Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1919-09-28
P|CHNG FUEL PENNIES AND WASTING TIRE DOLLARS FAULT
THAT MANY CAR OWNERS SEEM TO HAVE IMPORTANT THAT THE
TIRES Be GIVEN CARE AND INSPECTION BECAUSE OF HIGH COST

ing knuckles. The destructive effect
of a slight misalignment can readily be
appreciated when one realizes that If a
wheel is only out of line one degree
horizontally, it must slip 92ia feet side
wise in a mile of travel. The destruc-
tive effect upon the tire is the same
as though the truck were pulled side
wise this distance by winch. And one
degree is only equal to about 9-32 inch
on periphery of tire.
Alignment Of the wheels can only
be made true by accurately checking
the distance between the wheel felloes.
There are several good ways Of doing
this and a number of methods that are
not SO good.
Most motor trucks have their rear
wheels dead parallel. To check their
alignment, the simplest method re-
quires two men mad tape. The end
of the tape is held against the front
side of the inside face on one rear wheel
and the tape stretched across the cor
responding point on the opposite wheel,
care being taken to have the tape level
and stretched tight The bottom points
of the felloes are then checked, and
then the rear points All three of these
measurements should be the same The
most common misalignment 70 the rear
wheels is what is called spraddle. BY
this is meant that the bottoms of the
wheels are further apart than the tops.
If this condition is found, the wheel
bearings should first be inspected for
looseness. If these are properly ad-
tusted then the axle should be straight
ened.
Front wheels should not be parallel.
For greater strength and easier steer
ing they are cambered. BY this is
meant that the wheels are further apart
at their tops than at their bottoms To
correct the resulting tendency for them
to roll incorrectly they are correspond
ingiy gathered at the front. BY this
is meant that their fronts are drawn
in or toed-in usually about three
eighths of an inch. Measure as before,
correctly aligned wheels will have their
bottoms and their fronts about the
same distance apart. The bottoms may
be one eighth inch closer together than
their fronts, but should not be farther
apart than their fronts.
If these measurements do not check,
the gather at the front may be adjusted
by means Of the tie-rod, which Is
threaded for adjustment. Before ad-
justing the tie-rod, however, 1t would
be well to assure oneself that the steer
ing arms have not been bent This
can be determined by measuring the
distance from the ball or pin, as the
case may be. to the wheel felloes. The
two arms should be the same distance
from their respective wheels. II they
are unequal, the one that is bent
should be Strengthened until it is the
same distance from the wheel felloe
as its mate and the final adjustment
made on the tie-rod.
So far. these checks apply only to
the relation of the wheels to each other.
Another important check must be made
on the alignment of the aXles with the
frame. Naturally the aXles should be
perpendicular to the chassis center line.
This can best be checked by selecting
fixed point at the center of the frame,
such as the front universal, and check
ing the measurement from it to the
nearest unobstructed point on each
rear wheel. The two should be equal.
If unequal, be sure that the truck Is
on level ground and that the two rear
springs are DETECTED equally. This
may be checked by measuring the dis