Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Toe out

PaulyG, I guess your Morgan could be tracked optically using the hubs .. For any others, if keen to check your own tracking (other than with out of true wheels)

Trakrite is the simplest, most accurate device for checking the wheel alignment of cars, light commercial and vintage vehicles. Properly aligned wheels improve a car's handling, safety and fuel economy and reduce tyre wear. Trakrite makes it is easy to check wheel tracking. Simply drive slowly over the ramp, with the wheels in their straight ahead position and the roller mounted top plate will move to show any toe-in or toe-out issues. The dial indicator is easy to read and clearly shows the degree of any misalignment. Tracking angles can also be modified to obtain a specific handling characteristic, which can be useful for motorsport and off-road applications. An essential tool for simple and accurate wheel alignment checks and maintenance. Suitable for the professional user, fleet operator or private motorist.

Checks the alignment of steering wheels on cars and light commercial vehicles.
Easy and simple to operate with no technical knowledge needed. Tests accuracy in only 5 minutes.
A roller bearing platform over which one front wheel is slowly driven with the wheels in their straight ahead position.
Can be used to track both front drive wheels and rear wheels.
Weight: 1kg; width: 270mm; length: 470mm; height: 20mm.

TSP: £104.14 ex VAT £124.97 inc VAT

https://www.gunson.co.uk/Product/G4008/Trakrite-Wheel-Alignment-Gauge

If you perform a search you might find them at half price on eBAY or Amazon, etc.

The wheels are no bigger than Harley wheels .... decent greasy old bike-shop should be able to true your wheels unless the rims are badly buckled .... not likely to be expensive.

K

That looks interesting. I'll look into this more.



I'll check with the local Harley shop on this one.


Thanks.

My Son bought a fifty year old Elan Sprint. I had to fit a new steering rack and so needed to adjust the toe. Got out my trusty Dunlop AGO40 tracking gauges, set the toe and then rolled the car forward and found it was out.

Issue is that Lotus pressed steel wheels are made of thin metal and like yours can twist making the usual toe equipment hard to use.

So what is the solution? Well you can go to a garage with a modern four wheel alignment laser system. I believe these can account for wheels that are slightly out of true.

What I did was this … I got myself a set of trammel bars. Marked a line on a piece of tape on the rear of each wheel and measured the separation. I then rolled the car forward until the same marks were on the forward edge and measured again. The suspension toe in is then the difference between the two measurements. You can then, using basic trigonometry, work out the toe angle. If you want it in inches at the wheel rim rather than the outside of the tyre then again some simple geometry to perform. In my case I was just happy to know that the wheels had a little toe in, rather than toe out.

Hope that is clear and is of use.

Harry

Good info.

Not my area of understanding. but having changed hubs, wheels and with fresh tyres, I thought I'd better get the tracking checked too.
Apparently they're out a bit probably because the axle alignment may be out a bit. Having had the chassis alignment checked by Mr TF, and confirmation it was within Morgan tolerances (albeit not equal on diagonal measurement), I'm happy mines probably ok. Certainly seems to drive as expected.
There's a link here to GoMogs reference specs on alignment

https://www.gomog.com/allmorgan/CAMBER_CASTOR_TOE.html

As I have typed many times, perhaps too many, I bought into the idea that a Morgan was a relatively simple machine designed and built by men using skills handed down from father to son through the generations and not a machine designed on a computer and built by robots, thus laser like accuracy played no part in my thinking..

Did I expect it to skip and hop requiring regular input to the steering when pressing on a tad over undulating road surfaces... you bet it I did, but then that was exactly which I was desirous of at the time I had given up on 911 ownership to buy into the idea of that which I hoped a Morgan might provide.

I look for no more than basics from my Morgan when it comes to normal tyre wear and expected steering inputs, thus if it tracks straight on a smooth surface, and with greased suspension can be felt to self centre after turns in both directions, then I feel no need to mess around with tracking.

The only time I thought to check tracking was when I replaced my trackrod ends, neither was worn but the boot on one has a split, not considered an to have been unreasonable on at least 20 year old components, thus I replaced both having taken care to preserve the original position of both relative to their position/length on the rack as best I could. I followed up by using old style Dunlop tracking gauges to make a final check of toe in, which it seems that with a bit of care I managed to retain, and having covered a few hundred miles since, the tyres show no signs of uneven wear..

https://www.halfords.com/tyres/advice/abnormal-tyre-wear.html

I've used a simple wooden frame, a similar principle to Harry above, for over 40 years.

One length fits across and under the car. At each end us dovetailed a vertical length of wood with holes drilled for various wheel diameters.

Initially I used two five inch nails, but one works well enough.

So first, I place the frame in front of the wheels, and adjust the nail so that it just touches the rim (3 o'clock nearside in this example).
Next, I measure, using a metal tape, the gap between the frame on the offside, and the wheel rim at 9 o'clock.

Repeat with the frame behind the wheels. Compare the measurements. For toe in, the front measurement needs to be more than the rear, by the amount of toe in. Because I measure from the outside.

I've never had a problem using this method.

The main point I was making was when measuring do it on the same part of the wheel. I.e. roll the car half a wheel rotation forward so the mark has moved from 9 o’clock to 3. This will give you the hubs’ toe ignoring the out of true of the wheel.

Yes. Simple, yet brilliant!