Tie Rod Questions / Alignment Woes

B

B.SUTTON

Junior Member
Greetings - hoping I can find answers to a couple questions...

I have a '41 pickup that I've pieced together from swap meet parts. The chassis is from a '39 Sedan. I've driven it infrequently over the past few years as I work through updates and repairs.

The alignment has always been a bit off. The tires didn't really wear badly, but the steering wheel has always been off-center when driving straight and it tends to wander a bit. Kingpins, tie-rod ends, bearings all seem tight and in good condition. I've adjusted the steering box a bit to tighten it up and there seems to be no play there.

The other day, I measured the toe. I've had a suspicion that it's toed out a bit, causing it to wander. Much to my surprise it was toed in an extreme amount (1 1/16" :eek:)!!!

In my attempt to reduce toe-in to the 1/16" spec, I've run out of adjustment in the tie rod at 7/16" toe-in. While there are still threads left on the tie-rod ends, it seems like I've run out of threads inside the tube. Can I just tap it a bit deeper on each end? Do I need a bit shorter tie-rod? Measuring with a tape, I get about 43 5/8" tube length, which should be correct for 37-41.

Also, this tie-rod tube seems to have a split or seam that runs it's entire length. Not the splits at the ends to allow adjustment of the tie-rod ends - those are there also, but a seam the entire length that seems like it was never welded. Is this correct?

Any insight or advice that helps get a proper toe adjustment is certainly appreciated. Thanks!
 
BS
Check to see if your axle is straight. If you don't have enough threads, there is something seriously wrong somewhere.
Bruce
 
Bruce,

I will do some more measuring tonight to determine axle straightness. Just wondering though, could someone have replaced the tie rod ends with some that would have the same thread diameter and pitch, but a longer threaded section - hence the bottoming out before proper adjustment?

Also, it seems the ends of the threads in the tube coincide with the ends of the splits in the tube. Should they continue on beyond the split? Maybe they are there but just rusted up? What is correct?

Thanks!
 
The threads should go further in beyond the splits.The splits are there to allow the clamps to reduce the diameter a bit to grip the connection.

I'd back it out and spray some PB Blaster or like in the tube at the end of the now open split and tie rod bottom. Let it do its job and then try to work the tie rod in again. May take a few tries.
 
If you have an old tie rod end with good threads you could slit the end of the threads to act as a clean out tap. Of course ideally you'd need a left and right hand one, depends on what you have laying about.

Edit: I just measured the tube length on my recently imported stock 41 pu and it comes out more like 43-1/4". I have a second one that looks the same. It was a little bit difficult to measure on my own but I'm sure I'm not undermeasuring by 3/8". Can anyone else check the tube length?

Regardless of this you should be able to screw the ends all the way in.

Some (maybe all) tubes have the split and are not welded.

Mart.
 
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