tradosauru

I just changed my lower ball joint, outer tie rod ends, and sway bar links on the front of my Lexus. I counted the turns that it took to remove the outer tie rod ends and installed it back with the same amount of turns.
I knew the car wouldn't be perfect and the steering wheel is about 4 degrees right from center when driving straight.
I have the print outs from the workshop manual that discuss data for the alignment.
There is a shop- down the road from my small town that is known for proper alignments although I've never received printout of the alignment measurements. The nearest Lexus dealer is about a 120 mile drive.

Should I get a 2 or 4 wheel alignment? And if so should I just bite the bullet and drive to the Lexus dealership to have it done?

Gronemus

Assuming the car tracked properly before doing the repairs I'd only get the fronts done. I'd also take it to the local place if they do good work and that's what you seem to indicate. Of course I expect others to chime in saying to take it to the dealer. I've only been on the board for a couple of weeks but the **** retentive force is strong in this forum...

tradosauru

I just got the Lexus back from getting an alignment. The shop is well known for alignments and a place that I have taken many of my cars for alignments in the past. It's actually located in a small town of about 1500 people, although I live in a town of about 4,000. lol

Anywho they don't provide print outs but I did talk to the tech and told him that when I removed the drivers front outer tie rod end the inner tie rod end rotated with it and I didn't catch until about 3 turns. I don't if the inner tie rod is adjustable but after installing everything the steering wheel was cocked to the right about 5 degrees.

It took the tech about an hour to finish the alignment (four wheel) and driving down the road the steering wheel is slightly cocked (about 2 degrees) to the left when going straight.

How do you correct the position of the steering wheel?

BradTank

I just know I've had REALLY bad experiences with alignment shops over the years, and these shops will make up all sorts of excuses and try to tell you it's normal to hold the steering wheel at a severe angle to go straight down the road. Yes, roads are slightly crowned to shed water, but you shouldn't gave to hold it at a crooked angle to go straight down the road. A good shop will take it for a test drive to make sure.

Usually, you know when it's not tracking properly, but drive around different roads and see. If it feels off, usually it is.

I'm of the opinion that it's worth the extra $20 or so to just have a dealership do it, for whatever reason, they always seem to do it right. Maybe my experience is just different. But I would say most alignment shops are abput on the same level as Jiffy Lube.

Also, I don't trust the "old school" alignment shops that don't have the modern tools like laser alignment. Instead things like string and weights are used. That was fine in the era before tires would go like 50,000 miles, but the extra precision is needed now to get maximum tire life

rkw77080

Here's the procedure to correct off-center steering from the repair manual...

tallcaguy

I don't like to spend money but sometimes the dealer may be a better choice if you're not DIY. Besides price, DEF depends on how good the indie and dealer are. You may have a great indie and a lousy dealer locally so that tips the equation. My indie TB quote was almost as much the dealer so went the dealer route for peace of mind. Everything I've had the local dealer do has been done right. For the recent tranny D/F, the dealer did a better job than my indie. Also my service advisor is great to work with. He knows the car, answers any questions and has given me some good referrals. Per my post, just had my sub woofer redone by someone he recommended.

tradosauru

I need someone to interpret Step 2 on the attached PDF.
2 b) Using a paper gauge, measure the distance from RH and LH tie rod ends to the rack end screws..

Looking at the picture was is the purpose of the horizontal marked line? Is the empty dimension line the measurement I am making? What is meant by "paper gauge"?

2 e) Turn the RH and LH rack end by the same amount (but in different directions) according to the steering angle.

So which direction do I start and on which end? CCW on RH or on LH? What is meant by "rack end"?

rkw77080

tradosauru

Awesome. Thanks.

tradosauru

The nearest Lexus dealer is 100 miles and the Lexus place I bought it from is 180 miles away. I'm going to live with this alignment and hope I can make the adjustment as described in the attached pdf. When I get new tires I will make the drive to the Lexus dealer in Plano where I bought it and have the alignment done there.

tradosauru

I found that my steering angle is 3.125 degrees. According to the attached PDF I will have to make approximately a 1/4 turn of the rack end on each side.

Unfortunately I have no idea which way to turn the driver side rack end as I'm supposed to turn the passenger side the opposite way. My steering wheel is cocked to the left when driving straight.

rkw77080

Let's work through this together...

You said that you have to turn your steering wheel slightly to the left for you vehicle to go straight. That tells us that your front tires are pointing slightly to the right when your steering wheel is on-center. You will need to adjust the heading of your front tires towards the left to eliminate the 3.125 degree deviation (approximately a quarter turn of the steering rods).

For the driver-side, turn the steering rod counter-clockwise to back it out of the rod-end which will “push” the heading of the drive-side tire slightly to the left. Likewise on the passenger-side, turn the steering rod clockwise to thread it into the rod-end which will "pull" the heading of the passenger-side tire slightly to the left also by the same amount.

Good luck!

tradosauru

Thanks. Just finished adjusting both ends. It's pretty close to being straight. I think its important to remember which way you are looking at the steering rack when turning it. Initially my CCW turn on the drivers side was not backing it out because of the way I was looking at it. When you are under the car and looking up at the rack its CW to back it out.