Alignment Question

[Superman]

Guys (and ladies), I'm lazy. Which way do you turn the eccentric bolts? I know the rearward of the front two controls height. I know the rearward of the middle two controls camber and I know the frontward of the middle two controls toe (but then, so does the very rearward two that bolt to the control arm probably control toe also since they holes are oblong). At any rate, which way would I turn the height eccentric bolt to lower or raise the car? Which way would I turn the forward of the two middle ones to control toe? Which way would I turn the rearward of the two middle ones to control camber?

By Bentley is silent, and so is my Haynes I think.

[Tyson Schmidt]

Depends. Could be either. It all depends on where the eccentric happens to be to start with. You could keep turning it one direction and raise it, then keep turning it and it will eventually start lowering it.

[Jeff Higgins]

I just went through this on mine. Granted, on my early spring plates I don't have the front ride height adjustment bolts, but the camber and toe eccentrics are the same. I was confused too. Essentially, you only have a 180 degree adjustment range on either. Up and down on the camber, fore and aft on the toe. The further up the banana arm is in relation to the spring plate, the more camber you get. The further forward the banana arm is in relation to the spring plate, the more toe-in you get. The two slotted holes on the back of the spring plate are only there to allow it to go fore and aft for toe and twist a bit for camber.

The eccentrics are kind of tough to turn even with everything loose. The toe is easier, and I was able to turn it with the car settled on the suspension. The camber required jacking the car up and getting the weight off of the wheel. Even then it is tough to turn. It wound up being very much a trial and error thing for me; jacking it up, moving the eccentric, dropping the car and driving around the block, checking adjustments, jacking it up again, etc. I found it helped to put a mark on the end of the eccentric you can see, the outside end. Take good notes, writing down the clock position of the mark with each change. As the eccentric gets closer to neutral in its slot, it will get much easier to turn, and then suddenly go completely loose, like an over cent kind of an effect. That's when it starts having the "opposite" effect; moving towards negative from positive camber, or toe in to toe out.

[imcarthur]

Originally posted by Superman
but then, so does the very rearward two that bolt to the control arm probably control toe also since they holes are oblong

No. As Jeff said, the rear bolts do move in their slots but only at the whim of the toe & camber eccentrics. They don't induce movement, they just lock the position of springplate/'banana' arm & therefore the settings.

Jeff gave a great description of the rest. Except he didn't mentioned the banged up knuckles you are guaranteed to have . . .

Ian

[RoninLB]

Toe Adjust Techniquest

2/6/03

Originally posted by Superman
Guys (and ladies, of course), can someone direct me to a good technique for assessing how much toe-in or toe-out I've got. I'm going to check that tonight in my garage and I wonder if a couple of pieces of lumber (straight as I can determine) can be tied to the wheel/tire to see what kind of toe geometery I've got.

[Superman]

Awesome. Thanks, guys.

[Chuck Moreland]

Originally posted by Jeff Higgins
The eccentrics are kind of tough to turn even with everything loose. The toe is easier, and I was able to turn it with the car settled on the suspension. The camber required jacking the car up and getting the weight off of the wheel. Even then it is tough to turn. It wound up being very much a trial and error thing for me; jacking it up, moving the eccentric, dropping the car and driving around the block, checking adjustments, jacking it up again, etc. I found it helped to put a mark on the end of the eccentric you can see, the outside end. Take good notes, writing down the clock position of the mark with each change. As the eccentric gets closer to neutral in its slot, it will get much easier to turn, and then suddenly go completely loose, like an over cent kind of an effect. That's when it starts having the "opposite" effect; moving towards negative from positive camber, or toe in to toe out.

The camber eccentric in particular can be tricky to work. Getting the vehicle weight off the wheels is mandatory when turning the adjusters.

Even then it can be difficult to get aggressive camber settings. And the eccentrics are figidity, then the settings change slightly when you torque them tight. Sometimes it feels like you are chasing your tail.

Confirming the rumours, I've got a new product that addresses these issues. It will be begin shipping very soon, probably Monday.