ok, I'm in the process of changing out my U-joints. Have the RR bolts undone and shaft is ready to come out.
My problem.....when I bought the 82, I ended up putting the adjustable struts in the rear. The RR never lined up properly and therefore could never get the correct "toe" set, and could not make a good camber adjustment as you could only adjust so far. I noticed from before that the TA has all of the shims on the outboard side, 7/8" of them, and no shims on the inboard side of the TA. That probably explains why I could not set up the adjustable strut correctly from the beginning. So I am taking the outboard stut apart, shock is disconnected and spring hanging. In the process of removing the shock bracket now. Then I will be able to remove the half shaft and hopefully line up the strut with equal amount of threads on each end.
How should I distribute those 7/8" of shims. I was thinking of making the strut the same length as the LR and then take up the slack with the shims whichever side they fit to make the front of the TA solid on each side. Does this make sense to you and is there anyother way or adjustment that I would need to do?????
Thanks for any imput....apppreciated................... ...Tom

 

We'd need to know what your static rear toe on each side is first.

 

to state the obvious, somethings wrong.
pics?
bushing installed wrong or failed?
frame bent?
batwing mounting shifted?
does the car crab?

sorry, someone put them shims in that way for a reason.

 

The shims control toe-in. The struts control camber. One does not affect the other.

 

when I got it aligned last Nov, could not bring in the RR wheel, could not get any move movement on the strut.
here are my specs....

Left Front.............Right Front
Camber 0.0 ........... 0.0
Caster 3.5 ........... 3.7
Toe 0.26 ............... 0.23
Total Toe .49

Left Rear.............Right Rear
Camber -1.5 ....... -1.5
Toe 0.17 ............. 0.41
Total Toe 0.58
Thrust Angle -0.12


At alignment, frame appeared to be straight, I did not take measuerements, but it seemed to line up fine on the rack.

On the strut rods, the ends are curved on the 80 to 82 models, as opposed to straight ends on previous models, in both stock and aftermarket struts. When I undid the strut today, it is not properly lined up with the lower part of the TA, I would have to pry it back into place. So I may have the strut rod end in the wrong orientation. I need to look at my stock struts and hold them there to see which way the curves went. This also appears to be a replacement TA. The car was hit in the left front fender, hard enough that it cracked the glass all the way through.
The car does not crab, goes straight down the road, let go of the steering wheel at high speeds, it's like driving it self, and no I don't drive like that, only when testing with no one around.....
The RR wheel was always leaning more inward towards the top and was not perfectly straight up and down. But I did get it adjusted some what with the adjustable struts, but not totaly. It leans in less at the top now.


So what would you recommend as a starting point? I was thinking of when everything is bolted back together to leave the shims out and see if I can get the rear wheel almost straight up and down, then look at the front of the TA and reinstall the shims to fill the empty spaces on either side. Does that sound logical?

Thanks for all of the replies and info....appreciated...Tom

 

I have turn buckle struts now.
As said, the struts do not control the toe setup by shims.

on both a 68 and 81, neither car had such a lopsided TA shim setup.
a replacement TA?

there is definately something amiss.

pics?

 

No, way wrong. The toe in and camber are adjusted independently of each other. Put the shims back where they were. If you can't get correct camber, there are other issues.

 

TA shims won't affect camber. And, FWIW I had asked earlier about your current toe to verify whether or not you should mess with them at all.

 

Look at these pics. If you have any questions just PM me and I will get with you on the phone. Too many details to type out. mike...

 

Hi Mike,
I think I understand what you're doing.... what point is the string line running to?
Thanks!
Regards,
Alan

 

Ok taking a break for dinner and picking up the correct size u joints for the half shafts.
The answer to your question about the "toe" is listed above in post #5, my current alignment specs. As you can see the RR is out.


Thanks to all, be back later tonight. ...

 

Hello, Alan. In theory frame rails are parallel. Assuming car has not been in an accident. I have a pic., somewhere, that shows another floor jack holding the string exactly in line with the rear of the reversed rotor measured from the frame rail. This can be used to set the toe in. Since the shims are available in limited sizes you can only get it close to specs.. Again, easier for me to verbalize than type. I need to get with the nineties also.mike...

 

Mike, I will send you a PM. And I will take you up on that phone call whenever is good for you.
Won't be back til later tonight. Picked up 2 u joints at one store snd another one has 2 more.

 

Yes, I understand that, but I thought that maybe since the front of the TA was against the inner pocket without any shims in between, that some how the TA would get more movement if there more shims on the inside and since the "toe" is 0.41 for that wheel as opposed to
0.17 for the the Left wheel.

yes it appears to be a replacement TA. And yes there is something amiss.
batwing mounting shifted? it may have, I don't know
will take pics in the morning....

ok so I tried........
When I first got the 82, I could only adjust the stock strut so much and that was it. But when you look at my alignment specs, the Camber on both sides are equal. I had already switched to adjustable struts before I got it aligned and made a slight adjustment. So with my little brain that it is.... I am now seeing and thinking that since all of the shims are on the outside of the TA and the inside is tight against the pocket, it would be difficult to get the TA in a "correct" position. Of course that is not the case, but in my mind it was
There is also the possibility that I installed the strut rod ends in the wrong orientation. These ends have a "curve" to them and I forget if the curve needs to face the front or the rear. I had the curve facing the rear and when disconnected from the TA, it does not line up with the shock mount holes. I have to force it in to get it to line up. If I reverse the strut rod end, it apppears to line up easier. So once I get the u-joints in and put everything back together and talk to mds3013 (Mike) and get everyone elses opinions, hopefully I will get it right.....

ok....a side note.....when I went to remove the haftshaft, it would not come out, and that was because I could not adjust the strut anymore outwards then it already was, and the shims were already removed. But when I disconnected the strut from the TA, that gave me all of the movement I needed to remove the haftshaft. So it should be quite interesting getting the RS bolted back up.

 

having real trouble getting the LS halfshaft away from the rear. It appears to be stuck. TA side is out, but still attached to the rear.
RS halfshaft came out real easy, LS a whole different story. any suggestions????

 

LS halfshaft is out.....

And I would like to personally thank Mike mds3013 for taking time on the phone with me today. As many C3's that I have had over the years, never really got into understanding beyond the basics of wheel alignment for our Vettes. Even at my age still learning something new everyday. And Mike's lesson along with his pics in this thread were simply great. Not only will this help me with getting the 82 rear squared away, but will also be a bonus for when the 74 starts to go back together in June. I have a much better understanding of how to properly set the rear toe with the shims then I ever did, and again, I thank you for that........ Tom

 

the job is done!!!! even though it KMA in the process, I accomplished alot....
Last year when I installed the VBP adjustable struts, I had turned the ends unevenly on the struts, therefore limiting my adjustment in a big way. So when taking out the halfshafts, I decided to undo the rear suspension as needed to redo the struts the correct way. Unscrewed both ends and started over putting on each end 3 turns at a time until I could bolt them up to the rear and the TA. This way I have enough adjustment on either end when needed.
Now there have been numerous threads and posts about the orientation of the adjustable struts and which way the curved ends should face. For 80-82 owners only, because the ends are at an angle, the inner end curve which attaches to the rear, faces the front of the vehicle. The outer end curve which attaches to the TA, faces the rear of the vehicle. This is the only way they fit and line up properly,
That being said, the RR wheel that I had trouble with from day one, and could not get the proper adjustment, well guess what.....since I redid the struts, the RR tire is now perpendicular to the road surface, not tilted in at the top as before. You guys will probably cringe , but I used a 20" level and held it up against the tire, and when the horizontal bubble was centered, that was my correct adjustment, as you will see in the following pics.
You will also notice that the original struts have slight dents in them from where they were "properly adjusted" by bubba at previous line ups.
I also needed to adjust the rear spring VBP (340 lb unit) to get an even height on both rear panels from the ground to the bottom of the panel in the middle of the wheel opening. Right now they are both at about 28". And my right spring bolt nut had to be lower than the left side to obtain the measurement.
So it is getting there, the driveshaft u-joints are next, hope to get to them this weekend. They are still making noise from time-to time.
Now that I also have a better understanding of how to set-up the rear toe with the shims, that will also be done in the near future. So far, so good........And thanks again for all of the suggestions.......
it is appreciated........... Tom

original struts...

 

You can get a ballpark adjustment without fancy tools.
Get the car down on it's wheels and "settle" the suspension first. Roll it forward and back maybe 5 feet three or four times. Make sure the car is level left to right. You may have to slide floor tiles under each wheel to shim it level.
For 1/2 degree negative camber, the top of each rear wheel should be tilted inward about 1/8" from vertical on each side, measured at the rim of the wheel.
For toe, get on all fours behind the car, and sight forwards along the outside edge of the rear tires, looking towards the front wheel. If you can just see the outside edge, to maybe 3/4", of the front tires, you are relatively close.
Then take it to a good local alignment shop.

 

You did that level work adjusting the camber with the car on it's wheels after you moved it enough that it was settled down fully on the suspension, right?

As for those shims, it would appear you need to change them to have about 1/2 on each side to get the toe the same as the other side. Well, maybe divide them up and put an extra one on the inside to get it close to the other side. I would expect the alignment shop figured it was good enough and didn't bother changing them hence it still being out on that side.

 

thanks for the info.......I know the RR toe is out, will check with your method, and Mike outlined a good way to set the "toe" in the above posts......and then back on the rack to make sure it is right.....

Yes, did all adjustments after lowering the car and going around the block to settle the suspension. When I get time I am going to set the "toe" as per Mike's suggestion above, and then back to the shop to make sure I did it right.....