Club 80-90 Forums

CovKid wrote:Naturally, plus a numpties guide to terminolgy that mechanics use to bump up the bill.

"Your retaining grommit is gone" is a good un.

As a girlie, I used to get this sort of attitude alot! Now, if the bus has to go somewhere I am using for the first time, I state, when I leave it, that I want any parts that are replaced kept in the bus.....so I can see what the problem was!

Also, I check on here for details of what is likely to be required...sometimes the garage people actually think I know what I am talking about!!!

ahhhh my retaining grommit! can I have the part number please coz I can't see that on Vagcat.com?

maxstu wrote:KarlT,
Couldn't really get my head round much of it. All I knew was the camber should be positive. In other words, the top of the wheels are further apart than bottom of wheels (if measured across the axle) by a very small amount.

Thinking I couldn't make things any worse I put together the following....

I cut a straight piece of 2x2" wood baton to the same diameter as the standard 14" wheel rim. So it fitted snugly just inside the lip. To this baton I cable tied a metre spirit level and mounted the whole contraption to the wheel in a vertical position.

What a very good idea! I saw a magnetic camber gauge in the Frost catalogue, but a) it's expensive, and b) what good is sticking it to your brake disc when the wheel's off (as the photo showed)?

But your method I think will be good enough. Like CovKid says, it's not as though it's a high performance supercar - it's a 25-year-old van!

Trust me Emma, girlies can be just as clued up. My ex-wife was, even if she DID talk to her Beetle when she was lying under it.....

Cheers everyone.

maxstu wrote:The only place I could find was bloomin' miles away. And they wanted to charge £125.00 plus for their all singing and dancing four wheel laser guided system. Sod that for a game of cricket I thought ...





So I turned the loosened concentric wishbone rod .

Well it was about 4 years ago on a nice modern volvo so they may want abit more now-a-days!!


I like your thinking & will give it ago, next week, will take pics....but, You loosened what? What does that look like?

Covkid,

Oh, you reminded me of a part I missed in my previous posting

Level ground is paramount otherwise forget it.

I drove van onto a large sheet of chipboard. Then checked with same spirit level for exact horizontal between front wheels. I used sand spread under board to make minor adjustments to achieve the above.

KarlT,

You loosen nut that holds rod through wishbone arm. The rod has a flat edge to it and when turned with an allen key rotates eccentric washers. This adjusts camber. Wheel movement can be seen (top to bottom) as you turn rod. See this link for exploded view.

http://s136500617.websitehome.co.uk/her ... vag5-8.htm

Loosen part 6 to turn part 2 to rotate parts 10.


Em

Today will assemble contraption and take a pic.

Whoah, if we keep going peeps, we'll have a damned good WIKI on our hands here. Needs some photos to go with it I think, but if we keep everything relatively simple, anyone should be able to follow it.

maxstu wrote:[i
Loosen part 6 to turn part 2 to rotate parts 10.

.

Okay, Think I've got that.

Now, the toe-in bit is set by the steering 'tie rod' adjustment down by the ball joint. Front of wheel needs to be 1mm closer than the rear of wheel (2mm over-all). Is that right?

Got it

Carrying on from earlier postings, I've re-enacted the procedure and taken some pics.

I do stress this is not an accurate measuring device. However it can get your camber adjustment in the right 'ballpark'. It will do for the short drive to a specialist without wrecking your tyres.

If you feel uncertain or have reservations get a professional to do the adjustment. Constructive criticisms or witticisms are most welcomed.
I accept no liability whatsoever if you decide to use this method and you feck up big time.

Firstly and probably most importantly, as Covkid mentioned, this will not work unless everything you intend using has a proper true flat edge to it and your vehicle is on a dead flat surface. I got vehicle level by using a thick piece of chipboard, adjusted by laying sand underneath it, then driving front wheels onto board and measuring levels around each edge of front tyres with spirit level. This part took me about 30 minutes to achieve so I've not bothered to re-enact.

In my previous posting I wrote I used a length of 2"x2" baton. Incorrect! I used an offcut slat from a pine bed base, approx size 6"x1". Don't know why I wrote other size. Brain's still a bit fuzzy as the reality of losing my job (fecking w4nky yankee Lehman Brothers ) finally hits home, I guess!
And relax.

Cut wood to snugly fit just inside wheel rim, either front or back of bearing housing. Spirit level is not touching the ground. Just angle of photo. Try to mount all as vertical (or use another spirit level) as possible and make sure your metre length spirit level vertical plane bubble window is above tyre....

[img:491:561]http://www.muchos.co.uk/members/maxstu/mounted.JPG[/img]


[img:500:488]http://www.muchos.co.uk/members/maxstu/mounted%202.JPG[/img]

I then adjusted the wishbone rod with an allen key socket until bubble at top of spirit level was just right to centre. This is positive camber. How much positive camber is another question. It's a ballpark measurement. And as you can see in the background, just to right of spirit level & behind door mirror, a thin black line gets thicker at top. This is a dead vertical mounted drainpipe on garage wall. I know, cos I mounted it This gives me another visual indicator the setting is positive camber. No technical wizardry here my friends. In this pictre you can see the bubble is just touching the right side line in the window.

[img:500:445]http://www.muchos.co.uk/members/maxstu/bubble.JPG[/img]

Hold wishbone rod in place and tighten nut to correct torque settings. Whatever that is?...see Wiki?
Check spirit level again, disconnect contraption and do other side to same bubble reading.
Test drive and check again.
I can't stress enough that this is a very rough method of adjusting camber. But I've covered 4K since and no unusual wear to report.

Moderators please E D I T out all the (not all of it ) crap if you decide to Wiki this.

TIP O' THE DAY

And here's an easy tip for removing wheelbearing dust cup.
Use a claw hammer as such....
[img:500:374]http://www.muchos.co.uk/members/maxstu/hammer.JPG[/img]
Go round wheel and do a bit at a time using wheel nut to lean head of hammer against.

Bloody good stuff this!!

Thanks for taking time to renact the principle Maxtu. In actual fact it describes rather well the more complex jig I posted a link to earlier on. I can vouch for having set camber on other cars (particularly beetles) in an identical way and driven for years with no problems. Rough it might be, but it won't be far off. It can never be spot on since difference in tyre pressures, weight one one side of the vehicle etc all play a part. As long as you have things as level as poss, generally, to start with, you can set camber with some degree of certainty though and considering the speeds we do and the poor state of our roads, in most cases it will be fine.

Hi, great ideas here... all texts I have read say camber should be 0, though.

whether its 0 or 45 degrees, you still need a way to check it.

I couldn't agree more and a great post by maxstu. I just wandered if he was suggesting that you should be aiming for +ve camber - it would seem so from the bit about adjusting until bubble is on the right and the drainpipe etc. I think camber should be zero and it's worth saying this in case people try and set it up wrong, don't you think..

Aye - mind you, check out the variance in camber on rear of VW beetles - always found that one bizarre.

My Dad (I'm 49 by the way) says most modern vehicles have their wheels set parallel and straight upright - near enough. Suspension has changed a lot over last 20 years - not all of it even as good as bug independant suspension but its still change a lot.

In this instance, dropping the suspension may well have resulted in camber being reset. Its all in the manual anyway but at least the method is fairly well documented here.