Adjusting rear Camber

[John M.]

How do I adjust the rear camber? Adjust the Camber bolt so that the tire is level while up in the air? Or adjusted on the ground?

I've pretty much got her wrapped up and just want to get her driving straight enough to get it up to a shop for a full allignment.

Thanks

[Chris W.]

Re: Adjusting rear Camber

It may be easier to jack up the car to adjust the rear camber but after you put it back on the ground, roll it back and forth a few times to settle the rear suspension.

I would initially, set the camber bolts at about mid travel and see how that looks. You may have to take a second shot at it and add or subtract more camber if necessary to get the rear wheels to sort of stand up straight. Do not be too concerned about an actual value, just set the rear wheels so they look about right when it is on the ground. The alignment shop will do the final adjustment. Tighten the nuts fairly tight as you do not want the cams to slip while you are driving it to the shop.



Chris

[John M.]

Re: Adjusting rear Camber

Mid travel meaning setting the cams straight up and down without any adjustment?

Thanks

[Chris W.]

Re: Adjusting rear Camber

Mid travel meaning setting the cams straight up and down without any adjustment?

Thanks

Yes, Straight up and down is the middle of the range of adjustment of the cams. This is a good place to start. Be sure to roll the car back and forth several times to settle the rear suspension before making an judgement as to how your adjustment turned out.

Good Luck, Chris

[Jerry G.]

Re: Adjusting rear Camber

If you don't have a camber Gage you can use a carpenters level, with some sort of spacer to get you to the rim edge. Don't use the tire surface. it bulges out at the bottom. The tire should tilt in slightly at the top. This will get you close enough to make it to an alignment shop. I think I'd be more worried about toe in in the rear. You can use a straight edge and two tape measures to get this done. Jerry

[John M.]

Re: Adjusting rear Camber

Thanks guys this should at least limp me up to the shop.

[Timothy B.]

Re: Adjusting rear Camber

John,

Drive the car around the block to settle suspension then drive the rear wheels onto two pieces of floor tile, (each side). If you make a adjustment, the tile will allow the tire to slip on the floor allowing you to use Jerry's method of carpenders level to the rim edge.

I use a 18" level, you will figure it out. I set mine level, top to bottom as the spec is 0* to slightly negative camber.

Jerry, can you explain your toe method for the rear, I had some difficulty as I used a fishing line front to back measuring the rim edge front and back on both rims. I think you can line them up fine at home with some patience.

Duke suggested a procedure for front caster by turning the wheel full lock both ways and measure. I think straight ahead caster was the difference in these two measurments.

[John M.]

Re: Adjusting rear Camber

Well I was going to wrap her up today, adjust my rear, fire it up for the first time, drop her on the ground and take her out for a maiden voyage.

Then I overtightened a Brake line and stripped the Brass Block..

Down for 3 days waiting on UPS...... She fights me until the very end.

[Jerry G.]

Re: Adjusting rear Camber

John,

Drive the car around the block to settle suspension then drive the rear wheels onto two pieces of floor tile, (each side). If you make a adjustment, the tile will allow the tire to slip on the floor allowing you to use Jerry's method of carpenters level to the rim edge.

I use a 18" level, you will figure it out. I set mine level, top to bottom as the spec is 0* to slightly negative camber.

Jerry, can you explain your toe method for the rear, I had some difficulty as I used a fishing line front to back measuring the rim edge front and back on both rims. I think you can line them up fine at home with some patience.
Duke suggested a procedure for front caster by turning the wheel full lock both ways and measure. I think straight ahead caster was the difference in these two measurements.

yep, I use a setup from Longacer. you can go to their web site for a photo. It's just two aluminum plates that measure about 12X24 inches with a bend at the bottom to avoid tire bulge. The tape measures are strung under the car from the tire on the right to the tire on the left, or vise versa. The measured horizontal distance is taken at the front(between both rear tires) and the back (of the rear tires) . the difference of these two measurements is the toe. There should be about an 1/8 of an inch less distance measured at the front of the tire as the rear. Works every time. Proven at 183MPh at Elkhart Lake road America.
If your really serious, and I highly recommend this, you should "string the car first to make sure both rear wheels are tracking parallel and equal with the longitudinal axis of the frame. I use lasers instead of string. You can get a situation where the toe measurement is good but both rear wheels are heading in a direction slightly off from the axis of the center of the vehicle.

[Timothy B.]

Re: Adjusting rear Camber

Jerry, I think that's how I did it with the string (I remember now). I used fishing line the length of the car set at a equal distance from the frame sides to make sure the wheels were straight ahead.

I recall setting toe like that also and it worked very well for me. I then checked it front of tire and back of tire to double check. I did Caster like in my first post. Car runs straight and seems good.

[Jerry G.]

Re: Adjusting rear Camber

Yep, it isn't rocket science , just tedious. But it's surprising how much difference the little things make when I set up the race car. As little as 5 pounds force change on the anti roll bars can make a significant difference in feel and balance.