Upper control arm cam adjustment.

[440 PHIXX]

I need to get rid of too much negative camber that I’ve gotten after installing new lower ball joints. Do I want the suspension off load to adjust them... wheels in the air?

 

[furyus]

Adjusting while in the air ,it will change the adjustment when you put it back down. Turn plates would be great, but you could take 2 squares with grease in between them to put under your tires, and then adjust.

 

[440 PHIXX]

Here’s some pix...

First two show the passenger side. Kind of hard to see in the picture, but the wheel has a lot of negative camber. Looking at the front cam, 2nd pic, it looks like whom ever did the last alignment compensated for the worn lower ball joint. The driver side, last two pix needs an adjustment as well, though not as much.

 

[AR67GTX]

If not careful you will possible affect caster too. And might increase toe - in the toe out sense - too. But you can adjust sitting on the tires.

 

[440 PHIXX]

If not careful you will possible affect caster too. And might increase toe - in the toe out sense - too. But you can adjust sitting on the tires.

Thanks! That would be much easier.

 

[440 PHIXX]

Looks like I got it backwards. I have too much positive camber. I need to bring the bottom of the tires out a bit.

 

[440 PHIXX]

This is the only video I see on YT. It’s from 1960. I have steel belted radial tires. So these specs are different. I guess.

 

[67 GTX]

You can still use the bias ply settings when setting for radials. It's not ideal but we don't have true radial specs for our cars as they weren't spec'd for them.

You can adjust on your own to get it close, you it'll be hard to have it accurate. I would bring it to a shop to have the alignment done.

 

[Darter6]

When rotating cams,rotating both cams the same amount (lets just say 1/8 turn in or out) will affect camber without changing caster.
Now if you rotate the front cam out (towards the spindle nut) that will increase positive camber AND positive caster,And the opposite both will go negative.
Using the rear cam,rotating out (towards the spindle nut) it will increase positive camber BUT the caster will go negative.
If you do take it to a shop I'd check if they have any idea on how old Mopars are adjusted.
Old saying "Set the toe,then let it go."

 

[440 PHIXX]

You can still use the bias ply settings when setting for radials. It's not ideal but we don't have true radial specs for our cars as they weren't spec'd for them.

You can adjust on your own to get it close, you it'll be hard to have it accurate. I would bring it to a shop to have the alignment done.

I have a bunch of tire shops around here. None of the young guys working at them know anything about old Mopars. I’m trying to get it close enough that I can drive it. I did it myself back in the 80’s on my Charger. But I smoked a lot of pot back then. Now that I’m clear headed... I can’t remember what I did.

 

[Darter6]

When rotating cams,rotating both cams the same amount (lets just say 1/8 turn in or out) will affect camber without changing caster.

This is in theory of course. You will see some change in caster.

 

[440 PHIXX]

When rotating cams,rotating both cams the same amount (lets just say 1/8 turn in or out) will affect camber without changing caster.
Now if you rotate the front cam out (towards the spindle nut) that will increase positive camber AND positive caster,And the opposite both will go negative.
Using the rear cam,rotating out (towards the spindle nut) it will increase positive camber BUT the caster will go negative.
If you do take it to a shop I'd check if they have any idea on how old Mopars are adjusted.
Old saying "Set the toe,then let it go."

Thank you! That’s good advice!

 

[Darter6]

I did this for many a year starting in 1970 on Mopars. You asked about lifting the car. I understand your thinking as it makes getting to the inner control arm bolt easier.
Yes I did it all the time,but on a alignment rack with air hydraulic jacks. But as stated you will have to settle the suspension by jousting the front end or if doing it on the ground rolling the car back and forth to relax the suspension. On the rack the turntables are on roller bearings that allow the suspension to relax when jousting the front end.

 

[440 PHIXX]

I did this for many a year starting in 1970 on Mopars. You asked about lifting the car. I understand your thinking as it makes getting to the inner control arm bolt easier.
Yes I did it all the time,but on a alignment rack with air hydraulic jacks. But as stated you will have to settle the suspension by jousting the front end or if doing it on the ground rolling the car back and forth to relax the suspension. On the rack the turntables are on roller bearings that allow the suspension to relax when jousting the front end.

I’ll give it a shot tomorrow. Thanks!

 

[AR67GTX]

I garage align my old cars - the gages to do so are not that expensive if you dont know of some place you can trust. I bought a set of some sort of hard plastic squares I found in a Walmart kitchen area to use for turning plates. It’s a bit tedious but you can get good results. A couple key points IMO are to get a long level and find the flattest/level piece of concrete floor or driveway to work on. And then I go through the turn in/ turn out processes for camber and caster repeatedly several times to make sure I’m getting the same results and then I know they are good. Set the toe in last.

 

[440 PHIXX]

I garage align my old cars - the gages to do so are not that expensive if you dont know of some place you can trust. I bought a set of some sort of hard plastic squares I found in a Walmart kitchen area to use for turning plates. It’s a bit tedious but you can get good results. A couple key points IMO are to get a long level and find the flattest/level piece of concrete floor or driveway to work on. And then I go through the turn in/ turn out processes for camber and caster repeatedly several times to make sure I’m getting the same results and then I know they are good. Set the toe in last.

Thank you! Yeah, with a lot of the shops just doing stuff that isn’t over 20 years old... I should learn to do it myself!

 

[Darter6]

And you can do it in less time than it takes to drive there,wait,then drive home(most likely not satisfied)

 

[wvmarv]

You need a front end alignment. I did front end work for over 20 years in the 70's, 80's and 90's. Make sure all worn parts are replaced. Then take it to whomever you want to do the alignment, the tech will take care of it. Don't drive the car anymore than you have to because it will cause your tires to wear unevenly and once you get a wear pattern started on your tires they will continue to wear that way even after getting the alignment done.

 

[440 PHIXX]

I changed out the alternator today. I’ll work on the camber tomorrow. I hope I can adjust out what I’m seeing. All I did was replace the lower ball joints and tie rod ends. I screwed the tie rod ends in the same amount of threads the old ones were. The only thing I didn’t do that the FSM said was to loosen the T bar and let the suspension hang to change the ball joints. I had to remove the backing plates to get the wheel cylinders out, and figured I’d change the ball joints because they were easy to get at. I had the car sitting on the LCA’s. Anyway here’s pix. Hope there is enough adjustment!

 

[440 PHIXX]

Maybe the front end has to come down a little bit? It looks level.