Toe IN -camber follow up

JtownJoe

JtownJoe

Senior Member
Just to post a follow up on my toe in / camber post from few weeks ago: have toe in right at 1/8" or slightly under but in a very careful camber check found out the left (passenger ) wheel has 13/16 to 7/8 camber, Top leaning out, at top to bottom of 19" rim and right (drivers) side only has 1/4" camber.
I'm considering taking the axel (will have to remove it) to local heavy truck garage to see if they can correct it to near the passenger side dimension.
any thoughts on this being worth the effort & expense?
PS: I have some past experience with the garage since I have our company trucks serviced & repaired by them. Also a great source for pressing wheel studs to drums.
 
I think it was Kevin in NJ that posted pictures of cones and rods in the perch and kingpin holes to check the axle alignment. Hopefully the truck shops will have those tools also.
 
Standard American made model. The reference to left & right was as viewed from the front of the car looking at the suspension / axel.
 
Before you pull the axle out, check to see how the brake drums lines up w/the backing plates. If'n one or the other doesn't line up you probably have a bent spindle.
 
My understanding is the big truck shops can bend with the axle in the car. Might want to call them first.
 
JtownJoe said:
Standard American made model. The reference to left & right was as viewed from the front of the car looking at the suspension / axel.
Click to expand...

The established RIGHT and LEFT is with the person sitting in the seat. So the American cars with the driver seated on the left, the generator is on the left side of the engine and the brake light is on the left.

British cars with the driver seated on the right, the generator is still on the left, but the tail light is on the right.

When you order parts it's important to use the established RIGHT and LEFT, and the part number may have a suffix of "L" or "R" to indicate which side of the car the part is for. Sometimes parts are numbered with the even number being on one side of the car and the odd number being on the other side of the car.
 
THANX everyone, for all the info & suggestions.
I replaced the kingpins about 3 years ago and all is tight with no slop in the wheels and just replaced the front drums with cast ones 3 weeks ago and didn't see any problems with the backing plate to brake shoe relationship. Although I couldn't rule out a bent spindle I didn't notice anything unusual when I did the kingpins.
I will certainly speak to the guys at the truck garage before I do anything I, of course, don't want to tear front end apart if I can avoid it!
I'm thinking I may be able to make a tracing of the axle onto a cardboard template and once reversed any change in the radius might be visible?
Also Tom, thanx for the info on the accepted standard L v/s R orientation heads up. I'm in the bldg. supply business and there is no industry standard established on L & R hand for doors, varies by manufacturer & region, causes a lot of unneeded grief in our industry!
I'll post results on what I find out and what it took to correct it.
 
Tom,
your comment,
"The established RIGHT and LEFT is with the person sitting in the seat."
is what I was driving at in post #4
Mixing up established conventions can cause all manner of grief in terms of communications about problems, getting the correct parts, etc.

Another example we had here a while back we had a poster that started numbering his cylinders from the firewall, meaning the rear most plug he called #1. Worse, several other posters agreed with him. Good luck ever trying to troubleshoot that engine.

If you face another person, their left hand is on your right. Does that mean you call their left hand their right hand?

oops this requires logic
 
Last edited:
T-Bird,
STUDY yourself in a mirror, before you have had COFFEE! You'll be MESSED up all day! Seems I "remember" that some U.K. cars counted cylinder numbering from the FIREWALL?????
Bill W.
 
You can really get mixed up on firing orders between makers.Chevy # 1 was drivers side,front,Ford was passenger side front,International was drivers side rear,some count back and forth across the engine,some go down one side then down the other.The local junkyard has a lot of problems trying to answer questions from folks not familiar with accepted method of right or left.When I worked there in 76 they would ask,man side or woman side?Most guys understood that.They still do it today,but nowadays they get yelled at sometimes.
 
For years, Sacramento Vintage showed a Flathead V-8 wiring pic, with # 1 on the WRONG bank!! Ted fell for it & I had to go over & get his SPAGHETTI straightened out. With a "CRAB" cap, you can't imagine how he had it fanangled around, I LAFFED 'til I was crying! EVERY wire, except 2 was crossed OVER the cap!
And for sure, it wouldn't start & by time he called me, he had taken off the timing cover to see if the gears were RIGHT!!! We threw the timing cover back on with some BLACK Silicone Rubber, shortened a bunch of wires & it started RIGHT UP! Ted said, "Bill, I thought something was WRONG, I had to keep going back to CHEEP AUTO PARTS, for more bulk plug wire"!
Bill W.
 
Find a place that does motor home front ends they can and would rather
do it in the car.

You don't want to watch, the amount they flex the axle will scare you!

JB
 
I would make sure the spindle is not bent. I think a spindle would bend long before the front axle would get bent. In fact any force that would bend the axle would have to come through the spindle first, unless the axle itself hit something very solid.
 
Jerry in Shasta said:
Find a place that does motor home front ends they can and would rather
do it in the car.

You don't want to watch, the amount they flex the axle will scare you!

JB
Click to expand...
Right on, Jerry,
Once "they" had a bunch of stuff hooked up on Teds' axle, jacked & jacked, suddenly something "gave" & the axle gained a slight "S" shape!!!--He had to replace the axle! This was done at a reputable front end shop.
Bill W.
 
When I was racing, I had several Ford vans for support vehicles and they all had to have the front ends jiggered to drive well. As I recall the front end shop had a hydraulic bender that could bend the front I-beams to correct the camber. I never wanted to watch, but the guy knew his business. The later vans had adjustable ends on the kingpins to set the camber.

John
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top