How to adjust camber...

How hard / is it possible to adjust the camber on my CJ5 myself? Any special tools required?

 

Camber or caster?

 

Go here:
http://www.earlycj5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40965

Caster is easy - shim it. Camber is set at factory on a solid axle. The lean out look is common. Have you had it aligned to see the spec? Mine was in reason. You want 1* to 2* and mine was 1.4*.

Shamless plug - McRuff here makes shims. He made mine and got my steering back to factory.

 

Caster:
That is the wheel self centering after you turn.
It's achieved by placing the top ball stud forward of the axle,
and the bottom ball stud behind the axle.

The axle 'C' is welded on with the top ball stud mount a few degrees forward of the center line of the axle.

To shim the axle on it's springs will bring your caster back, but will also affect your pinion angle relative to the T'case output and may cause your vehicle to wear 'U' joints quicker.

Relative caster angle is most often affected when lift springs and larger tires are used.
The absolute correct solution to the problem is to grind out the welds on the inner 'C's, move then around the axle tube for the correct caster angle, and reweld.

Shims will have to do for the rest of us.
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Camber:
Is the amount of angle the wheel pitches in or out at the top when the spindle moves through range of motion (hard right or hard left).

Other than replacing the spindle mounts (also called "Steering Knuckles" or "Outers" or "Outer C's") or welding/re-machining the spindle mounts you really can't adjust this angle much.

Camber is employed to keep more of the tire face in contact with the road when cornering.
The idea is if you lean the tire into the corner, then inertial weight of the vehicle will put to the outside, and the tread face will become flat on the road when you corner, giving you better traction.

If the tire didn't lean in when you cornered, you would roll up on the outside edge of the tire and wear it down much faster.

Those of us that are 'spirited' drivers know cornering at higher than recommended speeds will wear the outside edge off the tires faster than you can pay for new tires!
That outside edge wear is the direct result of not enough Camber for the speed/inertia we are entering the corners with...

With a solid front jeep axle, the only way to change Camber is machine work, or find a donor vehicle with D-44 outers that has more camber built into them.
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The easy way to remember the difference between 'Caster' and 'Camber' is:
Push carts wheels, like the ones on the front of a shopping cart, are even called 'Casters'.
The little self centering wheels on any push around table or cabinet are called 'Casters'.

 

There are two other ways of adjusting camber on an open knuckle, solid axle, 4 wheel drive vehicle. One are full circle tapered shims that fit between the spindle and knuckle. This can be time consuming as all the outers down to the knuckle must be removed. These shims fit around the knuckle studs to keep them in place. These were even used from the factory in some applications. The other way is an upper ball joint sleeve that has the seat for the upper stud off set to adjust camber, and can affect caster on that side as well. Both products were available from Specialty Products Corporation
http://www.specprod.com/

They can also be reached at 303-772-2103. They are in Longmont, Colorado and are affiliated with Light Racing who makes air bump stops, etc. for racing and rock crawling.
I prefer the shims behind the spindle as I feel they are stronger and don't affect the ball joint preload. Nickmil

 

I adjusted the camber on my 80 CJ-5 using an eccentric bushing that goes in the upper steering knuckle ball joint. There was more camber in the passenger's side than the driver's side. I had to take out .75 degrees of positive camber. It solved my tire wear problems.

 

Wow. And stupid me was thinking I would only have to loosen a bolt and yank on the wheel........I should know better by now. Nothing is easy.

Thanks.

By the way, how many of you just leave the camber goofed up and deal with the tire wear? Does it cause excessive strain on the other front end components?

 

Technically, camber should not be an issue unless the knuckles or axle housing is bent, or if the ball joints are worn so that the spindle moves. Not sure which will break first in the axle... I've seen the axle tubes break out the housing where they slide in, but I have not seen the knuckle ends break off of the tubes. the 'horns' (for lack of a better word) at the knuckle end of the housing are really strong, and it would take a lot to bend them without breaking the housing, I would think.