Rear camber/toe bolt replacement

[Mk4Gaz]

Hi all, need a bit of advice please...... 

 

I've just finished fully overhauling the rear subframe and suspension, and am putting it all back together. I've fitted brand new camber and toe eccentric bolts but know you're supposed to preload the suspension before torquing them up. 

Naturally it's going for an alignment when it's back on the road, but is it as simple as jacking the hub assembly up the the normal ride height (ground to centre of driveshaft nut), torquing the bolts, and then fitting the shocks? 

I'll set everything at zero I guess, then have it tweaked at the alignment shop. 

 

Whilst we're on the subject, what do you folk recommend for a good street setup on the rear? I've pretty much read that - 1.5mm camber and 1-2mm toe in is best. 

I'll be doing the front later in the year

[Rob W]

I loaded the hub into normal ride height position with the suspension on just without the ARB drop links, then torqued up.

I’m not sure if you actually need to do this, I know Chris Wilson has commented on it before but I cannot remember what his opinion was!

Regarding setup, I went with the below:-

Front:

Camber - 1.0 degrees

Caster + 5.0 degrees

Toe 0.00 mm

Rear:

Camber -1.5 degrees

Toe in (total) 1.00 mm

[Mk4Gaz]

28 minutes ago, Rob W said:

I loaded the hub into normal ride height position with the suspension on just without the ARB drop links, then torqued up.

I’m not sure if you actually need to do this, I know Chris Wilson has commented on it before but I cannot remember what his opinion was!

Regarding setup, I went with the below:-

Front:

Camber - 1.0 degrees

Caster + 5.0 degrees

Toe 0.00 mm

Rear:

Camber -1.5 degrees

Toe in (total) 1.00 mm

Thanks Rob, pretty much what I thought. I've actually already bolted the shocks on and fitted the rear wheels. I put a trolley jack under the tyre and lifted it to what I thought looked like the normal ride height, but with the pressure of the shock pushing down, you can't adjust the bolts easily. I didn't know if doing it without the load of the shock on it would be easier?

[m12aak]

Those are the alignment specs I use also. Iirc that's the 'Lance' alignment spec that a lot of people stateside use. I don't push my car particularly hard but it does feel decent and tyre wear is even. 

I don't think having any load on the suspension would make it any easier as the load is there just so the bushings are close to their general range of movement when it's tightened, and so the rubber isn't being twisted at normal ride height (please correct me if I am wrong!) So, my understanding is that the amount of torque to adjust them would be the same, regardless of load.

I've got no idea if this matters with poly bushes though; as aren't the outer parts of the metal sleeves greased upon installation, so it wouldn't matter? 

[Rob W]

Have you got the ARB drop links disconnected from the lower arm?

I could compress my KW coilovers with them disconnected which allowed me to get the camber bolts roughly in the correct position.

[Mk4Gaz]

40 minutes ago, m12aak said:

Those are the alignment specs I use also. Iirc that's the 'Lance' alignment spec that a lot of people stateside use. I don't push my car particularly hard but it does feel decent and tyre wear is even. 

I don't think having any load on the suspension would make it any easier as the load is there just so the bushings are close to their general range of movement when it's tightened, and so the rubber isn't being twisted at normal ride height (please correct me if I am wrong!) So, my understanding is that the amount of torque to adjust them would be the same, regardless of load.

I've got no idea if this matters with poly bushes though; as aren't the outer parts of the metal sleeves greased upon installation, so it wouldn't matter? 

Thanks bud, yes it's the lance settings that everyone seems to recommend. 

 

I've fitted poly bushes throughout, and my thought process was the same. I don't think they'd clamp in the same way that oem bushes do, so stabilising the suspension might be unnecessary in my circumstances. 

[Mk4Gaz]

41 minutes ago, Rob W said:

Have you got the ARB drop links disconnected from the lower arm?

I could compress my KW coilovers with them disconnected which allowed me to get the camber bolts roughly in the correct position.

Mine are connected bud. I could whip them off easily enough, but I found jacking the wheel up and compressing the shock put everything under a lot of pressure. This in turn stops the wheel moving for camber and toe adjustment. 

 

I'm possibly iverthing the whole thing as it'll be going for alignment anyway, but I didn't want to drive it crabbing up the road

[Rob W]

Yes having them connected does make a difference, I couldn’t compress my coilovers  enough with them attached.

Your probably right but thats the reason I did it, just for the drive to get it aligned as I thought it would be all over the shop 

[rider]

1 hour ago, Mk4Gaz said:

Thanks Rob, pretty much what I thought. I've actually already bolted the shocks on and fitted the rear wheels. I put a trolley jack under the tyre and lifted it to what I thought looked like the normal ride height, but with the pressure of the shock pushing down, you can't adjust the bolts easily. I didn't know if doing it without the load of the shock on it would be easier?

I setup my rear frame before it went back onto the car which is the easy way of doing it. I used a hydraulic table to lift the hubs until the lower arm was level and then tightened the bolt. That was plenty good enough to get it to drive safely to the alignment shop, though the technician did notice a different power down across the rear wheels on his pre-set test drive, that I hadn't actually noticed but different toe angles were confirmed when the initial on ramp reading were taken. Its probably more important who you select to do the chassis tune up rather than the initial refit settings. I did an overnight to center gravity and they were good, they will even body shim your struts if they find the ride height at the four corners aren't within spec. That sounded quite drastic but my supra didn't need any height adjustment.