[T3] Camber Problems

Keith Park topnotch at nycap.rr.com
Tue Sep 13 17:40:51 PDT 2011


Easy to tell if the torsion arms are bent on the lower ones, if the bar
doesn't exit the arm in the middle of the circle, the arm is bent, if it
does then your fine.  The same theory applied for the uppers, but the sway
bar will rock back and forth on one end if I recall properly.

Keith


Top Notch Restorations
topnotch at nycap.rr.com 
http://www.a383ina68.addr.com/radiorest/main.htm
71 Squareback "Hothe"
65 Notchback "El Baja Rojo"
65 Squareback "Eggcrate"
87 golf "Winterat"
93 RX7 "Redstur"

-----Original Message-----
From: type3-vwtype3.org-bounces at lists.vwtype3.org
[mailto:type3-vwtype3.org-bounces at lists.vwtype3.org] On Behalf Of Brent
Bottolfson
Sent: Tuesday, September 13, 2011 2:26 AM
To: type3 at vwtype3.org
Subject: Re: [T3] Camber Problems

> 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.
Appreciate your comments, this one really has me frustrated.

I've looked through the Bentley and seen the pictures you're referring 
to.  I'm really starting to think something is bent, either one or more 
of the control arms or a spindle.  With the way I have the pan set up, 
there's no reason the angles of the steering knuckles/rotors shouldn't 
be very close to equal assuming it's all straight and level.

I replaced the bare beam due to the broken bearing on the left side.  
But I'm also doing a pan swap as well.  The pan swap is due mostly to 
rust under the battery and many, many rivets holding in replacement pan 
sections.  On that (original) pan the left front of the 'head' of the 
pan where the beam mounts up doesn't look right to me.  It just looks 
like the left side is bent in a little.

So my current setup is using the control arms and steering knuckles from 
the car that had the broken bearing and possible bent pan head.  I 
should have just used the entire beam from the donor, but it was cheaper 
to ship the bare beam without control arms and steering knuckles, so 
that's why I re-used the originals, not thinking they could be bent.

There's a somewhat local guy that has the parts I need, just a bit of a 
drive.  There's also a Square at Pick-n-Pull that had most of the front 
end still there.  I think I'm going to replace the control arms and 
spindles.  At least I'm getting this sorted now while I have it apart.

My question now is about the torsion bars.  They are out of the 
original, broken bearing, beam.  They seemed fairly straight when I 
swapped them over to the new beam.  Would they affect camber at all?  I 
don't think it could be much, if any, as the control arms are basically 
constrained to radial movement once they're seated in the 
bearings/bushings and locked in place with the splines and grub screw.
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