Camber Bolts for Caster Correction?

[Ebag333]

I don't plan on adjusting just one side. I also have a $10k alignment machine at my disposal so it will not be done blind. I have been doing a fair amount of thinking about this because I don't want to piss away $20 bucks just yet. I believe I will run into one of two problems. The first problem is that the cam simply will not allow enough adjustment to get my 2" lift back in spec. The other is the actual head and threaded portion of the camber bolt is smaller than 16mm to accommodate the cam which is 16mm. Since the radius arms moves a lot and is not fixed like a strut I am worried that after use it will clunk and clank around and round out the holes in the bracket. On the threaded end I could tack weld a smaller washer to the bracket but I can't do that to the head of the bolt due to the tabbed washer that the camber bolt uses. So I am not really sure if I should sacrifice some money toward learning and science or just buy some bushings.

These prolly work fine for small, light vehicles, but there is likely a reason Mr. T does not use them.

I wouldn't go this route for the reasons you mentioned. Photoman's solution (posted above) seems the most elegant in terms of simplicity.

 

[Pin_Head]

But I hope this illustrates how it is actually possible to set caster per side (as clownmidget was saying).

Not really, but we can just disagree on this. I have set the caster on dozens of solid axle trucks and while you can set one side or the other to anything you want, my experience is you can't change the side to side difference that is built in to the axle without cutting and welding the knuckles. It is that simple.

The first problem is that the cam simply will not allow enough adjustment to get my 2" lift back in spec.

Unless you put rotation type adjusters on both the front and rear attachment points, you will only be able to get a couple of degrees of adjustment, because the eye to eye distance of the bushings is fixed and the more you rotate it, you will just start to compress the bushings.

 

[rove_mcanus]

That's kinda my point. Generally speaking, you wouldn't be adjusting it differently from one side to the other unless the axle housing was bent or warped.

Though it's not universally true that if you adjust one side the other will follow. Ask anyone who's run the poor man's three link (hitch pin mod) and had trouble getting the hitch pin back in.

The arm-to-axle mount is what adjusts the caster. So if it was absolutely impossible to adjust the caster on one side without the other following, in theory I should be able to take out the hitch pin and put it back in at any point in time, as it'd always line up. But that's not true. In fact, that arm has pivoted enough to damage some folks mounts, which tells me that it can move around a lot.

As clownmidget was trying to get at, it's not quite as simple as you (and Pin Head) are making it out to be. You could go extreme negative caster on one side, and extreme positive caster on the other, and actually get that. Your axle would pivot in a very odd (and dangerous) fashion, but it'd do it. The only reason it can do this is because it's not fixed, because the arms are free to move up and down, the axle will pivot around the two remaining points that don't change (the rear mounting points).

What you'd end up with is an axle that looks a lot like it would if the hitch pin was out and the front end was flexed. Basically you'd have one side that was shorter (height wise) than the other, and said shorter side would also be further forward than the taller side. The rear would compensate somewhat, but I bet that the body would have a lean to it (if you went far enough).

Now obviously this is taking things to the extreme. But I hope this illustrates how it is actually possible to set caster per side (as clownmidget was saying).

In reality, in the very small amounts we're adjusting caster, it probably wouldn't make any more difference than loading up the bushings and causing wear or tear. But it's certainly possible for someone who didn't understand what they were doing to get themselves into a situation where the vehicle becomes dangerous to drive (E.G. adding adjustable caster to only one arm, and leaving the other fixed).

I see what you mean now. As the axle moves castor can vary in relation to the ground. Which leads back to my first point, why bother with accuracy when castor can't be maintained throughout the suspension/steering cycle.
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[Ebag333]

I see what you mean now. As the axle moves castor can vary in relation to the ground. Which leads back to my first point, why bother with accuracy when castor can't be maintained throughout the suspension/steering cycle.
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Exactly!

The reason is that there isn't much movement when you need your caster to be set. How much vertical movement do you see on the highway or freeway? You might travel a couple hundred miles and not see more than a few inches (depending on how fast you take your corners I guess! ). Caster doesn't really matter on the trail where you're flexing your suspension, your caster could be 20* off and it wouldn't matter if you were only doing 2 MPH. At 70 MPH, a degree or two can make a significant difference in handling.

And it doesn't need to be super accurate. But you don't want to have them badly adjusted side for side as that could (as mentioned previously) cause binding and wear on the bushings (not to mention stress on the mounts and axle housing).

Plates, bushings, or washer mods work perfectly fine. If you want something fancy, use Photoman's solution above, or the IFS method. But you'd want to make sure both sides are adjusted the same to avoid any unnecessary wear or funky handling.