Matt Gruber

Tom,
i bet you are the only one that can put a number on this:
Drivers side of my 61 has +2 degrees camber.
Lower shaft has a 0.125" front shim
and a 0.200" rear shim.
Eccentric is ALL the way to mininum camber.
Question:
What shims will get it into the ballpark of 0 camber?
Are the holes slotted? Years ago i had it apart and before that the camber was fine.
Thanks Tom!
My back hurts if i crawl around under there too much.

JohnZ

Shims between the two attachments of the lower control arm shaft and the crossmember will have no effect on camber at all; in order to move from positive to negative camber, either the upper control arm has to move inboard, or the lower control arm has to move outboard, or both.

DZAUTO

And John is 100% on the money.
Now, here comes the REALLY scary part.
The camber CAN be changed by bending the spindle support.
Read all of the following carefully. I'll try to be detailed and NON-confusing.
This is all predicated on the frontend being in excellent condition and the joints NOT being excessively worn. As UPPER joints become worn, the upper components of the suspension move inboard and as LOWER joints become worn, the lower components of the suspension move outboard. This wear can, and will, have an effect on alignment. THIS IS WHY I AM SO ADAMENT ABOUT KEEPING THESE OLD FRONTENDS GREASED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ESPECIALLY IF YOU DRIVE YOUR 53-62 CARS!
Now, with that said, EVEN THOUGH you are sure your frontend is tight and has minimal wear in the joints, lets check it for any loose/worn joints. You need a helper to do this.
Start with either side. Place a bottle jack under the lower A-frame (to eliminate the spring weight), outboard, and lift the tire off the floor 1-3in. Grasp the tire top/bottom and work it as hard as you can and check for ANY movement in the upper joints (frequently, what will catch you by surprise is excessive move at the upper-inner REAR bushing, that's moderately common and goes unnoticed). Do the same side to side. Next, using a LONG bar (like a crowbar), place it under the tire and pry the tire up to check for wear/movement in the lower joints. Pry up and down on the inboard end of the lower A-frame to check for movement at the lower/inner shaft/bushings. Watch all the tierods for movement. How much movement/wear is acceptable at any given joint? That is an old timers judgement call. Plus, it is also dependant on total wear of all parts. For example, if the uper-inner shaft/bushing joint(s) have 1/16-1/8in movement, that's not terribly bad, but it is noticeable wear. Now if the upper inner shaft/bushing have that much wear, and then the lower-outer shaft has that much wear, then you have a total of 1/8-1/4in wear. THIS COULD HAVE A SIGNIFICANT EFFECT ON ALIGNMENT, as well as prevent getting a good alignment done!!!!!
Ya, ya, ya, I know, everyone KNOWS their old frontend is good and tight. Right! I've been surprised more than 2-3 times.
OK, that's covered. Now, assuming the frontend has been checked and its determined that all joints have acceptable minimal movement, lets go back to the bending. Again, scary as heck. Avoid this at all costs!!!
You may be VERY hard pressed to find an alignment shop, with an old timer, who is thoroughly familiar with this procedure.
Back in the day, it was common to have to bend suspension components to achieve desireable specs. There is a tool which is attached to the spindle support ABOVE the kingpin knuckle (actually, two tools, one for bending in, one for bending out). When the tool is properly positioned, the suspension is secured and then a very strong jacking force is applied to the tool which in turn slightly bends the spindle support. Are you scared yet? You should be! The old cars which had suspensions that may need to be bent are now few and far between and so are the old time guys that could bend them blindfolded---------------and do it correctly and safely!!!!!!!!
When this bending process is done, there is only a VERY slight bend that has to be made----------almost unnoticeable. But it is a last resort, and it DOES WORK!
But you gotta ask yourself, if the alignment was good before and now it isn't, what changed? That's why it is very important to FIRST check the frontend for worn joints.
Here in Okla City, I'm now down to ONE alignment shop that I have faith in. The owner no longer does any work, but he is there EVERY DAY to oversee what is done. And when I bring in an old Vette, he is out there making sure the young guy understands what and how an alignment is to be done. Its been a very long time since I had a frontend bent. And without fail, it needed one or more joints replaced.

Matt Gruber

Tom
thanks for all the details.
not worth the trouble imo.
is there a good reason why moving the lower control arm outboard isn't a good fix?
.
FWIW in 92 i ordered the lower shafts figuring they had to be bad. WRONG. i put the rt in and the old ones were perfect so i sent #2 back. i put in new kingpin bushings(old turned out to be in great shape) and took out the springs and removed PO bubba spring strechers that raised the nose an inch or 2. Somewhere in there the camber increased on the left only
.
JZ good call; i should of realized that

DZAUTO

By way of it's design, I do not know of any way to do that.

Matt Gruber

someday i'll loosen the shaft bolts, pry the control arm over to remove any slack; then tighten. that is all i can think of.

jim lockwood

You could drill new attaching holes in the crossmember for the lower control arm shaft. There is a '58 Corvette vintage racer out here on the left coast that's had that done to it. Lots of negative camber is evident.

Jim