Paul:
When you say you replaced the "rubber bushes", which bushes
would those be?
Did you replace the pivot bushings in the trailing arms, or are you
referring to the
rubber packing pieces that the springs rest on?
The pieces that degrade are the bushings that are pressed into
the trailing
arms, where the pivot bolts pass through the arm and mounting bracket.
It sounds as
though you might not have replaced those. Since they are shot, when you
reworked the
mounts, it was a temporary solution until the rubber deformed some more.
When the
rubber gets old, it plastically deforms under load (kinda like
toothpaste).
If it is any consolation, I went through exactly the same thing.
Replaced springs,
etc in an attempt to correct the rear camber and ride height. Finally
replaced the
pivot bushings, and life has been good ever since.
Replace the pivot point bushings. Use a gear puller with long
arms to press the
old ones out, and the new ones in. This should fix your problem for the
next few years,
at least. It is one of those things where the parts cost $5, but the
labor is
50 times that much to get them installed. I did mine in about 6 hours,
over a couple
of afternoons. The second arm goes much faster than he first. You will
find that the
old bushings are seriously deformed when you remove them.
Cheers,
Vance
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-6pack@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-6pack@autox.team.net] On
Behalf Of Paul G. Edelstein
Sent: Monday, June 21, 2004 8:56 AM
To: 6pack@autox.team.net
Subject: Continuing Rear Camber Problem (longish)
All,
Last summer and fall, as one of the last steps in my restoration, I did
considerable work on the rear end of my car to correct a long standing
negative camber problem. For starters, both sides were bad but the
right side
was much worse. Left about -1.5 degrees, right about -2.25 degrees.
First, I replaced both springs (stock grade from TRF) and rubber bushes,
and
added the aluminum spring spacers. Helped a little, but not a lot.
Then, I
replaced the training arm mounts (again, stock grade from TRF), all
bolts, and
all brackets (in stock configuration). Again, helped a little, but not
nearly
enough.
So, I meticulously measured and used the bracket configuration/camber
angle
cross reference chart and replace/realigned the brackets as calculated.
VOILA! Not perfect, but good enough -- both wheels less than 1/2 degree
negative and ride height exactly equal on both sides. Thought I was
done.
But now, about 600 miles later, I am noticing that the problem has
mostly
returned. And, the right side is again much worse than the left side.
The
angles are almost what they were at the beginning, particularly the >2
negative on the right side. But both sides have "sagged", not just the
right
side.
<snip>
I'm baffled. Any ideas????
Thanks in advance.
Paul E.
Annandale, VA
71 TR6 Damson CC67060
80 TR8 Aqua TPVDV8AT210430
|