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Lowered front end 3", (-) Camber on one side but not other...??

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by BFMC14, Aug 7, 2013.

  1. BFMC14
    Joined: Jan 25, 2011
    Posts: 68

    BFMC14
    Member

    I'm back with yet another problem. I've been searching for a week and can find several how to's on adjusting camber/alignment but nothing similar to my situation.

    Its a 1950 Chevy car. Lowered the front and rear 3 inches with lowering blocks and new lowered spring and shocks from JAMCO. Also replaced the King Pins and bushings on both sides.

    For some reason I am getting some serious negative camber on the passenger side, while the driver side wasn't even affected. I removed the grease zerk on the top upper control arm mount and tried adjusting it with an allen wrench just as the manual suggests, but I can't get enough adjustment out of it. Am I missing something here? Is there another place I can get more adjustment?

    Why would one side be so drastically affected and the other side not?
     
  2. Ole don
    Joined: Dec 16, 2005
    Posts: 2,915

    Ole don
    Member

    I went through that years ago. It was decided by an old gray haired front end man that this is rather common. Its caused by hitting frost heaves in the spring time, or curbs. The car is bent.
     
  3. BFMC14
    Joined: Jan 25, 2011
    Posts: 68

    BFMC14
    Member

    That doesn't sound good at all. Were you able to do anything about it? I have read wear you sometimes have to bend the frame in order to get it right. I'm not sure if they are talking about the A-frame, the crossmember, or the actual fram rail...
     
  4. Atwater Mike
    Joined: May 31, 2002
    Posts: 11,625

    Atwater Mike
    Member

    None of these corrective bends are serious, just esoterical. A GOOD front end shop (best to find one that does trucks) can diagnose and perform necessary repair and alignment.

    Avoid the cut rate shops that do foreign & late domestics, as their technicians' ASE 'degrees' were achieved with written multiple choice tests, for front wheel drive and 'computer alignment'.
    This is a post-1986 trend, when our 'classic cars' were being rendered obsolete. And our mechanics.

    Likely you have a bent spindle, but as OleDon says, the car is BENT. Absolutely correct.
    The right front end shop will find the problem quickly, if not visually then by setting up a hub gauge and turning front wheels to check camber, caster, and KPI.

    If the frame is bent, they are equipped to 'pull' it straight, but if it's a bent control arm/spindle/upper shaft, the part will be replaced. Then front end aligned.
    A competent shop can do this as a simple operation, hereabouts I send them to a local shop on Martin Luther King Blvd. Never exceeds $200.

    I was in the front end biz for years, lots of Chevys ('49-'60) had front crossmembers that sagged from metal fatigue over the years. (plus rough use, etc.; the position of the wheels over the mass of the crossmember in constant tension will tend to bend the crossmember up at its ends where it is welded to the frame rails.
    By chaining the outside ends of the upper crossmember (factory holes for this) the center of the lower crossmember is then pushed up with a 12 ton bottle jack, padded with a 10" square steel pad 1" thick, (to avoid 'denting' the member)

    This was a standard fix, providing nothing else was bent. Just an example...
     
    Last edited: Aug 7, 2013

  5. BFMC14
    Joined: Jan 25, 2011
    Posts: 68

    BFMC14
    Member

    Very interesting, and thanks for the info. I was afraid this was going to be something out of my hands. Now if I can only find a shop to do it.
     
  6. Mr48chev
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 33,861

    Mr48chev
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Atwater Mike said almost word for word what I was going to say in his fifth paragraph of post 5 It's usually called "rolling the crossmember or frame" but you do need to take it to a shop that knows what they are doing. Years on rough roads cause the crossmember to sag as Mike said and cause that condition.

    Go by what he said to do an you should be good to go.
     
  7. BFMC14
    Joined: Jan 25, 2011
    Posts: 68

    BFMC14
    Member

    OK so I figured out the problem....And I hate to admit it but it may save someone a headache.

    I put the passenger side spindle back on upside down!

    It was the first side I took apart and when it came time to put it together I couldn't remember which way the spindle went on...so, I went and looked at the other side. On the driver's side the grease zerks were facing the rear, so I did the same to the passenger side not realizing that the parts are mirrored or each other. The grease zerks face foward on the passenger side.

    Dumb mistake, but I won't do it again!

    Thanks again for the input. Feel free to flame away!
     

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