Method for adjusting the toe of the steerable wheels on a vehicle relative to the average rolling direction of the vehicle nonsteerable wheels

A method for use with an alignment system including toe measurement instruments and lateral reference position targets mounted on a vehicle having steerable and non-steerable vehicle wheel pairs for setting the toe of the steerable wheel pair relative to the average rolling direction of the non-steerable wheel pair,

• comprising the steps of mounting the toe measuring instruments on the non-steerable wheel pair,
• mounting the lateral reference position targets on the steerable wheel pair,
• adjusting the alignment between the toe measuring instrument and the lateral reference position target to be substantially the same on each side of the vehicle,
• fixing the adjustments in place,
• moving and mounting the toe measuring instruments and the lateral reference position targets to the diagonally opposite wheels of the vehicle,
• and adjusting the steering linkage of the steerable wheel pair so that the alignment between the lateral reference position target and the toe measuring instrument on each side of the vehicle is substantially the same when the vehicle steering control is centered.

A method for use with an alignment system including toe measurement instruments and lateral reference position targets mounted on a vehicle having steerable and non-steerable wheel pairs,

• comprising the steps of mounting the toe measuring instruments on the non-steerable wheel pair,
• mounting the lateral reference position targets on the steerable wheel pair,
• adjusting the alignment between the toe measuring instrument and the lateral reference position target to be substantially the same on each side of the vehicle,
• fixing the adjustments in place,
• moving and mounting the toe measuring instruments and the lateral reference position targets to the diagonally opposite wheels of the vehicle,
• and adjusting the steering linkage of the steerable wheel pair so that the alignment between the lateral reference position target and the toe measuring instrument on each side of the vehicle is substantially the same when the desired total toe is indicated for the steerable wheels by the alignment system.

A method utilizing wheel mounted alignment heads providing toe readings for front and rear wheel pairs on a vehicle and having alignment optics therein and wheel mounted graduated scales in optical communication therewith on each side of the vehicle, comprising the steps of

• mounting the alignment heads on the rear wheels and the graduated scales on the steerable front wheels,
• adjusting the orientation between the alignment optics and the graduated scales on each side of the vehicle to indicate like positions on the scales,
• transferring the alignment heads and the graduated scales to diagonally opposite wheels while maintaining the adjustments,
• and turning the steerable front wheels in steering direction until the orientation between the graduated scales and the alignment optics again indicates like positions on the scales, whereby the total front wheel toe is split about the average rear wheel rolling direction.

A method utilizing wheel mounted alignment heads providing toe measurements for steerable and non-steerable wheel pairs on a vehicle and having alignment optics therein, comprising the steps of

• mounting the alignment heads on the non-steerable wheel pair,
• adjusting the alignment optics to have substantially the same relationship to symmetrically located points on each side of the center point between the steerable wheel pair while observing said alignment to be substantially the same on each side of the vehicle,
• transferring the alignment heads from the non-steerable wheels to the diagonally opposite steerable wheels while maintaining the optics adjustments,
• and adjusting the steering direction of the steerable wheels until the alignment optics have substantially another same relationship to symmetrically located points on each side of the center point between the non-steerable wheel pair, whereby the total steerable wheel pair toe is equally divided in relation to the straight ahead direction of the non-steerable wheel pair.