REAR tie rod jam nuts

[toad]

I'm preparing to do a REAR wheel toe in alignment. I see that the REAR tie rod has two jam nuts, one on the outer end and one on the inner end. Is one of these nuts left handed? Both nuts are somewhat corroded so I don't want to turn one of them the wrong way and think it is corrosion that is keeping it from turning when in fact I am tightening the nut !!!!!!!

I hope someone has had experience with adjusting the toe on a rear wheel where the tie rod has two jam nuts.

 

[Lubener]

I hope you are doing this on an alignment rack. It sounds to me like you are doing the tape measure method which is ok to get the the alignment shop, otherwise you won't get it close enough.. It would help if you mentioned what you are doing this on.

 

[mk378]

You can look at the exposed threads on the rod and tell if it is right handed or left handed.

 

[SHOZ]

Not always but sometimes left handed nuts have a line stamped in the nut. Or you can look a the thread slope.

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

OK, I'm going to be 'that guy' and say something snarky but applicable.

You feel you're mechanically confident enough to do a driveway alignment on a vehicle but you're unable to visually determine if a threaded rod has left- or right-handed threads?

 

[Yah-Tah-Hey]

Originally Posted by Bottom_Feeder
OK, I'm going to be 'that guy' and say something snarky but applicable.

You feel you're mechanically confident enough to do a driveway alignment on a vehicle but you're unable to visually determine if a threaded rod has left- or right-handed threads?

Right on Bottom. Point well made.

 

[toad]

Originally Posted by Lubener
I hope you are doing this on an alignment rack. It sounds to me like you are doing the tape measure method which is ok to get the the alignment shop, otherwise you won't get it close enough.. It would help if you mentioned what you are doing this on.



No, not using the tape measure method. Won't be taking it to an alignment shop either. I don't let anyone else wrench on our vehicles. Well, that's not quite true, I don't do exhaust work and I did have a mechanic do a ring and pinion many years ago when I was in grad school and had a heavy teaching load. I was worried about giving such a tricky job to someone else, but he did an excellent job.

 

[toad]

Originally Posted by Bottom_Feeder
OK, I'm going to be 'that guy' and say something snarky but applicable.

You feel you're mechanically confident enough to do a driveway alignment on a vehicle but you're unable to visually determine if a threaded rod has left- or right-handed threads?


Why would I need to look at the threads? The tie rod adjustment would not work if one side of the shaft was not left handed ! Where I made my mistake was not realizing that only a left handed nut can go on a left handed shaft. Stupid, but not totally unreasonable if one has never thought about it.

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

Originally Posted by toad
Why would I need to look at the threads? The tie rod adjustment would not work if one side of the shaft was not left handed ! Where I made my mistake was not realizing that only a left handed nut can go on a left handed shaft. Stupid, but not totally unreasonable if one has never thought about it.

Because you're trying to figure out what direction to loosen the jam nut and that's the easiest, best way to figure that out?

 

[toad]

Originally Posted by mk378
You can look at the exposed threads on the rod and tell if it is right handed or left handed.



Yes that will be useful once I get to wrenching. I was foolishly laboring under the misconception that a right handed nut could be screwed onto a left handed shaft, and that if such were the case then tightening direction would be reversed. Since one cannot examine the threads in the nut there would be no way to tell. I apologize for my lack of thought, particularly egregious as I am a mathematician and I occasionally work with helixes.

 

[toad]

Originally Posted by Bottom_Feeder
Originally Posted by toad
Why would I need to look at the threads? The tie rod adjustment would not work if one side of the shaft was not left handed ! Where I made my mistake was not realizing that only a left handed nut can go on a left handed shaft. Stupid, but not totally unreasonable if one has never thought about it.

Because you're trying to figure out what direction to loosen the jam nut and that's the easiest, best way to figure that out?



Sure, and I knew that, but if one believed that a right handed nut could be screwed onto a left handed shaft, and I thoughtlessly did believe this impossible thing, then it would not be unreasonable to believe that the directions of tightening would be reversed with no way to tell the correct direction. I apologize for my lack of thought.

 

[bullwinkle]

I'm impressed at the ability to do an alignment without a rack, I've always made things worse when I've tried!

 

[toad]

Originally Posted by bullwinkle
I'm impressed at the ability to do an alignment without a rack, I've always made things worse when I've tried!


I've been doing it for 40 years on all our cars and never had excessive tire wear or handling problems. Below is a synopsis of what I have done. It will not solve all alignment problems but it has solved all the ones we have had.

1) I only adjust toe. If the camber is off a little bit it doesn't really matter because our tires age out before they wear out

2) I only adjust the passenger side. All of our toe problems were caused by contact with curbs, so i assume the drivers side is correct. Even if this is not true, I have found that total toe is the only important thing. If I were to have handling problems I would devise a way to adjust thrust angle etc, but that has never happened.

Toe is set by constructing an absolutely rigid structure , maybe 10 cm wider than the car, that can be slid back and forth to the front and back of the tires. This structure has risers that terminate exactly at the midpoint height of the wheels. Then it is simply a matter of measuring the distances, on both sides from the rim to the risers, and doing it front and back of the wheel. Toe can be calculated from this data, and if the measurements are done carefully .75 mm accuracy can be achieved. It is essential that the constructed structure be absolutely rigid, even though it is only moved a few inches to obtain the necessary measurements.

This works for us YMMV.

 

[WyrTwister]

First , spray everything you are planning to make move , with P B Blaster , or something similar . Let set for a day & do the work the next day .

Have you looked on YouTube for a video of this work ?