[T3] Camber Problems

[Jim Adney]

On 12 Sep 2011 at 20:14, Brent Bottolfson wrote:

> On 9/12/11 8:01 PM, Jim Adney wrote:

> > On 12 Sep 2011 at 16:05, Brent Bottolfson wrote:
> >
> >> No real change.  I completely leveled the beam, measured across top
> >> shock mounts, across top of beam, middle of beam, bottom.  Tires are
> >> off, so I measured again the range of ball joint movement with the beam
> >> 100% level.  I'm getting about 2.9-3.7 on the right side, and 2.0-2.5ish
> >> on the left.
> > Since you've got the car in the air and the wheels off, the tires and
> > torsion bars don't really control the position of the rotors. Since
> > you're against the bump stops, what are the chances that the bump
> > stops are crushing different amounts?
> I'll take a look at that.  Maybe I can take the bump stops off and see 
> what happens.  Then I'd know they were equal.  When I was adjusting the 
> upper ball joints they had a tendency to back out a little as I turned 
> them.  I put a clamp on each side to hold it in place, but maybe I 
> tightened one more than the other?

The more I think about this, the more it seems that none of this 
could explain your observations. The angle you're measuring shouldn't 
change as the suspension moves up or down, as long as the beam stays 
horizontal. So either you've run up against the limit of the 
precision of the beam, or you've got a bent arm on one side or the 
other.

It would take about a tenth of an inch difference to make one side 
change by 1 degree. The Bentley manual shows, fig. 8-8 & 8-15 in the 
front axle chapter, a fixture used to check the torsion arms. I've 
never seen one of these, but I suppose this might be what you're 
looking for. Or maybe there's some way you can measure something to 
convince yourself that your 2 uppers have the same geometry as do the 
2 lowers.

I bought a nice '71 for $75 many years ago. The front tires were 
badly out of line and it needed a window and the engine leaked 2 
quarts in the 3 mile drive home. When I took the front axle apart, 
the inner shaft of one of the torsion arms was curved like a banana. 
That side had clearly been run into a curb. That bend was quite 
obvious. Yours may be bent, but much less so.

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Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
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