camber woes after rebuild of H Beam

[King80]

Hey guys, I have a 1974 beetle rat rod project that I'm just getting back into after a long hiatus due to work and health complications with my wife. Back when I began I'd modified the front H Beam by fabricating a extension to place between the frame head and the beam. (which pushes the front H beam about 14" forward and also moves the H beam up about 4 inches to give the car a rake to the front.) I also cut in adjusters to the beam to allow it to be lowered at will. That all being said I put it together and mocked it up on the car a year or so ago and thats about where I stopped. I was going over it this morning and double checked all the tie rods, ball joints etc were all seated well and I looked into adjusting the camber because one tire (the passenger side) is leaning really hard inward on top. I've spun the camber adjust every way possible and although it does change the camber it really doesnt seem to do it enough to pull the tire straight...
Could I have put the wrong trailing arms on (as in, the drivers side on the passenger side and vise versa)?
All the bushing, ball joints, tie rods etc are all brand new and I get that it can be out of alignment due to that but nothing I can adjust seems to do anything to help (except a minor improvement by the camber adjusters)

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I'm at a complete loss right now...

[goober]

What you're asking is well above my pay grade, but

When you say 'H' beam do you mean the frame head?. Are all the set screws properly seated on the springs? Was everything square to the pan and tunnel when you welded in the frame head and extension?

I believe the stock camber is about 1/4 to 3/4 of a degree decimal positive. About how much more camber do you need?

They used to sell 'extra' camber adjusters.

[King80]

The "H-beam" is the front suspension. lower and upper torsion arms with the shock towers included. (has smaller lower and upper arms that go out to the hub of each wheel.
its the entire piece that you can unbolt from the front frame head.
To answer, though, yes, I squared everything, held it all together on a frame building table so I know its square and straight... Ive checked that a thousand or so times myself because i was sure that is where I fucked up... but that being said when you get rid of the "extension" it is still a problem... so it really has no effect on what im experiencing on the Hbeam.

As for how much camber I need, I'm not honestly sure... I just know that the drivers side tire is nearly straight up and down (with a very little bit camber inward up top, which looks pretty factory to me.) the passenger's side is drastically different. I mean its damn near a 15 degree lean to the tire towards the top and inward... Im honestly at a loss of what the hell I did wrong lol... cant seem to get it to straighten up.

[VOLKSWAGNUT]

I get it.. you built a beam extender

Doubt you have the arms swapped .. they are placement specific..
Check for the "notches" on the arms and be sure the notches align to the ball joint marks..
Basically just to align ball joint travel slots fore /aft when installing..

If you know those are ok.. then.. Are you using stock camber eccentrics.... ?

To me.. it sounds like you may need to try lowered eccentrics.. They offer more camber adjustment.

https://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=C12-6612-10


"These camber adjusters are a must for those super low front ends to retain the stock amount of camber. The stock eccentric bushing will not adjust enough to compensate for front ends lowered more than 3 inches. Precision machined to replace stock units without modifications and designed to keep your tires straight up and down like their supposed to be. Sold in sets of two to fit all 1967 and later Beetles and Ghias with Ball Joint front ends."

.
_________________
aka Ken {o\!/o}
Its your vehicle- stop askin' for approval-do what YOU like for cryin' out loud
Better to roll em' how you want and wear em' out-than lettin' em' rot out
Its about the going not the showing
Rebuilt to drive not decorate
WANTED: Local Eatin' Joints, Triple D for TheSamba contributions here http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=570510
Search "VOLKSWAGNUT" on YouTube since you cant watch a "certain" BELT change video round here
Usually and often edited

[TDCTDI]

It sounds like you installed the center adjusters off center.
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[King80]

[King80]

[VOLKSWAGNUT]

You also added adjusters ..

With the arm geometry.. and lowering.. the uppers move the knuckle ever so slightly inward and the lowers move ever so slightly outward as they rotate.. sometimes.. when the arms are rotated lowered it can create an uncorrectable camber issue.. If an arm is bent slightly it aggravates the issue.

One other thing to note.. there were a few different "stock" eccentrics created to correct things in service in the real world..
Maybe you have two different ones?

99 times out of 100 the lowered eccentrics with the max possible ball joint angle adjustment clears things up. The #100 one.. will have something bent tweaked or incorrectly assembled (built)

Ball joint beam builds are very forgiving.

[goober]

Could one of your arms be bent?

I've got those extra adjusters on one of my beams. I don't think you're going to get 15 degrees. You might get a couple of degrees.

[VOLKSWAGNUT]

Thats very true.. ^

I doubt its -15.0 degrees.. but.... if so ....I agree something is seriously whacked out.. or slipped out of position.


Average lowered camber eccentric will sweep/change the camber about 1.5 degrees. So it can adjust from say -.50 to +1.0 . Plus it will change caster too.. so watch out for that.
The amount negative vs positive sweep adjustment really all depends on what the neutral center camber adjustment base starting measurement is..

.
_________________
aka Ken {o\!/o}
Its your vehicle- stop askin' for approval-do what YOU like for cryin' out loud
Better to roll em' how you want and wear em' out-than lettin' em' rot out
Its about the going not the showing
Rebuilt to drive not decorate
WANTED: Local Eatin' Joints, Triple D for TheSamba contributions here http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=570510
Search "VOLKSWAGNUT" on YouTube since you cant watch a "certain" BELT change video round here
Usually and often edited

[King80]

[King80]

[King80]