L Series Rear Camber "Help"

Kalbarri_baru · Post by **Kalbarri_baru** » Thu Apr 17, 2014 9:38 pm

Heya all,
Got a prob with my left rear camber, with the top of the tyre and hub facing towards the inside of the guard where the shock sits, and the bottom of the tyre and hub facing towards the outside of the guard.

Funny thing is the L has no vibrations what so ever from the heavy camber and the right tyre sits as it should (Straight up and down).

Took it Bridgestone Geraldton for a rear wheel alignment (which they could not perform) they had a good look for me and said that I might have a bent trailing arm, and then said it could be a bent axle, as if a bent trailing arm wasn't bad enough but a bent axle, that is $$$$$$.

Has anyone had a single rear wheel with a heavy camber before ???.

Is there a fairly simple hint to fix it without costing too much $$$.

Or do I just buy another L Series with a straight rear end and transplant the whole rear end as I am sure my rear cv's and diff would be feeling the camber as well.

Any help or advice appreciated.

Cheers in advance.

WayneO...................

Post by **TOONGA** » Thu Apr 17, 2014 9:52 pm

My vortex had a similar problem turned out the left shock was not happy and the castlelated nut in the centre of the hub was loose.

When you were down last did Paul change your rear shocks? or just the front ?

You should check your castlelated nut and make sure it is stand on the breaker bar tight.

As for a bent axle... I don't think so. The CV shaft is the axle in an IRS setup.

TOONGA

Kalbarri_baru · Post by **Kalbarri_baru** » Thu Apr 17, 2014 10:05 pm

TOONGA wrote:My vortex had a similar problem turned out the left shock was not happy and the castlelated nut in the centre of the hub was loose.

When you were down last did Paul change your rear shocks? or just the front ?

You should check your castlelated nut and make sure it is stand on the breaker bar tight.

As for a bent axle... I don't think so. The CV shaft is the axle in an IRS setup.

TOONGA

Heya Toonga,

Yeah Paul changed both front and rear shocks and springs, yeah already tried the castleated nut (Stripped my first castleated nut, Breaker bar too big and I am too heavy), and checked out a previous AUsubaru thread that suggested taking the rear tyre off and checking three bolts that can be adjusted for camber, but Bridgestone said those three bolts were for toe adjust only.

Got me stuffed, all I know is that I have to drive 500km plus to get Paul to check it out, gonna chew out my brand new Maxxis but has to be done I spose, Thanx for the advice though, do you reckon it might be a bent trailing arm then ???.

Cheers

WayneO...............

Subydoug · Post by **Subydoug** » Thu Apr 17, 2014 10:22 pm

Sounds odd WayneO. If you jack the whole ass end up from under the rear diff and eyeball it does it still look different one side to the other? measure from axle nut to wheel arch while jacked up to see if there is a difference between left and right?

A bent axle would wobble badly and not go unnoticed. I think a bent trailing arm would be obvious when looked at from behind the car, Maybe measure from ground to arm at several points on both arms on a level surface and see if they are different. Id also eyeball your lift kit parts and make sure they are in good shape, not collapsed or pulled away from the body.

Snap some pics and throw them up WayneO.

Regards

Doug

NachaLuva · Post by **NachaLuva** » Thu Apr 17, 2014 10:27 pm

Those guys dont have a clue! A trailing arm can only affect toe in, not camber & as Toonga said its IRS...bent axle??? What clowns!

Can you check your shock & make sure its not bent? That'll throw the camber way out!

Kalbarri_baru · Post by **Kalbarri_baru** » Thu Apr 17, 2014 10:35 pm

Subydoug wrote:Sounds odd WayneO. If you jack the whole ass end up from under the rear diff and eyeball it does it still look different one side to the other? measure from axle nut to wheel arch while jacked up to see if there is a difference between left and right?

A bent axle would wobble badly and not go unnoticed. I think a bent trailing arm would be obvious when looked at from behind the car, Maybe measure from ground to arm at several points on both arms on a level surface and see if they are different. Id also eyeball your lift kit parts and make sure they are in good shape, not collapsed or pulled away from the body.

Snap some pics and throw them up WayneO.

Regards

Doug

Heya Doug,

Will do that with the trailing arm, have already checked the lift parts in the front and rear and have identified only one problem with one of my front left blocks where a bolt has lost grip on the nut and has some movement, Paul is aware of this one and was going to fix this when I go to Perth, but all the others seem fine.

Will post a pic or two after work tomorrow, thanks for your advice Doug.

Cheers

WayneO............

Kalbarri_baru · Post by **Kalbarri_baru** » Thu Apr 17, 2014 10:41 pm

NachaLuva wrote:Those guys dont have a clue! A trailing arm can only affect toe in, not camber & as Toonga said its IRS...bent axle??? What clowns!

Can you check your shock & make sure its not bent? That'll throw the camber way out!

Heya Nacha,

Yeah will try and get the wagon to a hoist and get the shock checked, this was one of my first thoughts of a bent shock as it is only on one side and axles and trailing arms should not just bend or buckle.

Cheers for the advice.

WayneO....

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 7:21 am

bent axle ??

They had the car there and made that suggestion for your particular problem ?? !!

It won't take you much effort to swap the whole rear shock and spring assembly from left to right in order to see if the problem shifts with the change.
I can do it with wheels still in place. Just a 450 or 600mm har finch socket extension, 17mm socket, loosen the three bolts, pull bottom one out first to removany stress off top pair. When putting bolts back in, thread top pair in by hand to ensure no stripping or cross threading - not hard to do (either way

).
Oh, you need a jack somewhere there as well

Kalbarri_baru · Post by **Kalbarri_baru** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 8:57 pm

steptoe wrote:bent axle ?? They had the car there and made that suggestion for your particular problem ?? !!

It won't take you much effort to swap the whole rear shock and spring assembly from left to right in order to see if the problem shifts with the change.
I can do it with wheels still in place. Just a 450 or 600mm har finch socket extension, 17mm socket, loosen the three bolts, pull bottom one out first to removany stress off top pair. When putting bolts back in, thread top pair in by hand to ensure no stripping or cross threading - not hard to do (either way ).
Oh, you need a jack somewhere there as well

Heya Steptoe,

Cheers for the advice and will give that a go after I try Bennie's suggestion of backing off the three bolts and trying to realign from there, if no good I will change the shocks over as you have suggested.

Again Cheers for the advice.

WayneO....

taza · Post by **taza** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 9:25 pm

Id say bent rear trailing arm or bent shock. Have a good look underneath. If it's bent try and smash it back to stock place.

Kalbarri_baru · Post by **Kalbarri_baru** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 9:51 pm

taza wrote:Id say bent rear trailing arm or bent shock. Have a good look underneath. If it's bent try and smash it back to stock place.

Heya Tazza hows it goin,

Yeah gonna post some pics in next 10mins, might let Paul unbend it if it is bent.

Cheers for the advice bloke.

Have a GR8 Easter

WayneO......

Kalbarri_baru · Post by **Kalbarri_baru** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 10:02 pm

Got some pics,

but strewth I am sure I have run over a Black cat or something,

went to start the L to move it out for some pics when the imobiliser shat itself, so thats another job to fix, anyhows bump started it and moved it to the front of the yard, took the rear tyre off and it had 3/4 of a philips head screwdriver embeded into it, gr8 another job, put a plug in it but had no vulcaniser left so its a temp job until I can put a new one in.

Anyhows here are the pics

Cheers

WayneO....

Subydoug · Post by **Subydoug** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 11:05 am

Crikey WayneO, thats worse then I thought.

I highly doubt it has anything to do with those 3 bolts. If you look at what they do mechanically it doesnt effect the camber. I would be suspect of the swing arm and associated hardware. I was under the impression that this type of rear suspension setup moved up and down its travel with relatively little camber change?

Sucks about the other stuff playing up. If it makes you feel any better my vortex decided that coolant works better when its spread out over the ground. Pretty cool that the ea82 has a nifty pressure relief valve in the combustion chambers

Regards

Doug

AndrewT · Post by **AndrewT** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 11:12 am

I bet those 3 bolts will do it. Seems unlikely but the effect is surprising. Loosen them off, let the hub assembly drop down as much as possible (might be a mm or even hardly noticable) then tighten them up again real tight. Drop the car back on its wheels and the camber will be way more positive.

Btw I don't see how an axel could have any effect on camber at all.

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 11:47 am

Thats racing camber, leave it like that

Post by **TOONGA** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 5:33 pm

Gannon wrote:Thats racing camber, leave it like that

Yes but the right one needs to be the same as well

How old are the bearings in that wheel?

TOONGA

Kalbarri_baru · Post by **Kalbarri_baru** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 9:43 pm

TOONGA wrote:Yes but the right one needs to be the same as well

How old are the bearings in that wheel?

TOONGA

Heya Toonga,

Yeah Bearings are fine only 6 months old for front and rear, and no play in the affected hub.

Cheers

WayneO...

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 10:01 pm

I recall a problem when you took it in to a workshop of some repute and there was something to do with wrong parts ?? shocks?? rear shocks ?? Surely was fine and dadny when it left there and this has happened in between then and now ?

Kalbarri_baru · Post by **Kalbarri_baru** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 10:11 pm

Subydoug wrote:Crikey WayneO, thats worse then I thought.

Sucks about the other stuff playing up. If it makes you feel any better my vortex decided that coolant works better when its spread out over the ground. Pretty cool that the ea82 has a nifty pressure relief valve in the combustion chambers

Regards

Doug

Heya Doug,

LOL never sounds good when someone says thats worse than I thought.

As for the Vortex did that EA82 come out as a special series with a pressure relief valve in the combustion chambers, not good bloke sounds like an expensive repair.

AndrewT wrote:I bet those 3 bolts will do it. Seems unlikely but the effect is surprising. Loosen them off, let the hub assembly drop down as much as possible (might be a mm or even hardly noticable) then tighten them up again real tight. Drop the car back on its wheels and the camber will be way more positive.

Btw I don't see how an axel could have any effect on camber at all.

Heya Andrew,

Will give it a go, just waiting for a day off as I am working 7 days a week at the moment, but I will also post some pics after I have tried your suggestion, and thanks for your advice.

Gannon wrote:Thats racing camber, leave it like that

Cool time to go racing (in circles)

steptoe wrote:I recall a problem when you took it in to a workshop of some repute and there was something to do with wrong parts ?? shocks?? rear shocks ?? Surely was fine and dadny when it left there and this has happened in between then and now ?

Heya Steptoe,

Yeah all were spot on when I left the workshop, the person who worked on them double checked everything, I would not take the L anywhere else for repairs and if it means I have to make a 1200km approx round trip for repairs then I must have 100% confidence in this workshop, however this has happend within the last 3 weeks and I have been heavy 4wd ing since then over big rocks, corrugation and real soft sand, but I was never severe with the wagon always approached big rocks at low speed with caution, have had quite heavy loads on board though, perhaps (Heavy loads and Corrugation = Heavy Camber).

Cheers

WayneO....

Subydoug · Post by **Subydoug** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 11:48 pm

I just pictured less camber from your description. Seems like something may have bent. If you do bring it down to Perth sing out and Il pop around to Pauls shop. I would definitely run the spare tyre though to save your new rubber.

Vortex's ea82 is in bits, just cleaned the heads, not warped very much but I will stick them on the shaper and clean them up, I got all the parts I need so it will probably only cost me 50 bucks on fuel and the oil and coolant change I should have done 2000km's ago

.

Regards

Doug