Hey,

 

87 GL wagon, 4wd high/low, carb

 

so I've finally got all my suspension set after my lift, cross members dropped and such.  going to install the new axles tomorrow and then I need to do an alignment.  the front passenger side tire is obviously out by a bit.  you can actually see that the front passenger side is turned out a bit.  the car has always pulled to the right and that tire is the only one worn funny so I'm fairly sure its just that specific side thats out.  gonna run the string around the back tires and use that to get the front one strait.  never really messed with the steering so just throwing up my plan in case theres a snag somewhere that you can catch before i start.

 

basically going to do this

 

1-put the string around the rear tires to in front of the car

2-measure the distance that the tire is out on the back side

3-knock out the tie rod end and loosen the locking nut

4-spin the tie rod end until its moved half the measured distance

5-reverse everything and check it again

 

I may have to eyeball it to get it close enough to use the string, but is there any pitfalls I'm not thinking of?  actually looks fairly simple, but that doesn't mean there aren't tricks and problems.  

No need to knock the end out -just turn your wheels, loosen the lock nut and find the flats where you can put a wrench on the tie rod. The wheel on the ground will hold eveything. Make your adjustment, tighten lock nut.

You'll have to drive/roll it to get it sitting straight, rinse and repeat. The string or a tape measure front side of tires vs rear side helps find where to start. Try to adjust only one wheel at a time to keep it simple.

I have been adjusting mine roadside trying to dial that last little pull out as I go down the highway.

Hope this helps