE
Contributor
Posts: 903
Reg: 12-27-11
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07-14-12 04:42 AM - Post#2248033
In response to sgian
What the other guys said,
Don't kid yourself, if that toe isn't set correctly, it will slice those tires off like peelin' and apple.
Take it to someone who knows what he's doing.
Allan
| Lifelong GM automatic transmission specialist |
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454cid
Contributor
Posts: 297
Age: 40
Reg: 02-18-12
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07-14-12 06:37 AM - Post#2248068
In response to Allan In NE
Do the tops of your wheels look like they're leaning out? I had one side that looked like it was leaning out, and the shop said that it was due to it toeing out. Drove really crappy. It felt like the truck wanted to swap ends in rain or snow.
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 someotherguy
Moderator
Posts: 23387
Age: 43
Loc: Texas
Reg: 08-01-03
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07-14-12 07:22 AM - Post#2248081
In response to 454cid
Do the tops of your wheels look like they're leaning out? I had one side that looked like it was leaning out, and the shop said that it was due to it toeing out. Drove really crappy. It felt like the truck wanted to swap ends in rain or snow.
That would be excess positive camber. Toe in/out would be the difference in how parallel the tires are with each other in terms of steering left to right, to put it simply. Found this graphic on the 'net, explains the terms pretty well.
And I agree with what was said earlier...find another alignment shop. No front end man worth his wrenches would tell you that the toe being out of spec is "OK".
Without being in front of it, hard to tell what's going on, but someone may have tried to cheat when centering the steering wheel, by turning one tie rod assembly all the way "in" and the other all the way "out". Or what stumppuller said with the wrong parts.
Richard
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454cid
Contributor
Posts: 297
Age: 40
Reg: 02-18-12
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07-14-12 06:13 PM - Post#2248230
In response to someotherguy
Do the tops of your wheels look like they're leaning out? I had one side that looked like it was leaning out, and the shop said that it was due to it toeing out. Drove really crappy. It felt like the truck wanted to swap ends in rain or snow.
That would be excess positive camber. Toe in/out would be the difference in how parallel the tires are with each other in terms of steering left to right
I guess I wasn't clear on what I meant. I understand that camber is the vertical angle of the pivot point of the tires, but the toe effects it too, becasue it works in combination with the other two measurements/angles when we steer. Having excess toe out causes the top of the wheel to lean out, just as the wheel would lean in a corner.
My alignment was off becasue I previously replaced both outer tie-rods with out getting an alignment. I didn't count the threads correctly apparently. The tire with excessive toe out was also extremely wearing the outside edge. It always looked like it was leaning out at the top, but it was actually the toe that was way off.
Edited by 454cid on 07-14-12 06:14 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.
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sgian
Valued Contributor
Posts: 4438
Loc: MO
Reg: 12-25-03
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07-16-12 11:38 AM - Post#2248784
In response to 454cid
I took the truck in to a shop that specializes in wheel alignment, and there was no problem getting the toe adjusted correctly. The guy at the first place, which is primarily a tire shop, just didn't know how to do alignments very well apparently.
| 04 Silverado Z71, 10 Cobalt |
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