Wheel Alignment

hardlifebug · Post by **hardlifebug** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 10:55 pm

My bug has had torsion bar adjusters welded in to lower the suspension and now I'm trying to put it back to standard.
Several problems have come to light:
1) one wheel has positive camber and the other side has negative camber.
Both about 1.5 degrees. Does anyone know what it's supposed to be?
I have made camber adjustments out as far as the adjusters will go but can't correct the situation so I think I will have to remove the trailing arms from the ends of the torsion bars and make up spacers to set the arms correctly. They don't look bent or anything nasty.I can only assume those who did the adjuster installation have stuffed up. Any other suggestions?
2)both sides have about 0.5 degrees NEGATIVE caster. From what I have found on the net (can't find official specs) there needs to be at least 3 degrees POSITIVE caster. No wonder she dances all over the road!
And tries to kill me!
Is the only way to adjust caster by "shims" between the torsion tubes and body?
Does anyone have official specs i.e. camber,caster, toe-in ?
Is there a good book out there on front suspension (king-pin not ball-joint)
that someone can recommend?
I'm going to use data I found on the net:
-1 degree camber
3-5 degrees positive caster
5 mm toe-in
2 mm toe in for rear wheels
Does anyone have knowledge that makes them disagree??
Thanks for any help!!!

jovyarcher · Post by **jovyarcher** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 8:06 pm

I had found this link that I think it would be helpful for your ride, hope you should check it out...

http://www.off-road.com/trucks4x4/artic ... ?id=398514

hope this helps.
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fatalifeaten · Post by **fatalifeaten** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 12:31 pm

Your specs look about right.

you might want to invest in a Bentley manual, it will have the specs in it.

you can also try the forums on teh samba. large quantity of technical info over there just a search away.

Blue Baron · Post by **Blue Baron** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 3:37 pm

Yes, get the Bentley manual.

The front end camber on the balljoint front end is adjusted by excentric bolts at the balljoints. Caster is added by adding shims between the bottom axle tube and the framehead. You should be able to let go of the steering wheel and continue on a straight line.

fatalifeaten · Post by **fatalifeaten** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 9:51 pm

In all reality though, if you're going from lowered to stock heigh, you shouldn't need to put caster shims in unless your frame head or your beam is bent or mauled. Most folks put caster shims in when they lower the front end to help bring the front end geometry back closer to stock.What happens is that as you lower the front end, you bring the beam more vertical, (IE you lose the pos caster.) Adding the shims kicks the caster back out to keep it in spec.

Another question. Do you know if the PO installed drop spindles or lowered ball joints? Both of these would need to be swapped out too in order to get the steering geometry back in line for a stock height.

trev0006 · Post by **trev0006** » Fri Jan 29, 2010 2:26 am

Thanks for posting this.

jovyarcher wrote:I had found this link that I think it would be helpful for your ride, hope you should check it out...

http://www.off-road.com/trucks4x4/artic ... ?id=398514 audi bmw runflat tires 4 door cars Avon Tires BF Goodrich tires Bridgestone tires Continental tires Dunlop Tires Firestone Tires Fuzion Tires General Tires Goodyear Tires Hankook Tires Hoosier Tires Kumho tires Michelin Tires Pirelli Tires Sumitomo tires Toyo Tires Uniroyal Tires Yokohama tires winter tires

hope this helps.
__________________
Get it while it's there!
volkswagen parts

armandjones82 · Post by **armandjones82** » Fri Sep 24, 2010 2:28 am

This was one good thing to read about. Thanks for this one! I would really see the beauty of a vehicle when the volkswagen accessories, or in that case, the wheel would be able to really compensate all the stuffs there. Keep it up!