Tie Rod Ends update

[professor229]

Tie rod update...... So I finished (they are never really finished) the Ranger project enough to take it on a shake down drive and found some issues..... but nothing serious.... One of the three issues was the steering... it was OK... but as I went down some side streets a little faster, there was a slight drift to the right... low tire? perhaps??? nope... all tires were good... crowned road? nope... and I then went on better road and got it up to 40 mph.... and it had a slight drift to the right for sure... not bad.... but you could not release the wheel and have the Ranger go straight.... Re-checked the tire pressure to make sure I didn't have a low tire... nope.... so since it got new tie rods, I think it is a pretty good idea to suspect the alignment.... so I have watched all the DIY alignment videos... and will probably try that tomorrow.... I ran a golf course for over 30 years... and we had to do alignment on almost all the equipment and most had steering in the rear.... we got good at it.... so the mowers went straight and did not drift...... Anyway.... my I need to get this done..... any suggestions?

 

[Curious Hound]

You got this. A little tweak here. A little tweak there. Good to go.

 

[Rimjam]

Almost all public roads (ALL paved) have a crown in the middle (except in curves) to make water drain so some slight 'lane drift' is nothing to worry about. A good front-end tech can adjust it out but at the expense of slight increased tire wear. More important to keep a check on your tires - look for feather edging (run hand back & forth across tread of tire and up & down tread), uneven wear or scalloping (indicates more than just misalignment).