Bad negative camber on rear wheels. Help please.

tommo · Post by **tommo** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 5:33 pm

So here's my problem.
My '87 L sedan with 3" lift and king springs has very bad negative camber on the rear wheels. And just so as there's no mistaking which is which, they're sticking out at the bottom like so. / -- \
The front wheels have the usual positive camber from the springs which I'll get around to fixing some day, but it's not out as far as the rear is negative.

I've had a good look under there and can't for the life of me work out why it's doing this, let alone how to fix it. (Doesn't seem to be any camber adjustments.)

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Tommo.

daza · Post by **daza** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 5:43 pm

This is common, and worse with the L's.
Put the trolley jack under the diff, and take the car's weight,
Loosen the three bolts on either side that hold the flat plate to the outside of the swingarm forward of the hub,
Let the jack down and even stand on the towbar if needed,
as the car goes down the camber should get more negative,
When it gets to a resonable point tighten the bolts up.

This is the fix for Posative or Negative camber on the back.
Daza.

Subafury · Post by **Subafury** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 8:13 pm

mmm sounds interesting. i'll have to have a go at that

subius · Post by **subius** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 8:39 pm

make sure you check the bushings in the rear swings arms. worn bushings will also contribute to the problem.

tommo · Post by **tommo** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 8:43 pm

Thanks alot Daza and Subius,
I'll have a go with that tomorrow.
Maybe take some before and after pics too, it's shocking how bad it is at the moment. :P
Cheers.

AndrewT · Post by **AndrewT** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 8:54 am

daza wrote: as the car goes down the camber should get more negative,

Surely u mean it will get more positive ... I'm sure he doesn't want MORE negative camber!

I've had that problem too, this solution helped somewhat but I've found most L series have negative camber at the rear, its just more noticable after a lift.
If it's suddenly gotten worse immediated after the lift are you sure the shockie lift brackets are installed correctly? Maybe you put the bolts on the wrong side or the bracket it backwards or something like that.... any photos?

daza · Post by **daza** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 9:31 am

AndrewT wrote:Surely u mean it will get more positive ... I'm sure he doesn't want MORE negative camber!

It'll go positive when you loosen them with the weight off the wheels,
then as you lower it the camber gets less positive then negative.

Some people have trouble with there L's going positive in the rear too!
Daza.

SUBYDAZZ · Post by **SUBYDAZZ** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 9:51 am

Yep, that's how it's adjusted, contrary to popular belief which says there is no adjustment on the L-Series. Those bolts will/should be quite tight too.

AndrewT · Post by **AndrewT** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 10:53 am

Yeah but that's not really designed as an official adjustment is it? I thought it's just because those bolts gradually slip over the years, also not helped by slamming the rear end offroading etc.

Matt · Post by **Matt** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 1:12 pm

If you want to get serious with adjustment of camber, you can put a K-Mac or similar adjustment on the back trailing arm. It should adjust vertically for camber and horizontally for toe.... Although i have a brumby the suspension is very similar to the "L" series (read l struts in the rear) and i have ) degrees camber. I can email/post some pics if people want?

Matatak · Post by **Matatak** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 6:43 pm

u want Negatvie camber tho...jsut not to much

helps when cornering as the wheels then become flat on the ground.

tommo · Post by **tommo** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 7:34 pm

Well I tried Daza's method this arvo. Jacked it up, loosened the bolts, lowered it down, tightened the bolts. It looked good until I drove backwards and forwards a few times, then it was straight back to bad negative.
Some of the bushings look a little worn, in particular the ones in the bottom shock absorber housing, so I'll try replacing a couple of them.

Some pictures of your set up would be great Matt, it'd be awesome to actually have ADJUSTABLE camber and toe.

And by the way, I would've taken some pictures but my camera's broken.

Matt · Post by **Matt** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 7:10 am

Unfortunately you can't do both, you get stuck with one or other.... As the saying goes a picture says a thousand words... Please Note this is Camber adjustment, for toe you would need to turn the adjustment 90 degrees and you would lose camber adjustment.

Post by **Alex** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 1:46 pm

did this yesterday. I really cant see how loosening those three bolts off, and then re-tightening them would adjust camber, BUT it worked! i now have strait back wheels and heaps more height!...even took it for a quick bash on some pretty hardcore rocky terrain, and theyre still nice and strait(if not a tad positive!)

alex

BlackMale · Post by **BlackMale** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 1:54 pm

tommo wrote:Some of the bushings look a little worn, in particular the ones in the bottom shock absorber housing, so I'll try replacing a couple of them.

This is just FYI. When I consulted a very reputable WA Suspension place recently about replacing the bushes in the shocks they felt that if they had seen that much use that the bush had flogged out then I was probably better off to just replace the entire sturt.

Alex wrote: even took it for a quick bash on some pretty hardcore rocky terrain alex

Anywhere new and/or something we should know about or just 1 of the usual haunts? {sorry for potential hijack}

D3V1L · Post by **D3V1L** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 3:59 pm

nah jaffa its just some small tracks near his house we usually run off to for testing purposes...not worth even looking at its small and short and will take 5 minutes to do it...we just went there to go over some hardcore bumps to test

dave

BlackMale · Post by **BlackMale** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 5:07 pm

Oh, bummer - thanks D3v1l (End Hijack)

Subafury · Post by **Subafury** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 8:46 pm

i tried the camber trick but it didnt seem to move at all for me

Morcs · Post by **Morcs** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 9:42 pm

On brumbys with the torsion bar rear end you could wind the torsion bar up to give more positive and unwind it to give more negative camber. Eg raising rear (more positive) or lowering rear end(more negative). Done by the Bolt and lock nut in the centre of the torsioin bar. I have a hole drilled in my tray for easy access. Mine runs about 1-2 degrees negative camber on the back for better corner holding grip on the tar.