I recently bought a Fj40, had camber issues on RT front. I rebuilt the knuckles and camber issue persist same as before. Truion bearing races had a little scaring on that side before but the new races and bearing all installed nicely and fit well. Knuckles seemed right no other issues. No visible damage to Axle housing. My question is there any fix or part besides the axle housing that can cause positive camber. Previous owner says never in collision since he purchased in 1991 and didn't have an issue but rarely drove it on roads just used to drive in woods.
CAMBER ISSUES
- Thread starter robramaz
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
I've went to a big truck/semi and 4wd alignment shop to have an alignment done back in the 90's. Your local tire/car shop will only do tow in/out. The guy doing the alignment was a real pro and checked everything with his hand held gauges and had big plates to roll the vehicle on to determine how the frt tires were tracking. He found and adjusted the camber by an ever so slight tweak/bend of the left frt axle housing using a chain and large hydraulic jack. It's not an uncommon adjustment. The cost of the alignment wasn't cheap. I also had a truck where the camber was noticable and found camber shims to install between the spindle and knuckle for a dana frt end. I think they were from Napa and designed for multiple applications. I was concerned about tire wear. I used them for a while then decided at some point to remove them. They never really changed how it drove and my tire wear concerns where minimal.
Maybe this thread will help.
Here's a pic of the camber shims I used. I don't think they will work on the Toyota or closed knuckle style frt ends. They'll probably create a leak. You can see they only offer 2 or 3 degrees of adjustment.
I doubt it. It's sort of an obscure aftermarket part. Like I mentioned I used it on a dana open knuckle frt end.
CruiserOutfitters was offering special knuckle bearings that could adjust caster. Maybe still do.
If you found this post useful, you are welcome to hit the like button.
If you found this post useful, you are welcome to hit the like button.
How much is it out of spec for camber? How did you find out?
Are you sure it's camber and not caster, or toe-in?
Your picture looks like a bent or badly out of whack tie rod.
The only way I've ever heard of camber being affected is a bowed/bent axle housing, assuming your knuckle rebuild was done properly with the correct parts.
Your picture looks like a bent or badly out of whack tie rod.
The only way I've ever heard of camber being affected is a bowed/bent axle housing, assuming your knuckle rebuild was done properly with the correct parts.
- Thread starter
- #11
The tie rod is and radial rods are new, I rebuild the Knuckles myself and also did saginaw steering at the same time. I rebuild the knuckles because the camber on the RT side. These are some stout axle housings hard to see then bent with any indication. No weld cracking... but the welds look rough on these but I was told that's normal.
The camber wedge is an interesting idea, I know someone who makes them for jet boat nozzles.
The camber wedge is an interesting idea, I know someone who makes them for jet boat nozzles.
- Thread starter
- #13
Yeah pulled the axles and 3rd, came out and in without issue. The inner seals fit just fine. The trunnion races fit like they should. Must have a tiny bend, I was wanting to make this a highway rig cause that gives alot of value but I just don't think these things where made to do 70 mph for any distance. I just wanted a little veh for light trails and these are just cooler then a jeep.
- Thread starter
- #15
No, I can visually see a camber difference between the Lt and RT side. I used two 36 in pieces for angle clamped to the drum marked and set at center line to do my toe. Tow is set to a 1/4 turn of the radis arm in from zero. I has access to a hunter alignment machine, but it doesn't have OE alignment specs and I would know how to adjust anything but toe. My caster and tracking measure good from the rear axle to the front.
Did you put it on the alignment rack? If you did, What were the numbers. What do you mean, the rack doesn't have the alignment specs? The Alignment rack just measures. Everything can be adjusted. Usually folks adjust toe in and caster. They're usually the 2 critical settings that effect drivebility.
Last edited:
How did you center the wheels. left-right? There is a spot where the weight of the truck makes the knuckles rest. A little rotation away from perpendicular (accounting for toe-in-out) to the axle housing will push those camber numbers around.
The only way to know for sure is to measure it. If the caster is truly out on the one side, you have a bent housing. There's really no other way a properly set up knuckle assembly would be out of spec to a degree you could visually see it.