rbrock

Okay Guys,

I've rebuilt the rear suspension in my '71 with new everything basically. Also, I've purchased new wheels and tires, TTII's and Nitto 17's. With everything back together I took the car down to the alignment shop yesterday to have the car aligned and this was the response that I got after they got the car on the rack.

Have you lowered the car? No I haven't
When we try to adjust the caster to your specification (2.75 deg positive) the camber goes too far negative and there aren't enough shims in the upper a-frame to get the camber back in specification. So your frame must be bent.

This is where they stopped and basically said they could do nothing for me.

So looking at the alignment sheet that they gave me it appears that the current settings are as follows:

Right side:
Caster 0.2 deg positive
Camber 0.4 deg positive
Toe 0.6 deg in

Left Side:
Caster 0.1 deg negative
Camber 0.5 deg positive
Toe 0.8 deg in

My question is, is it normal that the camber would be so close to zero? It would appear that I should be able to add shims to the camber and get it within specification but the caster would still be near zero. What is the purpose of the caster? I know how it is achieved but apparently my car has some sort of issue. Is it time to take it to a frame shop and get it checked or is this a common problem. I didn't lower the front of the car but maybe the previous owner (Bubba) lowered it. I spent this years budget on rebuilding the rear end, new interior parts, wheels, tires, and side pipes. I really didn't think anything major was wrong on the front end. Should I purchase offset control arm shafts or control arms with added caster capability? Is this a worth while investment just to get the camber back. I'm not racing just want the car to be safe and not screw up my new tires.

Any thoughts?

BTW, I did the alignment on the rear end in my garage and I did have one toe setting that was out but the rest was in spec. I'm on the fence about doing the front alignment but I'm now strongly considering doing this myself also.

C6DuffMan

Caster is the front to back lean of the pivot points. Caster helps the wheels to go straight. Think of the front wheels of a shopping cart. The contact point of the road and tire is behind the pivot point. I always thought that more caster was always better. I would think less caster would make the car more darty.

Rebelrob

OK, I thought he was referring to the back.


You talked about the rear, has the front ever been rebuilt? I am in the middle of this job right now. What got me started was my new tires were wearing faster on the inside edge, about the first inch or so. My bushings, ball joints were all in need of being replace. I had to much negative camber on the front the way it was.

zwede

Your alignment problem looks like the car sits too high, not too low.

If you want more caster (and you do with 17" tires) I recommend offset upper A-arms available from VBandP and speeddirect.com.

zwede

@Rebelrob: This is the front, not rear.

wombvette

So, how many shims are there now? None? Taking shims out increases camber.

rbrock

I haven't verified yet but they said that currently there are no shims in the right side, they didn't say anything about the left.

rbrock

The front has not been rebuilt, at least by me. I've done the standard check and haven't found anything to have excessive wear. I can tell the the PO has replaced one of the upper ball joints. I don't remember which one at this moment. I would have to check tonight.

Rebelrob

Yep, my front was toast and yer car has got at least 10 years on mine. I have less then 75k miles. Unless it was garage/climate control stored, most likely needs a rebuild if it has not yet.