Tie rod end adjustment issue

[PaulRSchmidt]

I installed my FF-supplied PS rack yesterday, centered it per instructions elsewhere on the forum. However, when I thread the tie rod ends all the way in, there’s still some toe-out. There’s no adjustment left. One obvious fix would be to trim the tie rods an inch or so, can someone confirm that’s the preferred solution?

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[Jeff Kleiner]

Well first of all you’re installing the tie rod end upside down. They go in from the bottom with the nut on top. Once you correct this it will pull it in and be less toed out. To step back further to install the tie rod this way you need to have the steering arm assembled to the spindles with the wide end of the tapered hole pointing down. To your original question; if the photo shows what you have when the inner tie rod is bottomed internally in the tie rod end then yes, it appears that you have sufficient threads to trim them a bit. Ultimately you want to have no less than 2 times the thread diameter engaged inside. Finally, you’re not going to be able to get even a rough idea of toe, etc. with the suspension hanging at full droop as you show it.

Good luck!

Jeff

[johnnybgoode]

Just a couple of thoughts in addition to what Jeff is suggesting. It looks like your upper control arm adjusters are fully bottomed out? You might want to adjust them to the recommended rough alignment lengths suggested in the manual or on the forum and see if that helps? Also, you can simulate ride height by jacking up the suspension. I put a small jack under the bottom of the rotor and raise the suspension until the 4" frame rail just starts to lift. My 2 cents. Good luck. Scott

[PaulRSchmidt]

Thanks, Jeff! Yeah, I’m just trying to get it close, and at least get an idea about what I’ll need to do later.

[PaulRSchmidt]

I had to trim the ends of two of the UCR adjusters because they did bottom out, but I think they’re pretty close now.

[edwardb]

Hopefully you addressed the issues Jeff pointed out? No mention so thought I would ask... Your front end geometry will be messed up if the steering arms and tie rod ends aren't installed properly. Clearly shown in the build manual. Also the points made about not drawing too many conclusions at this point with (1) suspension drooped vs. ride height, and (2) alignment not precisely set are important. Which can't happen until much later in the build.

https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/ab234/edwardb123/IMG_2886.jpg?width=960&height=720&fit=bounds (https://photobucket.com/u/edwardb123/a/bb9829e6-c7f8-430e-ac38-96acbdd162f0/p/27cc220f-59c6-4f6a-8d6e-7dbdebd43cc8)