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stevensjames
Samba Member
Joined: October 18, 2012
Posts: 193
Location: Murrieta, Ca
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 Posted: Sun Sep 15, 2013 11:10 am Post subject: Narrowed beam and alignment problem |
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I have a narrowed beam on my 54 Oval, I think is 5" but not exactly sure as the previous owner installed it and I have not measured it so see. Anyway, my problem is that I had to replace the tie-rod ends due to wear and now have it all back together. I counted the turns removing them and installed new ones same amount to get close. I then took it to have alignment done and that where I have a problem. After going to 4 different shops that all do alignments on these old Bugs I cant get the car onto the rack because the front wheels are to narrow to clear the gap on the middle of the rack.  Now I am in a situation and don't know how to fix it. I was considering trying to measure myself to set the toe around 1/8". I thinking I could measure front of tires from center to center and then rear of tires and subtract the difference until get to 1/8" toe-in. Has anyone else ran into this problem? How did you solve it? Or, has anyone successfully aligned their front end the way I described? I to the point where I ready to just take this beam off and throw it away and install a 2-4" depending on what I can get to fit onto alignment rack without problems. |
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Joey
Samba Member
Joined: August 12, 2005
Posts: 5376
Location: Nova Scotia - Canada
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57BLITZ
Samba Member
Joined: June 12, 2012
Posts: 2387
Location: DEEK - U.S.A.
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| Posted: Sun Sep 15, 2013 1:36 pm Post subject: |
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Agree!!
I like the method Eurobug describes. The only change is that the measurement need to be as high as the spindle/wheel center as possible for the best accuracy.
I was also taught to raise the wheels and spin them to draw a chalk line in the center of the tire tread. That way your measurement is not compromised by any wheel/tire runout that might be present if measuring the tread pattern. After lowering the car off of the jack, roll it forward a car length to preload all the suspension components. |
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stevensjames
Samba Member
Joined: October 18, 2012
Posts: 193
Location: Murrieta, Ca
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| Posted: Sun Sep 15, 2013 2:25 pm Post subject: |
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Thank you very much! I was searching the forums for awhile and did not come across this, maybe was searching wrong. Looks like I can save some cash and invest time and align the front myself. Thanks again, I knew someone had an answer.  |
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krusher
Samba Member
Joined: September 24, 2002
Posts: 7662
Location: europe
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| Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2024 9:05 am Post subject: Re: Narrowed beam and alignment problem |
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| stevensjames wrote: |
| I have a narrowed beam on my 54 Oval, I think is 5" but not exactly sure as the previous owner installed it and I have not measured it so see. Anyway, my problem is that I had to replace the tie-rod ends due to wear and now have it all back together. I counted the turns removing them and installed new ones same amount to get close. I then took it to have alignment done and that where I have a problem. After going to 4 different shops that all do alignments on these old Bugs I cant get the car onto the rack because the front wheels are to narrow to clear the gap on the middle of the rack. Now I am in a situation and don't know how to fix it. I was considering trying to measure myself to set the toe around 1/8". I thinking I could measure front of tires from center to center and then rear of tires and subtract the difference until get to 1/8" toe-in. Has anyone else ran into this problem? How did you solve it? Or, has anyone successfully aligned their front end the way I described? I to the point where I ready to just take this beam off and throw it away and install a 2-4" depending on what I can get to fit onto alignment rack without problems. |
I've aligned by tape measure many times (since the $80 alignment was horribly off and ruined my tyres) I never had any problem since doing it myself tyre have always worn evenly and cars run straight. Always measure with car on the ground and measure after you have rolled up back and forth a few feet for the wheels to align to normal driving.
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