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Alignment Cam Bolts

chtampa

chtampa

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I had my 69RR aligned today and it was not pretty. The best caster they could get was -1.2 on the Drivers side and +1.2 on the passenger side. Quite a bit under the +3 to +5 that everyone suggests. I went online and see that there are different offset bolts available.
My thought is to get a +2.5 for the left UCA and then the best reading I can get is +1.25 both left and right side.

Do I understand correctly?
Any better idea for stock UCA's?
Is +2.5 the biggest?
 
Moog makes offset upper control arm bushings that will help a lot.
 
Your caster figures are what I’ve seen out of my two b bodies I’ve had aligned with stock style bushings. The figures you have are what’s desired, not sure what’s achievable out of stock style bushings and arms. Both of the cars drove just find with radials.
 
I have had the car most of its life and no evidence of impact on the front. The car is about done being assembled so I just need to make whatever adjustments are possible to bring the alignment in the best it can go. Does anyone have experience with the offset cam bolts?
 
All cam bolts are offset by their design function - I've not heard of any that have more offset than others. I think the shock tower mounting locations would almost have to be modified to adapt something like that.

Have you had the car apart? This is an unlikely issue but my experience is proof it happens. Helping someone restore his RR and we were having a heck of a time getting the UCA to clear the wheel rim edge and it was knocking off weights and he took it to an alignment shop and they said they aligned it but we don't think they really did. Pulled the wheels off two weeks ago and stood their staring at it and it suddenly dawned on us that the UCAs were switched side to side. Mechanics, ourselves, alignment shop people have all worked on this thing for 6 months and none of us noticed that - a forest for the trees type thing. It really throws the ball joint alignment off which must affect the range of caster adjustment.

I wouldn't be surprised if everything is stock and OK that 1 to 1.5 deg positive caster is about all they can get.
 
https://www.oreillyauto.com/shop/b/...+control+arm+cam+bolts&fitAttr_10039=Show All

This is what we found. Never used them so looking for feedback.
UCA's are on correct side. Rebound bumpers line up with flat areas on arms.

Owned car body for 35 years and finishing rotisserie rebuild/restoration with upgrades.
MPB discs with their spindles, but all hard parts are just like new used after sitting on a shelf for 30 years. All soft parts are new.
 
Something is bad wrong with the neg 1.6 degrees then. Bent control arm, spindle or something from smacking a curb maybe. A straight accident-free car with good suspension components shouldn't have that much difference from one side to the other. The LCA strut rods greatly influence the ability to dial in the intended caster by their positioning of the LCA. Maybe something there.
 
Check your strut rods and see if the same amount of thread is showing on both.
 
I’ve only ever seen offset bushings not the bolts.
 
You did not mention your camber for each side which helps in understanding the problem.

These are my thoughts concerning the issue if no accidents are suspect.
They were building our cars for + camber and - caster and likely had "Go/ No Go" gauges or jigs for the assemblies based on the nominal -1.5 caster and + camber position to make sure they could achieve final alignment. With radial tires we are shifting the alignment more than twice the amount in the opposite directions (from -1.5 caster to +1.5 or more caster which is 3+ degrees). The stock set-up adjustment I believe is only good for +1.125/-1.125

My car had a similar problem and I used the K7103 offset bushings along with slight modifications to the stock UCAs and ended up -.5 camber and +1.75. I was not aware of eccentric bolts offering more adjustment than stock but that is a nice option as long as the bolt is the same size as your bushing. I added pics of the modification I did in my thread where you will find info on the bushings as well.
https://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/threads/camber-castor.156566/#post-911033746
 
vman01 said:
You did not mention your camber for each side which helps in understanding the problem.

These are my thoughts concerning the issue if no accidents are suspect.
They were building our cars for + camber and - caster and likely had "Go/ No Go" gauges or jigs for the assemblies based on the nominal -1.5 caster and + camber position to make sure they could achieve final alignment. With radial tires we are shifting the alignment more than twice the amount in the opposite directions (from -1.5 caster to +1.5 or more caster which is 3+ degrees). The stock set-up adjustment I believe is only good for +1.125/-1.125

My car had a similar problem and I used the K7103 offset bushings along with slight modifications to the stock UCAs and ended up -.5 camber and +1.75. I was not aware of eccentric bolts offering more adjustment than stock but that is a nice option as long as the bolt is the same size as your bushing. I added pics of the modification I did in my thread where you will find info on the bushings as well.
https://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/threads/camber-castor.156566/#post-911033746
Click to expand...

Who makes the aftermarket UCA's? Will they give me the caster I want?
 
I have no experience with the aftermarket UCAs I wanted to keep the stock look. Maybe someone can jump in or you can type in a search here "adjustable upper control arms" produced 3 pages of info or google it. I understand those aftermarket adjustable UCAs offer more adjustment than the bushings will.
 
vman01 said:
I have no experience with the aftermarket UCAs I wanted to keep the stock look. Maybe someone can jump in or you can type in a search here "adjustable upper control arms" produced 3 pages of info or google it. I understand those aftermarket adjustable UCAs offer more adjustment than the bushings will.
Click to expand...
I want the stock look also, but I would rather swap them out and then redo it later.
 
What is the most change in degrees I can get out of offset bushings?
 
My Charger has stock UCAs and the offset bushings. I have 4 1/2 degrees of caster and .75 degrees of NEGative camber.
 
IMG_4294.JPG
 
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