I'd check up on the Hunter book specs. If they had specs for ladened (two
people in the car) and were adjusting it with the car empty, the camber
would be wrong. The camber decreases as weight is added to the car.
However, I would doubt that the difference would need 1/2' of shimming.
Maybe one shim.
I have a similar problem with my Spit. It has about 1/2" of shims to get in
the ballpark (final alignment to be done yet). In fact, my Spit is on the
frame rack as we speak, and maybe they will find that something
isn't/wasn't right to begin with. The frame is being straightened after my
son slid into the curb.
In regards to the rear (and the front), I've found that you have to settle
the suspension after it has been in the air. Rolling it back and forth 5 or
10 feet seems to get most of it out. It seems that you have to check, shim,
roll, check, shim, roll, check, etc. to get it right.
BTW there is something misleading when you say "a toed in camber attitude".
Toe-in and camber are two different attitudes. Toe-in (or toe-out) is the
front of the tire point in/out) or left/right, as viewed from the front.
Camber is the lean of the tire in relation to the chassis. If the top of
the tire leans out, it has positive camber. If it leans in it has negative
camber.
On my Spit, if you decrease the camber (by adding shims) the toe-in will
increase due to the linkage setup and suspension geometry. Similarly, when
you unweight the suspension, the wheels drop (in relation to the chassis)
and camber goes more positive (top of wheels lean out) and toe changes as
well. The end result is that you have to adjust with the chassis weighted.
The workshop manual gives both unweighted and weighted specs and I would
suspect that this would uncover something wrong like springs. Any
suspension wizards care to comment on this?
Vic Whitmore
76 Triumph Spitfire
Thornhill, Ontario
----------
> From: Jim Jones <jonesj1@erols.com>
> To: triumphs@autox.team.net
> Subject: TR4A IRS Alignment
> Date: Thursday, November 13, 1997 10:06 PM
>
> Since I am active duty military, I took the TR4A IRS into the local craft
> shop for a four wheel alignment. They have a nice Hunter alignment
machine
> and seem to do a good job. However the wheels, as you know have a toed
in
> camber attitude after the car is jacked up. My experience is that it has
> to roll a ways before staightening out. No amount of bouncing would
cause
> the slide plates to move enough to let the wheels straighten out. This
was
> the rear wheels. This precluded a four wheel alignment, but they tried
for
> just the front wheels..
> The Hunter book readings said that I had to add anything from 1/2 to
13/16
> of thickness to my shims. This is not possible as the bolts aren't that
> long. Even the mechanic thought that was a little excessive. So I had to
> settle for adjustment of the toe in on the front wheels..
> What's wrong and how can I fix it..
>
> Jim Jones
> 67 tr4A IRS
>
>
>
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