Like most hot roders, Locosters etc. I've been struggling to measure the toe in/out on my various cars for years. Tape measures take two people, the body work usually gets in the way for an accurate measurements, professional gages cost too much for the number of times I'd use them etc etc.

While looking around on Internet I found a rather simple looking toe in gage for sale. I figured I could simplify it and reproduce it with stuff from my "spare parts" (some people call it my junk pile). Even if you have to buy all the parts new, you should be able to build one for less than $10. This gage is admittedly more complicated than others but it will give very consistant and accurate results.

No, those aren't my new super sticky sponge rubber tires!

Here is a look at the complete toe in/out gage. The supporting pipe is a 65" length of 1/2" diameter electrical conduit.

The 2" x 4"  by 6" long blocks are used to space the gage away from the tires so your readings will be consistent. They also make it easier to slide the movable pointer on the pipe.

After this picture was made, I now use a straight piece of 1" x 2" length of wood long enough to sit behind or in front of both tires to rest the 2x4 blocks of wood against.  The 1 x 2 would be placed between the forward end of the 2 x 4 blocks and the "tires" in this picture.

This allows me more latitude in where I place the blocks. And it makes the measurements much more consistent.

Toe in is ideally measured at the axle height on the tires. The pointers should be long enough to touch the tire half way up the tire to get the truest reading of toe in/out.

My pointers are 11" long and 2" wide at the bottom. The pointer on the left is mounted stationary on the left end of the conduit support pipe. The pointer on the right slides on the support pipe when setting the gage up for measuring toe in/out.

I made the pointers from some thin scrap aluminum sheet that I had. The width at the bottom only has to be wide enough to allow you to drill the two mounting holes to match the couplers you are using.

This is the tip of the stationary pointer. In use the tip  of the pointer is placed on a reference point on the tire tread.

Instructions for use of the gage are located at the end of this section.

This is a close up of the tip of the movable pointer. I riveted a short piece of a metal tape measure to the end of the pointer so I don't have to use another scale to read the toe in or toe out. You can also make this pointer pointed like the stationary one if you don't have a piece of a ruler  to sacrifice to the cause.

This is an end view of the stationary pointer. The round object is a normal 1/2" electrical conduit coupling adapter.

Notice the ridge in the center of the tube that is normally used to keep the two pieces conduit centered in the adapter. 

Also notice that there is one washer on each set screw to give the pointer sheet metal a surface to seat on. The washer thickness should be such that the screw will seat on the conduit and hold the pointer tightly at the same time. The washers on both of my pointers are 1/16" thick.

This is and end view of the movable pointer's conduit coupler adapter.

Notice that the ridge in the center of this adapter has been removed by drilling and then filing the adapter smooth with a rat tail file. The coupler must slide freely on the 1/2" conduit supporting pipe. There are washers on each side of the sheet metal so the end of the screws do NOT project through the adapter.

On the right side of the coupler you can see a piece of a spring clip that keeps the pointer and adapter in position on the conduit when in use. There is a better view of the clip in the next picture.

1. These instructions assume that both tires to be measured have the same tread pattern.

2. It will simplify figuring out if you have toe in or toe out  if you set the first reference point at the REAR of the tires. This will allow direct readout of toe in or toe out from the movable pointer. If you set the reference at the front of the tires the readout is reversed (trust me on this).

Place the long 1" x 2" length of wood and the wood blocks against the rear of the tires as shown in the photos to the right. Slide the gage under the car so the stationary pointer is on the left side tire as shown and both pointers are touching the tires..

Step 2. (Setup cont'd)
Position yourself at the left tire.
Select a point on the tread where the edge of a tread block is vertical. Move the pointer and the pipe left or right so the tip of the pointer is exactly on an edge of the tread block. The spot on the tread where the pointer is positioned will be called the "reference point" for the rest of these instructions.

Rear view of left front tire with stationary point set to a reference point on the tire tread.

Position yourself at the right tire.
Hold the pipe so it doesn't move. Slide the movable pointer left or right on the pipe so that it rests against the tire with a major division of the ruler against the exact same tread pattern location where the stationary pointer is positioned at the reference point. In these pictures the pointers are on the left edge of the center rib of the tire tread.

Check that the stationary pointer is still at the reference point. If not repeat steps 2 and 3

Step 4. Reposition the gage.
Carefully remove the gage from under the car. Be very careful and do NOT allow the movable pointer to move on the pipe.  This is the hardest part of taking a measurement.

Place the long 1" x 2" length of wood and the wood blocks on the front side of the tires.

Rear view of right front tire with the ruler set to the same relative reference point on the tire tread.

Position yourself at the tire to your left (the right tire of the car).
Put the gage on top of the blocks with both pointers touching the tires. Position the stationary pointer against the tire tread so that it is positioned on the same edge of the tread as the original reference point. The accuracy of the measurement, depends on placing the pointer exactly on the reference point.

Position yourself at the tire to your right (the left tire of the car).
Check how far the reference point on the tread is from the major division of the movable pointer's ruler.

If the tread reference point is exactly on the major division of the ruler you have neither toe in nor toe out.

If the tread reference point is towards the center of the car in relation to the major division of the ruler you have toe IN.

If the tread reference point is towards the outside of the major division of the ruler you have toe OUT.

The distance the tread reference point is from the ruler major division line is the amount of toe in or toe out.  

2. If you make any toe adjustments to the chassis, roll the car back and forth a bit to allow the suspension to settle and to reposition the tires in relation to the chassis. To be consistent, roll the forward as the last movement.