New Tein Tie Rods, I am probably overthinking thisI

[dfw240_EE]

I just got in my new Tein Tie Rods. As you people know, these tie rods come with spacers that cause you to have a wider steering range than normal. The spacers go between the rack and the inner socket. Think of it as making the rack abit wider than stock (5mm on each side to be exact)

However, the usual method of making he new tie rods the same length as the old tie rods to maintain original toe settings wouldn't work. The geometry has been changed subtly. So here is the old steering setup:

http://nissaninfiniticlub.net/...d.JPG

As I have already said, the spacers just make the rack a little wider, so I came up with this:

http://nissaninfiniticlub.net/...g.JPG

I came to this conclusion using the old pythagorean theorem. However, I have made certain assumptions:

1) The addition of spacers to the rack will not change the position of the rack forward or aft of stock (good assumption I think)2) Inner tie rod socket is the same height as the steering knuckle while the vehicle is at rest (bad assumption)

I am going to expand this equation tomorrow to account for the 2nd condition, that the tie rod is not perfectly level in the x-y plane.

I will just have to make the measurements, crunch the numbers, and see if 5mm changes things much. I know the manual lists the tie rod length, but that is the length from just forward of the inner socket to the beginning of the end joint. I want from the inner socket to the steering knuckle. I also know that I will need to take the car in for alignment after, but this effort should keep my car safely driveable to get to the shop.

I am not really asking for any information, I am going to figure this out on my own. I just wanted to put this out for anyone else who might be considering these parts.

[cdlong]

overthinking is right.

just lay them next to each other and make them the same length. line up the rod end on one end and the face of the inner socket on the old rod with the inner edge of the spacer on the new setup.

then go get an alignment. unless you are just replaceing stock tie rod ends and counted the turns, it's always a good idea to get an alignment. though i guess you could calculate how many turns 5mm equals.

[dfw240_EE]

I think that is right, if you assume that the angle is fairly close to 0° then the L*sinθ ≈ 0 Again with the small angle assumption cosθ ≈ 1, that term Lcosθ - ΔR ≈ L - ΔR. Do abit of algebra and you get that l ≈ L - ΔR.

Assuming L = 220mm, θ = 10°, and of course ΔR = 5mm, I get that l = 215.077mm, which is within 77 microns (3 mils for you people familiar with the old english system) of the spacer width.

I can't do this until the next weekend anyways so I will try to write the 3d equations, but I expect the same result.