Camber off after rebuild / upgrade, please HELP!

[Mcgyver24]

After doing a SOA, C&T, upgrade to Marlin high steer arms and a mini truck disk brake conversion I noticed that my passenger side has positive camber (top of the tire leans outward), about 3-5 degrees.

Here is a link to my build thread if any of you guys would like to check it out. It goes through the rebuild / upgrade process.

https://forum.ih8mud.com/40-55-series-tech/393236-project-landroc.html


This is what (I think) I know….

*It was not like this before I did the rebuild.

*Its not my toe adjustment because my camber is off all the way through the steering cycle, it never gets any better.

*The knuckle seems to be in great shape.

*I had great preload before I took it all apart.

*When I did the C&T, there was no play at all in the rotation. It was really hard to rotate so I would be extremely surprised if welding it caused it warp. Plus I tacked first and welded small sections and let cool in between.

*After a little trial and error my final guess on the shims was 1 think on the bottom and 1 thin + 1 think on top. This produced a good preload.

*There was no play from top to bottom in the wheel assembly.

*I’m assuming the axle is not bent because it is positive camber.

I am completely stumped and I do not know what to do or look for next. Any help and or ideas on what to look for would be a huge help! Thanks in advance for your support…

 

[miker]

Sounds strange, I would make sure your wheels are not contacting the brake caliper or any other parts of the steering. Does the wheel rotate freely when you have the tire off the ground?

If no problem there, I think I would start taking that side back apart to check to make sure everything looks ok. I would make sure the spindle is seated correctly on the knuckle. The bearings are seated correctly in the wheel hub and the wheel bearing preload is set correctly. I would check that the knuckle arm is torqued to proper spec and the knuckle bearing preload is correct. Maybe too, you could check the angle of each knuckle arm and see if it looks like its off by the same degrees as the wheel. That might tell you if its the axle housing/ball, or something outward of that.

One other weird thought and I don't know if this is even possible, but could the knuckle be put on upside down? You would have noticed that if you installed the brake calipers as the mount tabs would have been on the front rather than the back of the knuckle.

Oh, another thing regarding the spindle, make sure you are using the backing plates or proper thickness backing plate eliminators or the bolts will be too long and even though you torque them, they do not seat against the spindle.

Not sure of any the above helps, but maybe it will jog your memory and you will see the problem.

If possible, post some pictures.

 

[Mcgyver24]

Miker,

I know it is pretty strange and I’m completely stumped. Here is the answer to your questions…

The wheel rotates freely without any hang ups and the knuckle and rotor are at the same angle as the wheel.

The knuckle is not upside down because the caliper is on the rear side.

The only thing I can think of after reading your post is that maybe that the top or bottom bearing is not seated correctly. I will check today and get back to you with some pictures. Much Thanks

 

[65swb45]

Maybe take the knuckle arm off on the side that is cambered wrong and inspect the pin on the underside of the knuckle arm to see if it is centered in relation to the 4 knuckle stud holes. After all, it is not a factory knuckle arm.

Just a WAG.

Best

Mark A.

 

[Mcgyver24]

Miker,

You were right it was a bad seat, very strange. I ended up taking the assembly apart and re assembling everything 2 -3 times. The last time I was very careful to insure proper seating on the top and bottom bearings. This fixed the camber issue. Maybe I was doing something wrong because I have never rebuilt an axle before, I don’t know. Thank you for you suggestions!

 

[miker]

Miker,

You were right it was a bad seat, very strange. I ended up taking the assembly apart and re assembling everything 2 -3 times. The last time I was very careful to insure proper seating on the top and bottom bearings. This fixed the camber issue. Maybe I was doing something wrong because I have never rebuilt an axle before, I don’t know. Thank you for you suggestions!

Glad you found it. The preload must have been way off for this to happen. Did you check the preload on each knuckle? I like to check them without the knuckle seals or felts in place. I don't have the FSM with me and can't recall the weight but the preload is checked with a spring scale. Pretty straight forward.

If the preload is not correct then the knuckle bearing will not last long.

It sounds like you got it but I suppose the race (bearing cone) may not have been seated all the way and then it did seat itself once weight was placed on it (likely the bottom race) causing the preload to then be way too loose.