I have been chewing insides of front tyres for too long. Measured left side to be -1.75 degrees and 0 on the right side. The front left tyre was visibly much worse than right.
I was able to loosen the strut bolts and make the left side camber less aggressive - it is now -1 degree.
The right side was trickier - I was able to get -0.5 by pushing the bottom ball joint out to its limit... What I probably need to do is loosen the wishbone bolts and see if I can get a bit more extension - that and/or modify the struts to create clearance for more negativity (in a good way)... I dont like the joints to be on full extension.
The track rod adjusters were well chewed up over the years and clearly needed renewed.
Ages ago I bought the bare adjusters from QH - but Bambridge does custom jobs too.
I took note of how to undo the locknuts when renewing the adjusters - to save the knuckles of others to follow
I first applied a good wadge of freeze spray / penetrating oil to help reduce friction.
Then I measured the distance between the locknuts on each side to give me guide for rebuilding, but it will need properly aligned afterwards to get it perfect.
THEN I remembered that at some point in the past I had moved the steering wheel to make it sit straight when the car was rolling straight - this is a bodge and I had to remove the wheel and count the number of turns lock to lock so as to skew the steering wheel back to its proper centre position... hence my measurements for the trackrod spacing are meaningless to rebuild for straightahead but no worries for now.
Onto the removal of track rods to renew the adjusters..........
RIGHT side - both locknuts loosened by cranking a 22mm spanner towards the hub - clockwise when looking at it with the wheel off.
LEFT side - locknuts loosened by cranking away from the hub... also CLOCKWISE.
Give the collars a good tap with the hammer and move them towards the loosened locknut so they are freely moving - you cannot remove the track rod until the collars are free as they clamp down on the threads.
Then with a 17mm socket and good ball joint remover I popped out the track rod ends from the strut - without any damage which is nice.
On each side - the track rod end unscrews from the steering arm by turning it clockwise.
Then it was to the bench and vice with a squidge of WD40 to help remove the locknuts from the old adjuster and transfer to the new ones.
Plenty of copper grease for reassembly... and remember that you have to screw the new adjusters into the arms by turning them ANTI clockwise.
When refitting the trackrod balljoint - I counted threads so the adjustment nut was centrally located.
To make any toe adjustments with the new greasy rods is really easy now - turning them CLOCKWISE makes the wheel toe OUT more... This is true on both sides... remember as 'CLOCK OUT' and you will do well. I set them up visually to be approximately straight ahead. Then a test drive or two to check & adjust until it gets aligned properly with the steering wheel sitting straight when rolling straight.
The latter generally means toeing IN on one side and toeing OUT by the same distance on the other so as to correct for steering wheel being off centre while rolling straight...
So now hopefuly I have decent enough geometry to get me to the alignment place and should have much better tyre wear on the next set of rubber.
Weighing up if I can be bothered to try for more -ve camber on the right side before getting the alignment done. Suppose I should try.
Hope this info helps others - the locknut removal is a ****** if you arent 100% sure what way to turn them - which isnt obvious with all the dirt & rust in view.
I was able to loosen the strut bolts and make the left side camber less aggressive - it is now -1 degree.
The right side was trickier - I was able to get -0.5 by pushing the bottom ball joint out to its limit... What I probably need to do is loosen the wishbone bolts and see if I can get a bit more extension - that and/or modify the struts to create clearance for more negativity (in a good way)... I dont like the joints to be on full extension.
The track rod adjusters were well chewed up over the years and clearly needed renewed.
Ages ago I bought the bare adjusters from QH - but Bambridge does custom jobs too.
I took note of how to undo the locknuts when renewing the adjusters - to save the knuckles of others to follow
I first applied a good wadge of freeze spray / penetrating oil to help reduce friction.
Then I measured the distance between the locknuts on each side to give me guide for rebuilding, but it will need properly aligned afterwards to get it perfect.
THEN I remembered that at some point in the past I had moved the steering wheel to make it sit straight when the car was rolling straight - this is a bodge and I had to remove the wheel and count the number of turns lock to lock so as to skew the steering wheel back to its proper centre position... hence my measurements for the trackrod spacing are meaningless to rebuild for straightahead but no worries for now.
Onto the removal of track rods to renew the adjusters..........
RIGHT side - both locknuts loosened by cranking a 22mm spanner towards the hub - clockwise when looking at it with the wheel off.
LEFT side - locknuts loosened by cranking away from the hub... also CLOCKWISE.
Give the collars a good tap with the hammer and move them towards the loosened locknut so they are freely moving - you cannot remove the track rod until the collars are free as they clamp down on the threads.
Then with a 17mm socket and good ball joint remover I popped out the track rod ends from the strut - without any damage which is nice.
On each side - the track rod end unscrews from the steering arm by turning it clockwise.
Then it was to the bench and vice with a squidge of WD40 to help remove the locknuts from the old adjuster and transfer to the new ones.
Plenty of copper grease for reassembly... and remember that you have to screw the new adjusters into the arms by turning them ANTI clockwise.
When refitting the trackrod balljoint - I counted threads so the adjustment nut was centrally located.
To make any toe adjustments with the new greasy rods is really easy now - turning them CLOCKWISE makes the wheel toe OUT more... This is true on both sides... remember as 'CLOCK OUT' and you will do well. I set them up visually to be approximately straight ahead. Then a test drive or two to check & adjust until it gets aligned properly with the steering wheel sitting straight when rolling straight.
The latter generally means toeing IN on one side and toeing OUT by the same distance on the other so as to correct for steering wheel being off centre while rolling straight...
So now hopefuly I have decent enough geometry to get me to the alignment place and should have much better tyre wear on the next set of rubber.
Weighing up if I can be bothered to try for more -ve camber on the right side before getting the alignment done. Suppose I should try.
Hope this info helps others - the locknut removal is a ****** if you arent 100% sure what way to turn them - which isnt obvious with all the dirt & rust in view.
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