can anyone give me a rundown of how to adjust it? no sense in me paying to get an alignment when I lower my torsion bars back down for summer because I know the toe is good and the camber will be maxed out.
thanks
thanks
Camber adjustment
- Thread starter Redbowties88
- Start date
I got my t bars all the way out. I had to drill out the factory rivit and max out bolth adjustments to get my tires to ware flat.
can anyone give me a rundown of how to adjust it? no sense in me paying to get an alignment when I lower my torsion bars back down for summer because I know the toe is good and the camber will be maxed out.
thanks
you realize that your toe and possibly caster will need to be adjusted as well if you adjust the camber right? Its easy to adjust, i just hope you know how the suspension is affected when changing camber and that it can drive worse afterward if not properly set
100% sure. our trucks use eccentics on the bolts that hold the UCA in at the frame. the eccentrics ride on a pin on the mounting points at the frame.
Forgot about the eccentrics....we just had a quiz over all this shit :roflmao: My instructor would be pissed!!! lol
how is adjusting the camber going to effect toe?
basically with my bars down and the camber maxed out it still negative about a full degree. it sucks because it eats the tires that way but bit also helps cornering and traction so im ok with it.
i just dont see why i should pay someone who's going to look at the toe and see that its fine then just adjust the camber till its at a full adjustment.
basically with my bars down and the camber maxed out it still negative about a full degree. it sucks because it eats the tires that way but bit also helps cornering and traction so im ok with it.
i just dont see why i should pay someone who's going to look at the toe and see that its fine then just adjust the camber till its at a full adjustment.
the more Postive camber you add, the more toe in you will gain. Think about it, you are tilting the spindle out more and the tie rod can not tilt out at the same ratio the arm since is so the knuckle turns creating toe in. Our trucks have bad toe issues though their suspension cycle to begin with. Also, if you dont evenly move the arms out or in the exact same amount on either end of the control arm, you caster will change as well.
ah, i guess because the tie rod isn't in the very center of the tilt. well thats disappointing guess ill have to get used to 2 alignments a year then
I got tired of hearing all the b/s from the alignment shops how they had to charge me an extra $40 because my truck was on 20's.
Bought myself one of these:
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Deco-Magnetic-Caster-Camber-Gauge,2698.html
Only thing else required is a level and a tape measure to check toe. I actually built a telescoping piece from some small aluminum angle with a stick-on tape measure on one side.
1st step: Get the truck level (L - R is most important) My driveway is pretty flat L-R so i'm lucky. If yours isn't, just drive the lowside REAR tire onto a block of some sort to bring the back axle level. Don't worry about the front yet.
Step 2: Jack up the front high side, and put the LOWER CONTROL ARM on a jackstand. Just inboard of the ball joint works well. I just get the front tire an inch or so off the ground.
Step 3: Get a jack of some sort on the low side LCA, jack it up until the front end is dead level L-R.
At this point both front tires should be off the ground, full weight compressing the suspension, and truck is level left to right. F-R doesn't matter that much.
Step 4: Remove both front tires. You broke the lugs loose first or have an impact gun handy right?
Step 5: Center the steering wheel, put a bungee cord from the base of the wheel to something on/around the front of the driver seat, brake pedal, etc. Just anything to somewhat firmly hold the wheel dead straight.
Step 6: Stick the gauge on the rotor, anywhere works but I usually go right at 12 o'clock. See where your camber is, you'll need to move the a-arm away from center to make camber more positive, inward for negative. As a starting point, try to move the front and rear UCA points an equal amount so caster stays consistent. You'll check that momentarily.
The gauge comes with lengthy directions on zeroing and checking the caster. Personally, it's not that critical so long as it's a bit negative and L-R are consistent.
Step 7: Measure the front edge to edge of the rims, and rear edge to edge. This will give you the toe in inches. As a starting point I zero mine, so the front and rear measurements are equal. This should also correct the condition of a steering wheel that hangs out of center. This is where the telescoping measuring tool comes in handy, it's a pain to accurately read a tape measure under the truck and IMO it's not accurate enough.
I personally set my toe at 1/8" in. Just be sure to adjust the tie-rods in equal amounts left and right.
That pretty much covers it, just takes some patience and a bit of fiddling around.
Note: Don't worry too much about getting everything exactly perfect. The toe/camber changes on these trucks so much through the suspension cycle it's ridiculous.
As far as the camber setting I currently have mine set at -0.5. It pushes positive as the suspension compresses so this helps keep the truck from trying to roll the tire over in a turn. If you have decent size tires with a large wheel it should handle very well with this setting. This far my 13.5 wide tires are wearing very evenly, no odd feathering or cupping, and it corners really well.
Don't be fooled by the shops and all their laser equipment. A tool is only as accurate as the tool operating it, and the only reason they pony up for them is to make the process quicker. On top of that the factory alignment specs have a 1 degree camber tolerance range and IMO even at their best are pretty terrible from a tire wear/handling perspective.
If I overlooked anything or you guys have questions let me know.
Bought myself one of these:
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Deco-Magnetic-Caster-Camber-Gauge,2698.html
Only thing else required is a level and a tape measure to check toe. I actually built a telescoping piece from some small aluminum angle with a stick-on tape measure on one side.
1st step: Get the truck level (L - R is most important) My driveway is pretty flat L-R so i'm lucky. If yours isn't, just drive the lowside REAR tire onto a block of some sort to bring the back axle level. Don't worry about the front yet.
Step 2: Jack up the front high side, and put the LOWER CONTROL ARM on a jackstand. Just inboard of the ball joint works well. I just get the front tire an inch or so off the ground.
Step 3: Get a jack of some sort on the low side LCA, jack it up until the front end is dead level L-R.
At this point both front tires should be off the ground, full weight compressing the suspension, and truck is level left to right. F-R doesn't matter that much.
Step 4: Remove both front tires. You broke the lugs loose first or have an impact gun handy right?
Step 5: Center the steering wheel, put a bungee cord from the base of the wheel to something on/around the front of the driver seat, brake pedal, etc. Just anything to somewhat firmly hold the wheel dead straight.
Step 6: Stick the gauge on the rotor, anywhere works but I usually go right at 12 o'clock. See where your camber is, you'll need to move the a-arm away from center to make camber more positive, inward for negative. As a starting point, try to move the front and rear UCA points an equal amount so caster stays consistent. You'll check that momentarily.
The gauge comes with lengthy directions on zeroing and checking the caster. Personally, it's not that critical so long as it's a bit negative and L-R are consistent.
Step 7: Measure the front edge to edge of the rims, and rear edge to edge. This will give you the toe in inches. As a starting point I zero mine, so the front and rear measurements are equal. This should also correct the condition of a steering wheel that hangs out of center. This is where the telescoping measuring tool comes in handy, it's a pain to accurately read a tape measure under the truck and IMO it's not accurate enough.
I personally set my toe at 1/8" in. Just be sure to adjust the tie-rods in equal amounts left and right.
That pretty much covers it, just takes some patience and a bit of fiddling around.
Note: Don't worry too much about getting everything exactly perfect. The toe/camber changes on these trucks so much through the suspension cycle it's ridiculous.
As far as the camber setting I currently have mine set at -0.5. It pushes positive as the suspension compresses so this helps keep the truck from trying to roll the tire over in a turn. If you have decent size tires with a large wheel it should handle very well with this setting. This far my 13.5 wide tires are wearing very evenly, no odd feathering or cupping, and it corners really well.
Don't be fooled by the shops and all their laser equipment. A tool is only as accurate as the tool operating it, and the only reason they pony up for them is to make the process quicker. On top of that the factory alignment specs have a 1 degree camber tolerance range and IMO even at their best are pretty terrible from a tire wear/handling perspective.
If I overlooked anything or you guys have questions let me know.
If you mean front of the tire pointing out from the rear, yes thats terrible!
If you're referring to vertically, the top is pushed out wider than the base on the ground, it's bad, but also probably within the factory spec.
if you can see a visable difference in your toe setting, its bad lol. i told you you alignement was out of wack last time you came over