Positive camber solutions?


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littlevanman
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Positive camber solutions?

Post by littlevanman »

'97 AWD. Wondering if anyone has any tips on fixing positive camber on my 4" OLV lift. I had the alinement shop remove the knockouts. The guy at the shop said he got it as close as he could and that if I wanted to get it perfect I would need to get out the die grinder. Has anyone else had to do this? Would this work? I guess he means I need to extend the range the upper control arm can be adjusted toward the center of the vehicle. Thanks for reading guys.

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Re: Positive camber solutions?

Post by LiftedAWDAstro »

There are upper ball joint relocation brackets available from OLV that move the ball joint to the bottom of the control arm to fix this.

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Re: Positive camber solutions?

Post by MountainManJoe »

I don't remember there being any brackets ... just a set of nuts and bolts to replace the rivets.

There's something in the OV ad that I never noticed before: "Best when used with differential drop or CV axle spacers. " Has anyone seen such a product?

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Re: Positive camber solutions?

Post by LiftedAWDAstro »

I thought there was a milled spacer that came with that kit to bolt the bj to when placing under the control arm? Maybe not though. If it is just bolts and nuts and washers, you already have 2 in the upper bj and only need to source 2 more locally.
Current rides:
2013 Toyota Tundra DC 4x4
2008 Dodge Nitro 4x4
2005 Nissan Sentra 1.8S Special Edition

Mileage spreadsheet

Vans owned:
1986 Safari 2.5L 4 speed manual - scrapped
1995 Astro 2WD conversion 4.11 posi, shift kit, DHC rock rails - sold to Skippy
1998 Astro 4x4 D44, D60, NP231, full hydraulic system with 9k# Milemarker winch and snow plow - sold to Lockdoc
2003 Astro AWD all stock - traded for a 3/4 ton truck
2005 AWD, 4.10's - sold to skippy

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littlevanman
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Re: Positive camber solutions?

Post by littlevanman »

I already did the upper ball joint relocation with nuts and bolts supplied.
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Re: Positive camber solutions?

Post by MountainManJoe »

How far out is it?

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Re: Positive camber solutions?

Post by littlevanman »

Enough to bug me visually. I am also worried about uneven tire wear. I can't find the numbers right now but the tech said they were within the allowable specs. Just not good enough for me.
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Re: Positive camber solutions?

Post by Stroverlander »

How much are your torsion bars cranked and using the OLV torsion keys?

I just relocated the upper ball joints on my '04 AWD to correct the negative camber from additional torsion bar lift when I went to 4" lift and to prevent the upper control arms from contacting the new Rancho RS9000 front shocks (larger 2.18" diameter shock body from my Bilstein) at full extension. Ball joint relocation gave it some serious positive camber but alignment shop was still able to align to "preferred setting" spec with no problem. I found a heavy-duty truck spring/driveline/aligment shop to do it, seem to be pretty serious about their work. Van drives perfect after alignment, straight steering wheel, no pulling and tires wearing evenly. The previous shop I went to when I had 2" lift took two times to get steering wheel straight and pulling sorted out and it still had noticeable camber difference in front wheels.
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Re: Positive camber solutions?

Post by MountainManJoe »

My camber angles are 0.5 and 0.3 degrees. I have no drift, pull, uneven wear or other issues. I am using the stock index keys, lifted all the way (minus a tiny bit on one side to make it even).

Are you using the OV re-indexed keys? If so, maybe you just need to let them out a bit.

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Re: Positive camber solutions?

Post by littlevanman »

I am using the re-indexed keys but they aren't cranked or anything. The front sits lower than than the rear and I've got the bolt in the middle hole on the lift shackle. I have no issues with pulling, it drives straight. It just looks pigeon-toed. I will try to post some pic's so you can see what I mean.
I bought a die grinder today just in case it comes to it.
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Re: Positive camber solutions?

Post by MountainManJoe »

Yeah pics would be great, because if it looks pigeon-toed then that's your toe-in, not camber.

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Re: Positive camber solutions?

Post by littlevanman »

Having trouble figuring out how to post pic's. I am on a mac. Any suggestions?
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Re: Positive camber solutions?

Post by MountainManJoe »

where are you getting hung up? Did you click "choose file" and then "add the file" when composing a message?

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Re: Positive camber solutions?

Post by 97CargoCrawler »

Yeah, pigeon toed definitely isn't camber. Toe-in is easily fixed by an alignment shop, camber not so much if it's already at maximum.

I know squat about AWD's but isn't there a eccentric bolt kit you can buy for those to get more adjustment out of the arm? I almost bought one for my van back in the day then I realized it only worked for AWD control arms.

Or maybe that's what it already has. I have no idea.
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Re: Positive camber solutions?

Post by MountainManJoe »

The eccentric washers don't give you more range. Adjustment is limited by the elongated bolt holes.

(photos courtesy of lockdoc)
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