I posted about this before but wasn't clear enough to get a good answer so here goes again... My front tires lean in towards car Previous owner replaced standard bolt and eccentric washer where the lower control arms bolt to the frame with a plate with 3 different holes. Previous bolt location was on the outer most holes giving the tires a real serious camber of top of the tires in towards center of the car. I moved to the center hole. This is better but still way to much camber... I want to move to the inner most hole..... When I moved to the center hole it was very hard to pull the lower control arm in to bolt it up. Knowing that I knew its going to be insanely hard to get to the inner most holes Do I need to loosen / tighten / disconnect the torsion bars?? Do I need to loosen the sway bar where it bolts to the lower control arms?? Any info or ideas would be greatly appreciated. On a side not the lower control arms are tubular and probably one of a kind made for this particular application by previous owner. I have stock lower control arms....if push comes to shove and I need to out back stock ones to correct camber is there anything special I should know before trying to swap them. Thanks
Do you have any pictures that show what your problem is? I'm having a hard time picturing your set up.
I am picturing that the arm won't go in towards the engine.. I might try and use a ratchet strap to help pull it in if that's the issue..
Yes that's the issue. Didn't know if putting a ratchet strap on it was the right thing to do.....usually if things don't go its for a reason lol. Was just asking erring on the side of caution.
There will be components that will give resistance and become altered in position. This is why when you move things you need an alignment.
Loosen the sway bar and if that doesn't help the strut rod will need to be loosened, of course that's going to upset your caster adjustment(but extreme camber changes will effect caster anyway)...
When you raise the car up, put a short 2x4 between the upper control arm and the frame so the suspension won't completely extend. For the record, one of my adjustment cams is rotated fully in to get the camber where I need it, so you are on the right track. Does you car have the Arning drop performed on the upper control arm mounts? If not, the camber will be a little more difficult to get right if the suspension has been lowered significantly.
If your lower control arms are tubular, is it possible that they are just be too long for the application?
i suspect that the strut rods have polyurethane bushings on them. these will make it harder to move the lower control arm. they are known to cause the strut rod to brake after a while. ive had it happen twice on friends cars. you can replace the bushings with stock rubber ones or their are aftermarket kits that replace the bushings with a uniball or a strut rod with heim joints on the ends.
I'll measure the tubular LCA and compare it to the stock ones I have. I'll also do the 2x4 trick when I lift the car to d the adjustment along with loosening the sway bar to see if that helps.
Way back in my teenage years I replaced the lowers. I seem to recall that where that pivot bolt goes is poorly designed. Mine was either over tightened or it just squeezes together making it hard for the arm to move. I have always wondered how it could pivot without it twisting on the bushing causing it to eventually fail. My lowers are like 30 years old but they have sat more than seen the road. I'll be glad to be rid of all this with my MII set up coming.
Wasn't an A?? Lost me there. I will take a few pics today. Previous owner did all these suspension upgrades so I'm not sure how or when any of it was done. I might just go to the stock ones as they look to be in really good shape. Do I need to compress the springs or anything if I remove the LCA to replace it?
