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Front End Alignment for Club Car Precedent Vehicles

 

 

Lots of questions have been asked about how to properly line up the front end of a Club Car Precedent.  Here is our best explanation in layman's terms to help the average do-it-yourself cart mechanic properly align the front end.

 

The knuckle to rack u-joint will only fit one way. It's designed that way intentionally to allow the factory front end to get a 12 o clock reading on the steering wheel. Rule that out, that's not the problem. If you put on a lift kit, the steering rack would have been removed and re-installed. The position of this u-joint will not change due to the design.  If you're thinking you've installed it upside down or on another spline, you're incorrect. It only fits one way.

 

Now, remove your steering wheel. Don't look at it. It's irrelevant at this point. Take a look at your steering rack. Look at the threads on each side where the tie rod ends threads onto the rack. You should have equal amount of threads on each side. If you don't. Make them equal. Either bring one out, or bring one in. Doesn't matter at this point. You can either count the threads, or measure with a tape measure. Just back off of the jam-nut and twist the shaft either into, or out of the tie rod ends. Don't worry about front end alignment at this point. Just get your threads equal.

 

Grab your tape measure. You should be able to distinguish a center point of the radius of the tire. Measure from left tire to right tire, center to center, at the forward most point of the tires. Record your measurement. Let's say it's 35" even. Measure the same two tires at the rear most point of the tire. It should be 35" 1/8". If it's not, let's get it there...Make sure the jam nuts on the rack are backed off all the way to allow twisting of the shafts without running into the jam nuts. Take a 12mm wrench (fits nicely onto the rack ends) and "EQUALLY" adjust each side the SAME as each other until you reach your desired toe setting. For example, do a half turn out on each side. Recheck with tape measure, and so on, and so on. Just as long as you don't overdo one side, your thread measurement should not change and should stay equal with one another.Once you reach the desired toe setting, Put the steering wheel on loosely. With a factory suspension, it will slide right on, in the top dead center 12" position and you won't need to adjust any further. However, with the imperfection of aftermarket lift kits you may have to adjust slightly on one side or the other. Let's say that the wheel is approximately 15 degrees to the right while the vehicle is going in a perfect straight line. This is where I try to explain how I use the "Chase the Wheel" method. You're actually wanting to force the tires in the direction of the steering wheel by adjusting the ball joints. If it's to the right, you'll run the passenger side rack shaft OUT OF the tie rod end, and the driver side one INTO the tie rod end. This will force both tires to turn RIGHT. Do this Equally in VERY small EVEN increments until the Top Dead Center steering wheel position is reached. Once it's there, Tighten her up and call it a night.

 

 

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