Camber on 74

Looking to find out what the camber angle should be. After all the parts I have thrown at the front end, it looks like the fronts both lean out. The wear also supports this. The steering has improved a lot, but it still wanders and has some bump steer.

Where do I start here with the camber?

 

camber on a straight axel can not be changed I would look at the ball joints and i bleve it should be close to 0.
I would ck the toe that is the bigest wear angle and if the camber is a little off and the toe is out that would cause a lot of wear on the edg of the tire.

with out looking up the spec. I would think the toe should be about 1/16 toe in. meaning the front of the tires would be closer the the back.
The other angel I would ck is the caster I would think some were arround 5 deg.

If you need help on how to mesure theis angles let me know and I will walk you through how I do it.

 

Toe is set at around 1/16"-1/8". Caster is around 5. From the front looking at the tires, the tops look to lean out slightly. If camber is non adjustable - is it the ball joints? I tugged on the tires while raised and no slop.

 

For what it's worth, my 73 has always looked like lean out. From what I've heard, this positive camber is designed into the axle and is not adjustable. I just replaced the ball joints, so I know there's no wear there. I'm sure someone could put a torch to the axle and make it straight, but my impression is that it should be out at the top.

 

You can shim behind the spindle to change the camber. I've done this alot on old solid axle Chevys. Should work the same on the jeep.

 

Most earlier solid axle vehicles purposely had the wheels leaning out (positive camber) so the load was on the inner bearing which is better supported. This also aided in handling with tall skinny tires but tends to wear wider tires as you are finding. This can be adjusted with either shims behind the spindle or offset balljoints. Before I went to this trouble I'd double check everything else to make sure nothing else is causing the issue. Caster will not wear tires but will affect wandering. Nickmil

 

Has anyone here ever done the shim install on a D30? Does someone sell pre made shims?

 

How do you measure, and how much camber +/- should there be. Maybe mine is in rnage? I run 31x10.5 I don't consider this real wide.

-Thanks

 

I'm running about 6* camber and it seems to track pretty well. I'm probibly going to bump that up to 7* when i get the new axle shims made.
You can get custom ones here http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/Shims.shtml

 

nevermind then

 

Specialty products corporation still lists the shims for behind the spindles. Best way is with an alignment machine. In order to be accurate the vehicle needs to be absolutely level. You can fudge when checking caster and toe, but checking camber the vehicle must be level. Nickmil

 

Thanks, I'll look into the shims and might consider them.

 

Well, I found a shop close to work that does alignment and is experienced in old Jeeps and 4x4's. I'm going to have them put it on the rack and get a print out for me. Then I'll start fixing what is wrong.

 

Have the alignment checked by an alignment shop. Once you know your caster and camber, you can shim as needed. When your are all done have the alignment checked again to make sure what you did worked.

 

Just looked and found an old catalog. Specialty Products Corporation can be reached at 800-525-6505 or WWW.specprod.com or WWW.spcperformance.com or info@specprod.com
They are at 4045 Specialty Pl. Longmont, CO 80504

Hope this may help someone.
Nickmil