D15 front tires toe in

RDobbs

Member
I have what I think is a 1966 D15 series 2. Had it about 25 years
and only use it couple of times a year. Ever since I've had it the
two front tires are toed in at the bottom and tears up the grass
pretty bad. Question is: Are there a way to correct this toe in so
both tires will stand straight up as they should. Axels don't seem
to have ever been damaged. Thanks
 
(quoted from post at 18:53:31 09/01/17) I have what I think is a 1966 D15 series 2. Had it about 25 years
and only use it couple of times a year. Ever since I've had it the
two front tires are toed in at the bottom and tears up the grass
pretty bad. Question is: Are there a way to correct this toe in so
both tires will stand straight up as they should. Axels don't seem
to have ever been damaged. Thanks
The tie rods ends slid into the center tie rod tube, with a clamp to secure them. They are adjustable this way so you can make the font end different widths for different crops.
If the red ends are not rusted into the tube, you just loosen the clamps and slide the rod end in farther to get less toe in.
 
Sounds like you are talking camber instead of toe in. Toe in is front to rear, camber is up and down. There is supposed to be some camber. If yours is excessive something is bent.
 
Agree that it sounds like you are talking camber. If you look at this diagram, it shows the camber very clearly and it is supposed to be there, most tractors even now, are designed with front wheel positive camber (bottoms angling inward toward one another):

http://www.yesterdaystractors.com/Allis-Chalmers-D15_Spindle-LH-RH_70270038.html

In fact, on mine, someone in it's distant past broke the left spindle and welded it back straight not realizing it shouldn't be.

If yours still looks that way and wasn't re-welded, your camber is probably as intended. The problem may be your tires. Tri-rib tires are meant to dig in, and the solution for that is turf tires. There are a couple of profiles available that stop that issue, but the trade off is the tendency to not want to turn on grassy surfaces. If your work is low speed, this is not a problem. Many people just put 16 inch car tires on it to solve the problem.

If you are talking toe, though tie rods ends and assemblies are readily available, that shouldn't be necessary unless they are actually bent or broken. It's more likely that the last time the row spacing was adjusted, the person didn't get them straight before tightening them up. Even if the tie rods are bent, as long as the rod portion can slip in the tube, you can get the toe set correctly by measuring from wheel to wheel front to front and back to back, the measurements should be the same.

The stability benefits of having positive or negative toe don't apply to tractors because of the low speeds, and having any will increase wear on tires and bearings.

The graduations on the outer tie rod are supposed to be the easy way to make this determination without measuring, but if there is any bend in the tubes, this won't be accurate. You can still get pretty close. If this measurement isn't way out, it's not your problem anyway.

To adjust, pick one wheel and get it as close to a right angle to the axle as possible, then you adjust the other. Doesn't matter which you start with. Then loosen the clamp in the middle of the tie rod, but leave the two axle adjustment bolts tightened so it won't actually change the spacing, you only want to pull in or out on the tie rod. Then just push or pull the wheel while the tie rod slips in the tube until your measurements are correct. If you have a lot of slop in the tie rods, you have to take that into account. When the tie rod ends are really sloppy, it's impossible to adjust so the sides will measure perfectly under all conditions of turning and ground irregularities. In other words, toe in and out will continuously change as you drive over irregularities if the tie rods allow too much slop.
 

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