anyone have any roaside adjustment references for bad alignment?

[nissan/datsan720]

And replacemnets recomendations if needed on an 85- 720

[datzenmike]

Toe in or out is the fastest wearing problem and the easiest to adjust. On level ground have someone turn the steering while you look down the side of the front and rear tires. Try to line the front sidewalls with the rear tire sidewalls so that they are in a straight line.

 

Now go over to the passenger side. Do they line up? If the rear of the front tire hides the rear tire it's toe'd in. If the front of the front tire hides the rear tire from view it's toe'd out.

 

On each tie rod is a threaded adjustment sleeve that when loosened and rotated will extend or contract the tie rod's length moving the fronts of the tires apart or towards the center of the vehicle. If you adjust one side in 1/4 turn you must adjust the other side in the same amount so that the steering wheel remains facing in the same forward direction. Adjust both until the front wheels are lined up with the rears.

 

This is a rough setting and will easily get you to an alignment shop.

 

 

If you are willing and don't want to go to a shop you can do it yourself.

 

What I have done is tape a 50' length of string to the rear sidewall of the front tires and extended them forward in front of the vehicle. Carefully swing the string inward until it just touches the front sidewall. (about half way up across the rim) the string is now pointing exactly where the tire is pointing. Do the other side. Now measure between the two strings directly in front of the wheels and again about 50' out in front. If the farthest measurement is more than in front of the tires then you are toe'd out, if smaller you are to'd in. I just adjusted until just slightly toed in by a couple of inches. 

 

720 toe-in is about .36 to .7  of a degree. On a 50' radius one degree is 10.46 inches. So if you try to get between 4" and 7.5" narrower out at the 50' mark than in front of the tires... you're close enough. I'm no math wiz so check my work

 

After every adjustment, bounce the front to stabilize the suspension. You will need to reset the two strings again. I tied them to stakes driven into the ground. I also replaced the tires with just rims sitting on wooden blocks so the vehicle was still at ride height. Rims are straighter than rubber side walls. I had a helper. Everything should be repeatable and it takes time to do it right but I have 5-6K miles and no noticeable wear pattern on my front tires. Car steers forward perfectly. .

[nissan/datsan720]

Just gettn back to this one but thank you mike... Got it balanced enough that its not wearing much if any now... Turns out i will have to replace the ... Cant think of the name off the top of my head... But the straightest rod that spans from driver to passesnger.. Has a slighlty bent nuckle... Took a few months of me layin under my truck offn'on to one day notice the very slight bend on the passenger side.. Explains why this side had to be tuned out more than the other too... Just had to tune my eyes enough to see it. .. Its been like this since before i got the truck so gettn a few other things taken care of first.. The roadside thing was just cause i got new tires that week and noticed they were already balding on the side... The adjustment stopped this.. Even if it is just a temp fix