Fitting Camber Wedges

[Guest Jameslark]

Can anybody give me the best way to fit camber wedges to the rear end? Appears that you have to remove the drive shaft to get them on or is it alright to split them in half and fit?

If someone can give me the idiots guide I would be most grateful!!

[Longboarder]

You have obviously looked at this problem carefully and come up with a common solution. Most people do split them in half vertically. You can then remove road wheel and drum, loosen all hub carrier to lower arm bolts. Remove just two, either in front of the axle or the two behind. Slip in one half spacer between the brake backplate and the lower arm (that's behind the brake backplate from where you're sitting doing the job), fat side up, and fiddle the bolts back in till they bite well but not tight. The repeat for the other half of the spacer, wind all four bolts fully to torque, replace drum and road wheel.

There are people who can do a side in 15 mins.

 

Nigel

[sj-bradley]

I wondered about the camber on the rear before. Can you tell me please, do these cmaber wedges come in different sizes / angles?

 

And what is the best way to find out what the camber currently is on the zero?

 

Thanks,

Simon.

[Snapperpaul]

Flat surface then a spirit level on the drum.

A lot of the super stock boys just use washers to space the hub carrier for camber and rear toe.

This method would be a good way of finding the thickness of camber wedge you require.

Be aware that as standard the Sierra has a lot of camber and some toe in so your camber wedge would be thickest front top, next rear top then front bottom.

If that makes sense

[sj-bradley]

I think I understand what you're getting at.

However, I have rear disc brakes and it's the two wishbones that are part of the Zero chassis kit.

I hope that the camber doesn't change with suspension movement.

 

I can check tomorrow but the car is on axle stands at the moment and I'm not sure how accurate that will be.

As for level surface - well I *hope* the garage floor is flat

 

Thanks for the help,

Simon.

[Snapperpaul]

Zero camber and toe should be ok, it's the full sierra rear that needs the wedges

[sj-bradley]

Ah - ok. Maybe it just *looked* skewhiff then

 

Simon.

[agent_zed]

Ah - ok. Maybe it just *looked* skewhiff then

 

Simon.

 

Well to check you could do what i did to check toe in on the rear.

 

Get 2 long straight boards slightly longer than the car. run a board down each side and touch the boards on the rear edge of rear wheels.measure between the boards just behind the rear wheels ie across under the car.

 

now go to the front and measure between the boards and move them to match the rear measurement to make them parallel. now you need to square them on the car so measure in from the board to a fixed part of the chassis ie suspension mount. check both side and equal this up keeping the overall measurement between the boards the same as the rear.

 

you should now have a square to work from.

 

take a ruler and measure in from the board to the wheel rim of the rear wheels - both at the front and rear of the rim. if the gap is bigger at the front of the rear rim then it is toeing in if its smaller then its toeing out.

 

I think it should toe in a little. On my 2b it is really noticeable as the toe-in gets more as the suspension is lowered and is set lower than in the seirra to start with.

 

 

The camber also gets more negative as the suspension is lowered again it is designed to do this but in the lower position it has too much as a starting point.

 

this is why people buy the shims to get less toe in and get it nearer upright on the sierra rear setup.

 

HTH

 

 

P.S this is also how i set the toe on the front wheels as you can measure in from the boards to the front and rear of the front rims and adjust to slight toe-in. If you do the maths you should be able to work out the degree of toe in.

Edited February 19, 2012 by agent_zed

[maccavvy]

Where do you get these wedges from ??

[David S]

I had a look on ebay and found loads when I searched for camber shims, but they are for specific cars. I was advised to use washers initially to get the set up right so you know what size you need and then to try and make a plate to the same dimensions to help spread the load out correctly. OK if you have a machine shop of some sort I suppose. Can be made from aluminium as that is easier to file down.

[Guest mower man]

I have a simple drawing with dims if any one wants a copy get in touch --mower man [sierra beam /s7]

[Guest ortonhouse]

I bought some sierra camber shims (machined aluminium, £27 off ebay). I've cut them in half vertically and painted them to prevent any reaction between the metals when fitted......but before I fitted them I treated myself to a full alignment check on a Hunter laser system and found the shims are way too fat, and the place I went to held a supply of (much thinner) combined camber and toe shims anyway.

Net result, I have an unused pair of rear shims going spare.