and the price is a bargain for the trackright.
I use dunlop tracking guages and they are superb ,if you buy s/h make sure they come from a good source and havnt been used as football posts.
Dont like the look of them cheap sealey ones at £287?
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I just use a couple of laser pointer pens bolted to a straightedge fixed to the wheel centres, such that the reference is taken from the wheel rims. Project these horizontally onto a flat wall ahead of the car, do a little trigonometry, and the job's done.
659.
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Trakrite are excellent;mine goes back to SPQR who sold the rights to Gunson.
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I'll second a Trakrite, used one on & off for years, more accurate in real terms than the static laser set-up as it takes into account wear in the suspension & steering.
Jim
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659FBE how do you know that the lazer runs parallel in relation to the pen sides and how do you know that the wall is equidistant from the front of the vehicle both sides?
or have i missed something?
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Start by putting the two spacer blocks (I use wood) back to back, measure laser centre distance at the lens, project at 90 deg onto wall and measure projected spot separation.
659.
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Wall equidistance is not a significant problem if you do the trigonometry and keep whatever error there may be, constant. For angles of <5 deg, sin(theta) = theta, to a very close approximation.
659.
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this is what i posted on another forum a few months ago and it does work exceedingly well,
measure the distance at the front insides of the rims then measure the distance at the back of the rims and once these gaps are the same then your wheels are parallel
Don?t forget to keep both track rod ends showing same amount of thread at both sides as you do this and then you will have equal turning circles both ways and the car will self centre when going in straight ahead position
You can buy from ?wilkinsons? an adjustable clothes prop which is ideal for this job for £2.99 and when you have set your car up to slightly toe out 1/2 mm mark your new machine with a hacksaw blade and then next time you check your tracking your previous setting is already engineered in :)
does that make sense?
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Setting tracking is not a very exact science. The specified figure is typically toe-in 2mm + or minus 1 mm. That is well within the accuracy of a wooden beam with screw-in bolts at each side at axle height.
It is not necessary to know the absolute value of the track, merely to compare it at the front and back of the wheel rims.
But the home-made optical device sounds even better - I might upgrade to that.
Also a point that is neglected by most professional track setters is that the car should have come to a rest in the forward direction, with brakes applied only very gently. Also the wheels should be individually spun first to check for run-out at the rims. Any deviation should be turned to the top so that it does not bias the measurement.
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Toe in applies to rear wheel drive cars,as the car is being pushed the front wheels will want to splay out(try pushing a car with no steering rack connected to see what I mean).Front wheel drive cars are being pulled so the wheels want to toe in,here a toe out setting applies.
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Point taken. I just meant that whatever the value is, the specified accuracy is not very high and is easy to exceed even using a pretty rudimentary tool.
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obviously the most rudimentary tracking guages you can make are out of a piece of string (ideal in the desert)use them as i described earlier go for a parallel setting i suggest if 4 wheel drive so vehicle doesnt get stuck in sand.
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