Quick Alignment question

[IronArcher]

Quick and easy for those who know:
Should wheel alignment on a crawler be neutral,
slight toe in, or slight toe out?

Are there trade offs with any of these?

Would you go, say, more tow out to change turning radius?

Being we drive pretty slow, I’m guessing we aren’t worried about high speed stability. Are we worried about anything when setting alignment?

Thanks!

 

[lonleycreeper]

I usually eyeball my alignment to 0 if I can, but I don't worry too much about it.

 

[Goro Majima]

In my opinion, it should be 0 but that's just me. Toe in and toe out both give you pros and cons that cancel each other out. I'm just gonna list some insight whether you're very familiar or not but I know sharing opinions can help others.

A pro to Toe In is the fact that it can track straight easier at speed, while a con being the outside wheel maxing out on steering inward sooner than 0 toe. Toe Out can possibly grip a rock easier on the inside tire of the turn, while also maxing out at steering angle sooner than 0 toe. While both of these settings are miniscule in crawling, either setting can make that much of a difference when it comes down to slowly clearing a gate.

 

[DrIsotope]

As most of our axles are zero ackermann, toe angle doesn't impact as much. I prefer either neutral or a little bit of toe-out, as that will allow the "inner" tire to turn a little farther, which can be beneficial.
But if your suspension setup is prone to lifting the front inside tire under load, a little toe in can give you more turning bite from the planted tire.

 

[SDheavymetal]

I run close to 0 toe on my crawler. Toe out can make the truck turn slightly tighter.

For fast cars I like slight toe in. The car is more stable at speed.

 

[ferp420]

On crawlers it dosent really matter but in the real world
Front wheel drive is toe out
Rear wheel drive is toe in
Awd is 0 toe

 

[King Dork]

On crawlers it dosent really matter but in the real world
Front wheel drive is toe out
Rear wheel drive is toe in
Awd is 0 toe

I already had a decent understanding, but man, the comparison that you made literally helped me to instantly envision and understand so well said brother!