Negative camber on one side...cause - and solution?

[Bluesman]

Guys - after propping Betty up, I noticed she has negative camber (tnx, Alec!) on the driver´s side. Camber...hope this is the correct word = when viewed from the front, the LHS front wheel is not in a straight vertical, but has a definitive slant like

|----@----\
-----------------------ground

Hope you get my illustration ...

(And this is the same with the car on the ground.The tyre wear confirms it - the inner side of tyre is worn blank, outer side is as new. Steering action is...err..strange, too )

I can see no visual clue as to why. The chassis leg is not deformed, and there is no excessive play (AFAIK) anywhere in the upper suspension.
I fail to understand how this can be adjusted (except for putting the lower suspension eyebolt about 1cm further into the chassis leg, thereby making the assembly more vertical.

Ideas, please? I have not taken anything apart yet, just researching at this point.

Cheers /Richard

[jonathon]

Excessive worn wheel bearings, trunnions,bushes,eyebolt bushes and pin and or track rod ends will cause this problem. Check to see if anyone has fitted washers between the outside face of the chassis leg and eyebolt.
Is it a new chassis leg? ,is it still the same having moved the car to settle the suspension

[Bluesman]

Jonathon -
The LHS chassis leg is the original, as far as I can see. I won´t bet my life on it never having been replaced, tho. I can´t see it being bent outwards either. The whole engine bay plus wing/hood/door fit would have shown if the chassis was bent sideways, I think.

The car has been in a garage for 15+ years, and we have only run it round the block so far, due to the really bad RHS chassis leg that threatened to leave us at kerbside if we hit even the smallest bump.

The car had been properly serviced and greased up until 1992, I have the records, they even show over-greasing...the owner greased every nipple at 400km intervals..you should see the driveshaft tunnel . This leads me to believe that there will be very little wear in the suspension components. Time will tell..

I haven´t noticed any of the symptoms for bad wheel bearings either.

The obvious sign for misaligned LHS suspension has to be the tyre wear. I bet it has been like this for ages (many miles).

I will check for shims/washers and excessive play next time I´m there (Wednesday). Meanwhile - thanks for your input.

Cheers /R

[Alec]

Hello Richard,

if there is not a shim (thick washer probably is more accurate) between the LH front torsion bar support and the chassis leg, and the top trunnion bush is sound, the LH shock absorber is firmly secured, then the next step is to compare dimensions between right and left.
Look for things like the gap between the wheel and the trunnion leg, I can't think if it's possible to fit incorrect parts say from a Wolseley 1,5.
Hopefully a careful comparison will show where the problem lies?

By the way positive camber is where the top of the wheel leans outward and the reverse which you have with the LH is negative camber.

Alec

[Bluesman]

Thanks, Alec. Yes, good thinking - who knows what people put there all those years ago...

I´ll have a look on Wednesday, let´s hope I will find a good reason and a way to correct it.
The workshop manual is a good help, but not in this respect. This is about the only aspect that I cannot find covered - maybe because it´s a non-adjustable parameter, more or less.

Cheers /R

[Orkney2]

Check to see if anyone has fitted washers between the outside face of the chassis leg and eyebolt.

Made this discovery on mine last week when doing the front bushes - some joker had a spacer/shim on one side in this exact place and not the other. That or ommitted to refit the same to the other side.
The thing was 1/2 inch thick and as a result inside of the tyre was really worn.

Mind if you think thats bad only noticed yesterday that the rear spring on that side of the car is fitted the wrong way round!
Makes me believe that poor old scabby has been maintained by Kermit the frog & co

[Bluesman]

OK, camber mystery solved....some squarehead had fit 2 thick washers at the outside chassis leg/eyebolt junction. No idea why....but removing those 6mm of added washers will probably set things right again.

Some people are just..idiots.

Cheers /Richard

[bmcecosse]

A 'little' -ve camber is definitely a good thing for handling - and you certainly don't want +ve camber. So try to trim it up when finished with just that small -ve on both sides, and then re- track the front wheels!

[Bluesman]

Definition time - how much is "a little"?

I will have to strip and re-bush the entire front unit later, but will need some "known good" settings to start with in order to get the car rolling properly without eating tyres. Handling properties is luxury at this point in time. From what I´ve seen in various pics/manuals, no washers should be there. If this is "ground zero/known good", then so be it - to start with.

Thanks for the advice however - duly noted for later use

Cheers /R

[MoggyTech]

BMC added a 'C' washer to the eyebolt for cars with rubber bushed top trunnions (all later cars). If you want standard handling and even tyre wear, aim for neutral camber. However this is not as simple as it sounds due to many variables if chassis legs have been replaced and are not quite true. The camber has to be measured with the weight of the car on it's wheels, and you need special equipment to measure it precisely.

Providing you can get close to neutral camber, just set the toe IN to 2.5mm and you will be fine.

[bmcecosse]

Check camber on a dead flat surface - blow the tyres up HARD (to reduce the bulge) and then appy a spirit level to each wheel. Mine are set with just about 1/4" gap at the top between spirit level and tyre sidewall. Viewed from the front there is just the slightest -ve camber to be seen.