Adjusting negative camber

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Ghostsoldier

Ghostsoldier

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Guys,
My son's '74 Duster has a negative caster problem....the damn thing looks like something off of Disney/Pixar's Cars....and to be honest, I'm not sure how to adjust it, or what's causing it. It was a 6-cylinder car originally, but now has a 318/904 combo.

I'm thinking it's the UCA bushings that are shot, but I haven't crawled under it yet...would those cause that problem? Would it be too much weight from the V-8? We recently replaced the inner and outer TR Ends, and a buddy of mine said to adjust the torsion bars, but I ain't cranking on anything until I get some professional advice (that's why I'm here :thumblef:)....

Any ideas? (I'll post some pics if needed...)
Rob
 
Cranking on the torsion bars is for adjusting front end height . bushings could be worn or someone switched a small ball joint upper control arm to a large ball joint upper arm and the ball joint stud will not completely fit all the way down into the small ball joint spindle. Before I knew any better I done that myself. Does the front suspension hit very hard on bumps? If so the control arm bushings may be shot. The control arm brackets are known to crack and separate as well so please check them very carefully. The car really needs to be taken to an alignment shop. Try to have an experienced alignment guy look at it because it takes patience to get right. I aligned mine but when I checked the settings they changed due to worn bushings. The strut rods, lower control arms, K-frame all affect settings. The front end probably needs to be rebuilt. Hope this helps.
 
If it is as bad as you say, take it to an alignment shop and have a professional look at it. They will be able to tell you if you need new bushing/tie rod ends etc.
Caster and Camber are two completely different adjustments and without the proper equipment you will not get it right and still have to get it aligned.
 
If the issue you are seeing happened after you changed the tie rods......chances are it is actually a toe in/out problem. If the toe is off enough, it can appear to be a camber problem.

Can you use a tape measure to get it a little closer?
 
Green...sorry...I meant camber (got it right in the thread title, wrong in the post! Duh!)....

Demon...we have not adjusted the TR ends as of yet; I didn't know they had the potential to throw it out that much....

Sr and belmateo....the front end definitely needs to be rebuilt, just because the car is so damned old...it had this problem before we got it, and before we changes the TR ends. I've actually adjusted the camber on my old '62 Ford, but it uses shims on the A-arm bushing shaft, so it was an easy fix....but this A-body front end is a new animal to me (I had a '68 Dart/440 years ago, but the suspension never needed work, so I never frigged with it).

Looks like I'll try adjusting the TR ends first, but I think we'll go ahead and rebuild the front end anyway, just to be on the safe side, and then take it to an alignment shop for the final tweaks.

Thanks for the replies, fellas! :glasses8:
Rob
 
belmateo said:
If it is as bad as you say, take it to an alignment shop and have a professional look at it. They will be able to tell you if you need new bushing/tie rod ends etc.
Caster and Camber are two completely different adjustments and without the proper equipment you will not get it right and still have to get it aligned.
Click to expand...

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The car will drive great with fresh bushings and ball joints followed by a proper alignment.
 
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