Camber adjustment

T

town sedan

Junior Member
The front driver side tire is wearing more on the outside edge than the rest of the tire. Other issues with my front end suggest I have a faulty axle that should be replaced. Will replacing the axle also put the camber in proper alignment?
 
town sedan said:
The front driver side tire is wearing more on the outside edge than the rest of the tire. Other issues with my front end suggest I have a faulty axle that should be replaced. Will replacing the axle also put the camber in proper alignment?
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A properly straight front axle (there are two components to “straight”, namely flatness and twist) and a proper relationship of the wishbone to its socket (engine mounted at the proper angle and the wishbone ball secure in its socket) will provide the proper camber. The wishbone mounting also sets the proper caster. Toe-in you adjust using the tie rod.

Having a straight frame also affects front end geometry.
 
Axle straightening is fairly easy to do with hydraulics. I did mine using a auto frame machine at a local body shop. It had been badly bent in an accident. There are numerous articles about the procedure and if you don't have access to the machine you might check to see if they would do it. Finding a used axle could result in one in as bad a shape as yours. Do not use heat to help bend an axle. They bend fine cold
 
For bend I use a 20T press from Harbor Fright and a small block of steel so that I press on the web of the axle, not the flange. For twist I lock the axle in a jig I made from a scrap of I-beam, and use a pipe wrench with a long cheater bar. I’ve done three that way with excellent results. I use winding rods in the four bosses (two spindle, two spring perch) to verify that twist is removed.

Be sure to check the wishbone as well. It too can be easily straightened cold although the fixturing is a bit more complex because of the shape of the part.

Go slow.
 
Worn king pins can cause uneven tire wear.

Somewhere there is instructions on how to measure the geometry of a front axle. It involves special long rods that are set in the king pin holes and where the wishbone mounts. If I remember correctly there are conical washers and nuts that secure and center the rods where they go through the holes. Maybe someone on the forum has a link to the instructions.
 
nkaminar said:
Worn king pins can cause uneven tire wear.

Somewhere there is instructions on how to measure the geometry of a front axle. It involves special long rods that are set in the king pin holes and where the wishbone mounts. If I remember correctly there are conical washers and nuts that secure and center the rods where they go through the holes. Maybe someone on the forum has a link to the instructions.
Click to expand...

Those are what I referred to as “winding rods” above. I made a set of four out of some 1” steel round stock turned conical on the lathe, and used 3-ft sections of 3/8” round stock as the rods. Lay string across the ends of the rods to check alignment. I don’t recall any posted instructions, I sorta just felt my way through it using what seemed to me to be logic. “Empirical engineering” at its best.
 
Woodworkers call them Winding Sticks and there are surely plenty of videos, etc. on how to use them for guidance with an axle.
 
The spindles have the camber angle built into them. So the cause of the tire wear can be all in line to the wheel including the axle's geometry, the spindle's geometry, king pin wear, loose wheel bearings & a bent wheel. Also a bent steering arm on the side of the worn tire can cause the problem. A bent radius rod on the worn tire side also can cause this issue.
 
TS, I guess what we’re saying here is that there are more than a few things that could result in your symptoms. A full evaluation of your entire front end assembly would be in order. Don’t focus solely on the axle, although if you find problems there that would likely explain a lot.
 
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