First, I doubt your tie rod replacment caused your 'drifts to the right'
problem. I am betting on the radius arm causing the drifting.
 Second, finding a good alignment shop...that can sometimes be a real crap
shoot.  I've seen some really poor work done by 'so-called' good shops.
 I do my own work now after getting one alignment back where the dorks
forgot to snug up the locknut on the tie rod end and I corded an expensive
Goodyear racing slick in just 20mins on the track.

  Don Hanson

On Sun, Apr 12, 2009 at 7:53 AM, Allan Streib <streib@cs.indiana.edu> wrote:

> Take it to a good alignment shop.  It's a job worth paying for to have
> done right, and it's not that expensive.
>
> Allan
>
> neil N <musomuso@GMAIL.COM> writes:
>
> > Hi all.
> >
> > In partially rebuilding my '81 Westy front end, I:
> >
> > - swapped out lower control arms, one tie rod, and a radius arm.
> > - transferred # of turns form old tie rod to new. Double checked by
> > measuring from inner end
> >   of threads to face of new tie rod adjusting nut with calipers.
> > - transferred inner nut position from old damaged radius rod to new one.
> >
> > Prior to work, it tracked straight. Now it drifts to the right. Not
> > drastically, but at highway speeds I let go of the wheel, it starts
> > drifting at end of 1 second count.
> >
> > I understand toe in. Front portion of each tire points in a *little*
> > like snow plow skiing. What I don't get is if one tire can be
> > straight, and another pointing in or out.
> >
> > Could drift be due to a tie rod being too "long" thus positioning a
> > wheel in or out when compared to the other wheel? If so, is this a
> > separate alignment parameter?
> >
> > In my case, is the goal is to get each wheel straight, then adjust toe
> > in. Am I on the right track?
> >
> > Neil.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Neil Nicholson '81 VanaJetta 2.0 "Jaco"
> >
> > http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/
> >
> >
> http://groups.google.com/group/vanagons-with-vw-inline-4-cylinder-gas-engines
> >
>
> --
> 1991 Vanagon GL
>