bad camber?

[hotpod]

this doesn't look right even to me...

i know in theory it is adjustable, but really? that much? and if so how please?

[toomanytoys]

Thats not right..

[KINGPRAWN]

maybe she's just trying to tell you that you carry too much stuff!!!!!

[jed the spread]

I would be jacking it up, putting it on axle stands, take the hand break off and see how much play is in the wheel bearings.

jed

[hotpod]

wheel bearings all good. if you look underneath, nothing looks out of place and it is the same camber on both sides.
it is definitely worse since its had a diesel engine instead of the petrol, and keeno pointed out that it was missing the black rubber spring spacers on the rear springs which he thought should be on a diesel, but would they really make that much difference to the camber?
it has done over 300 000 km too.

it is also high time i took the trailing arms off for a good tarting up, and put some new rubbers on. but what other factors are there and how do you adjust the camber on the rear?

[Russel]

Is it a 16 or a 14?

[KINGPRAWN]

does it get better if you jack it up??......do you have two broken springs????

[hotpod]

its a 16" russel. any ideas?
it was always quite pronounced, but it is definitely worse now than 7 years ago when i brought it back from sweden.

[Russel]

Have you done the wheel bearings recently or had the rear bearing hosings off.
Russel

[Plasticman]

picky from the side would help a bit too
there is camber adjustment but that picky is off the planet.
m

[Russel]

Theres a good chance your bearing housings have been fitted upside down. On a 16 they can be fitted incorrectly and this will result in extreme of
camber.
Russel

[Simon Baxter]

See Matt Ranges post, his is a 16" too.
In honesty I didn't realise they were different until I did some bearings the other week, and had to ring Russel to see if he had one in the yard to check against
Looks like bearing housings are on wrong.
From memory there is an oval boss cast into the bearing housing for the ABS sensor, fairly sure that goes towards the top, but could be wrong, best to check.

[Yozza]

wheel bearings all good. if you look underneath, nothing looks out of place and it is the same camber on both sides.
it is definitely worse since its had a diesel engine instead of the petrol, and keeno pointed out that it was missing the black rubber spring spacers on the rear springs which he thought should be on a diesel, but would they really make that much difference to the camber?
it has done over 300 000 km too.

it is also high time i took the trailing arms off for a good tarting up, and put some new rubbers on. but what other factors are there and how do you adjust the camber on the rear?

For reference, if you're missing the alu spacers then I have been advised that if your van is a TD then you should have a spacer of about 12mm thick.
If your van is a petrol and has a factory fitted wheel carrier there should be a spacer about 6mm thick.

Thanks for posting this issue, I'm just stipping my rear end down and will pay a bit more attention to the orientation during assembly.

[hotpod]

thanks chaps.
i cant remember if the bearing housings have been off for any reason since i have had the van, but it has been a long time. it is quite possible that i have had new wheel bearings at some point. i will ask my garage to check their records.
will a 12mm spacer make any difference to the camber? i grew up on kombis and beetles and thought that only swing axles changed camber with height.

for the record, in the photo, there was a 7'6"surfboard in a bag, a bag with 100m of static climbing rope, a kit bag with harness and gear and the spare wheel probably amounting to about 60 kilos. not a ton and a half of granite like you would imagine.

so how easy is it to turn the bearing housings the other way up? i see another job looming.

[axeman]

so how easy is it to turn the bearing housings the other way up? i see another job looming.

i am guessing that 16's are the same as a 14

loosen the 46mm nut with the van on the ground
undo wheel nuts
jack up the van
remove the wheel
remove the drum
remove the hub
remove the 46mm nut
un do the break backing plate and move it over the stub axil
there are 4 bolts holding the bearing carrier on the the trailing arm. undo these and hey presto

neil