Toe Check

Write up compliments of Jimmy 88:

This is primarily aimed at straight front axles, since toe is about the only thing likely to need adjustment. Checking toe isn’t hard but you do need to be accurate. Remember your dealing with a small difference, usually around 1/8", so any little error in measuring has a large effect on the results.

 

Here is what has worked well for me- Look it over and feel free to comment or make suggestions on how to improve the procedure. Since a lot of modifications can affect the ideal toe setting I view the factory number as a starting point for adjusting toe.
I find the hardest part is marking the tire to give an accurate place to measure to. Best luck I’ve had so far is using a nail to scribe a line down the center of the tire. To do this, jack a tire just off the ground, use a board with a large nail sticking out, slide the board so the nail point touches the tire where there is a lot of tread. Now stand or kneel on the board and then, by hand, rotate the tire carefully so it doesn’t move side to side from any steering play. This usually gives a nice fine even line down the center.

1 scribe.JPG (31651 bytes)  2 scribe.JPG (23388 bytes)

Make sure the nail point is relatively sharp. Practice a couple of times off to the side before doing the line near the center. You can also tell if the tire has a lot of radial (up and down) run-out while scribing the line; the nail will drag heavily on one side and lightly or not at all on the opposite side. When the other tire is done I drive the truck straight back and forth about 10 feet a few times to get the tires to sit normally.

3 scribe.JPG (49515 bytes)

Then I use a jig made from a 2x2 about the same length as the width from the outside to outside of my front tires, with plywood pieces screwed at each end. The plywood pieces are about the width of the tire and the height should be the same as the distance from the ground to the hub center. I put a piece of masking tape on the top edges of the plywood, put the jig against the front of the tires and mark the tape where the lines on the tires are.

Toe Jig.JPG (45384 bytes)

Then move the jig to the back side of the tires, line up one line on the tape with the scribed line on one of the tires and then mark the tape where the other tire scribed line is. Now just measure the distance between the two lines on the tape and that's the total toe.
  1.  Check for damage, wear, tire pressure, etc.
4 line on tire.JPG (41593 bytes) 2. Scribe a line around the tires, where the tread has the least voids, somewhere near the center.
  3. Drive it back and forth a few feet to let the tires sit normally.
5 jig.JPG (48507 bytes) 6 mark jig.JPG (35559 bytes) 4. On flat, even ground place the toe jig against the tires and mark where both scribe lines are.
7 move jig to other side.JPG (49521 bytes) 8 mark jig.JPG (42338 bytes) 5. Move the alignment jig to the other side of the tires, line one mark up on one scribe line and mark the jig where the other scribed line is.
9 measure total toe.JPG (29137 bytes) 6. Now just measure the gap between the two lines on the jig, that's the total toe.
  7. Adjust if needed, drive the truck back and forth again and repeat the process as necessary.