wheel camber woes

[SkippyThBushKangeroo]

mornin all.. a while back i got a set of front springs out of a lwb beddie an put them in "ol futile" lifted the front end a beaut.. but have now noticed both outer front tyre treads are worn on the side    so assume i have changed the camber of the front wheels    ( i believe there is no adjustment on front end for it ). i know my old springs were 11 inches high, but are down south so cant slip em back in... anyone know what the camber should be (if any).. at a look it appears the wheels are not square ( top to bottom ) but tilted slightly outwards at the top of the wheels   can i cut these springs down to reatain the camber if they are higher than 11 inches... or am i stuffed ..thanks for any input in advance groovers   

[BusyKiwi]

You can redrill your bottom arm mounts (4 bolts each side) or get the springs reset

Another thing you can do is add bump stops to cut down your turning circle, at full lock the cf will push one wheel instead of turn, this is fine on skinny tyres but bigger ones it can cause a lot of wear. Or even just get in the habit of when you turn hard lock, turn the wheel back half a turn so it is more turning than pushing the wheel

[Gordon]

Hi Skippy, yep there is no camber adjustment on the standard front suspension. The factory setting is positive 1 degree on the front wheels the theory being that with a bit of weight in the van you would get spring sag and you would typically run at zero degrees camber. Your taller springs have caused the opposite effect and you are now running too positive in the camber department which is borne out by your comment that the tyres are angling out towards the top of the wheels.

The issue with heating and resetting your front coils is that it is a bit of a bugger trying to get them even and every time you heat the spring you run the possibility of reducing the carbon content in the spring itself. I've never been able to get a company that would guarantee a perfect result. My suggestion would be to cut a bit out of the bottom of each spring as it should then just re-seat in the lower arm spring seat. The trick is working out how much to cut out of the bottom coil. If you have the time and are prepared to go through the process of installing and removing a few times, I would suggest cutting bits out in increments and refitting until you get what you are looking for.

The other option is to go with Busy's suggestion, but that could lead to greater issues if you don't get the new holes spot on, bump steer being an example. 

[rumax]

Hey Skip, not fun...
There are new springs on evilbay at not ridiculous prices..... may be the best option and cost less than a pair of new tyres, but would need to confirm they are the right ones!

Unless you can get your old springs up north.
I wouldn't heat treat what you have and only cut if desperate.

evilbay link is http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/King-Springs-Coil-Spring-KBFS-01-/151414028214?pt=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&fits=Make%3ABedford&hash=item2340fab7b6

Russell

[MaTTe]

To adjust the camber adding negative (to make it neutral) you need to put shims under the 'dog bones' that hold the lower control arm to the cross member. There will be 4 bolts per side, requiring 4 shims per side

[Sammy]

also if you have done any changes to ride height or camber adjustments , even if you just replace ball joints or rack ends etc, I'd highly recommend getting a wheel alignment!

[SkippyThBushKangeroo]

thanks for input guys was thinkin of gordons remedy till your input matte.... is it really that easy    if so    do i justt keep shimmin till the angle is zero matte?

[MaTTe]

Yeah basically, tho I'd limit the amount of shims going in to a reasonable amount, any more than 10mm would have me a little concerned. Try a couple of shims and see where it's at, hopefully you don't need to go too far anyway

[ben]

i agree with busy 100 percent i know blokes that never go full lock because it rips out your tyres. changing the camber like you did wiuth the higher springs would have enhanced the problem. the bedfords steering geomtry is not quite right (to do with the steering arms)  and the consequence is the tyres curling under on full lock.

cornering sharply would attribute to most of the your wear i would think.

id reccommend to do your shimming as matte suggested and dont do u turns:)

ben

[SkippyThBushKangeroo]

hi groovers thanks for input.... was going to go the shim way till i got under there an remembered that one side of the pass lower control arm in already shimmed with a 10m flat steel .. ( curtesy of the concrete block that stopped me suddenly,an bent crossmember, but did save me from plunging into pt adelaide river. ) .. so seems the "slicing of the springs" seems the only real option.. sigh.. i asked a friend to measure old springs they got back to me sayin they were 275mm or 11 inches high ?? measured these LWB ones an they are only 262mm high so no able to cut these to the original ones height.. double sigh.. is this `right LWB are shorter coils than SWB?, or could my friend have possibly mis informed me the height? my quandery on this is because the bottom of the coil, straightens slighty ( in spring pic  the spring is sitting on its top so is upside down in pic) am very wary an unsure on lengths of the increments to be cut, using a set square on level concrete .butted top of square against top of tyre an let bottom of square rest on cement,..showing a 8mm gap between set square at bottom an bottom side of tyre on drivers side n 10mm gap on pass side..  any thoughts on this dillema folks .. cheers skippy :-)