Diy: Fitting Adjustable Rear Camber Arms

[STAGTR]

G'day all,

I purchased my stag with ~ -2 degrees negative camber on the rears with the stock adjustment at max +ve correction... I wanted about -0.5 to -1 degrees camber.

After a bit of searching and reading a lot on adjustable bushes, I came to the conclusion that eccentric bushes didn't offer enough camber adjustment, were still expensive and took time to fit (and extra time to adjust when getting wheel alignment).

I looked to adjustable camber arms, but these were all spherical/ball/rose joint style and have copped a pretty bad wrap for accelerated wear and increased NVH. The good thing about them is that they have ~3 deg camber adjustment (c/f bushes having around 0.5-1 deg adjustment depending on how many kits you buy)... they are also easy to install and adjust on car and are a lot cheaper.

Here's my adjustable camber arm install, with before and after alignment results.

Time to complete: (without taking photos): 2 hrs (more or less depending on how hard the stock nuts are to remove)

Cost: $139 (for the arms delivered, already had the grease, bags, WD40, Lanotec and cable ties)

PREPARATION:

- Adjustable arms, selection of combo spanners/sockets & breaker bar (17mm and 19mm) and 2x large jawed shifters

- Grease

- 2x Cable ties (small/thin recommended, but can use bigger)

- 2x small but strong plastic bags (for fitting over spherical joints)

- Jack, axle stand, wheel brace etc

- Lanotec or similar and WD40 or similar (guarantee some of those stock bolts will be a beach to remove)

INSTALLATION:

1. Take apart you new adjustable arms and check down the threads of both shafts, you'll prob find that they're already corroded/rusted like mine were... give all threaded parts a good dose of the Lanotec for protection and to stop it seizing up after installation (see photo).

2. Put it back together and grease up the spherical joint and the two cups. Its good to give it a real good dose of grease both inside and out and around the cups. This will provide lube for longer and prevent dust and abrasives working their way into the ball joint. (see photo)

3. Grab your plastic bag and fit it over the end of the ball joint. Ensure there is a bit of slack around the joint then use the cable tie to secure it to the shaft. (see pics). Trim excess tail of plastic bag with a pair of scissors/stanley knife.

You have now created your own sealed and greased ball joint!! just like you have on your steering rack ends (albeit with a much weaker plastic boot!) Repeat 1 to 3 for other arm.

4. Back off your wheel nuts and jack up the car. USE AXLE STANDS (I didn't because I am lazy but ya gotta put those safety msgs in these days!). The upper camber arm outer and inner mounts are shown from L to R.

While the wheel is off, its a bloody good idea to give each nut and bolt you can see under there a good squirt of the Lanotec. This will prevent further corrosion and penetrate the threads slowly, making it that much easier to get them undone in the future. This worked wonders when i had my 4WD and the Lanotec really resists the mud and rain wash.

5. Use the WD40 to penetrate the rust & grime on the bolts then undo them. The outer mount use 19mm head bolt and 19mm nut. The inner uses 19mm head and 17mm nut.

NOTE: due to the geometry of the arm and the springs being preloaded, you probably wont be able to just slide the bolts out. DO NOT use a mallet to bash em out... you will probably damage the threads and you don't want to have to use a die to clean em up again!

6. Put the wheel back on and chuck a couple of wheel nuts in to secure the wheel to the hub. Gently lower the car until you start to get some weight onto the lowered wheel (see pic). Stop lowering the car and quickly duck under the rear axle to remove the bolts. As you have removed the springs preload, you should be able to rotate the inner eccentric bushing until movement becomes free. then you can remove both the inner and outer bolt (don't forget the inner washer as well).

NOTE: depending on your car's geometry, you may not need to put weight on the rear wheel again to be able to get the inner bolt mounted.

7. Jack up the car again, secure with stand and remove the wheel. Lay out your adjustable arm alongside the stock arm (see photo). You want to ensure that both arms are the same length. It's best to go with what was there rather than trying to do a best guess, self alignment correction off your own back... could lead to some pretty average on road handling. Leave the alignment settings to the professionals and get a wheel alignment sooner than later.

To adjust the arm properly, ensure that both the inner and outer threaded tubes are wound all the way in... then adjust length by securing the ball joint vertically and only winding the largest centre nut. This will add length equally to both tubes and ensure all loads are evenly spread when installed.

8. Grab your adjustable arm and outer bolt and nut and install onto the hub. I used a torque setting of 90 Nm. (I have no idea what it was supposed to be, but is about right for suspension equipment in my limited experience) When you do up the outer bolt and nut, try to ensure that the spherical joint cups are in line with the inner mounting holes. When done up they will stay in the correct alignment under the bolt and nut's tension by themselves. (see pic)

9. Once again, put the wheel back on, and this time put all the wheel nuts back on, you won't need to remove the wheel again. Lower the car until the wheel starts to take some load then stop lowering the jack.

NOTE: depending on your car's geometry, you may not need to put weight on the rear wheel again to be able to get the inner bolt mounted.

10. Jump under the car, install the eccentric bolt, washer and nut. You will need to push the bolt through the plastic bag… don't worry, it will make its own perfect sized holes! Secure the nut and when you start to get some tension, you can then adjust the eccentric bolt to whatever setting you want. I left it to the maximum +ve camber setting so as to share a bit of the load on the new adjustable arm. Once you've set the eccentric bolt, torque up the nut. 85 Nm is what I used. (see pic)

11. Use the shifters to do up the lock nuts on the adjustable arm. Spray all the bolt heads and nuts with Lanotec to prevent corrosion forming.

12. Lower the car, torque up the wheel nut and you are done. Repeat steps 4 to 12 for the other side.

Congrats, you just fitted your own adjustable rear camber arms!!

RESULTS:

There was concern that the stock rear toe eccentric bolts would not have enough adjustment in them to remove the toe out generated by lengthening the camber arm. See the below two alignment printouts for the results L = before, R = after.

Check it out... they had no idea what to put for the car so they asked me what it was (not a bloody volvo!) and as I said it was pretty much a Skyline Wagon... they classified it as an R31 Wagon... oldschool!

In my case I managed to end up with ~ -0.6 degrees camber and 0.2mm toe out on both sides. That's a massive improvement, and well worth the $139!

After a week of driving and 360km, the car feels more planted through corners, has no noticeable increase in NVH (possible reduction? but this is very subjective), the bags are in tact and all looks well.

I guess time will tell if the spherical joint wears fast. Stay tuned for updates!

Cheers,

Pete

Edited January 24, 2009 by STAGTR

[M I K E]

fantastic write up, awesome idea for the grease boots too!

[STAGTR]

Cheers Mike... I didn't realise how long a writeup took (frickin optus broadband dying on me every 5 mins)!!

Depending on how I go about correcting the Front camber/castor... if I go with adjustable arms/rods I might do another write up for them too, otherewise will just go bushes.

[~R33AzzA~]

Awsome write up, thanks heaps ill be trying this on my bros car.

[_Ryan_]

just jack the wheel instead of letting the car down... heaps easier when using stands

[stagea-rs4]

Nice write up. What part number are the rear arms? Are they the same as s14's?

[horrace]

sorry to dig up an old thread everybody (i did a search) but just a couple of quick questions as im fitting rear camber arms, toe arms and coilovers next week (possibly front camber arms if needed), i take it you jack from under the rear diff to get the ass in the air all at once but where do you put the axel stands, the sill jack point seem a bit weak? same goes for the front (diff is to one side i take it thats not an option) where to jack from where do you put the stands? thanks for any help!

[bubba]

I use the outer subframe mounts for the rear, and chassis rails up the front.

[horrace]

Aaaahhhh cool thanks for that, where is a safe place to Jack the front up in 1 go?

[kidafa]

front x member just behind your sump

[horrace]

Cheers bro hope my cheap ass Jack is up to it lol!

[carlbgc]

Sorry for the revive, but thanks for the thread! My Skyline is stuck at -2.7 on the right rear (something bent perhaps). Will look into getting some of these arms before it kills my tyres...

[V28VX37]

Apologies for gravedigging and thanks to OP STAGTR for an awesome writeup!

I just got some NeoTech adjustable rear camber arms that I'm planning on fitting on my R34 GTT sedan.

Question: Can the rear camber arms be installed alone - without the toe arms - without messing up the toe too much?

The car's currently running Rear Camber: -1.30 and Rear Toe: +1.5. It's got a SuperPro camber kit and factory adjustment dialled to the lowest neg.camber setting.

What I'm aiming for is Rear Camber: -0.5 and Rear Toe: 2.00mm in on each side i.e. SydneyKid recommendations.

Here's a pic of the camber arms - thanks qaf539!

[KiwiRS4T]

Yes there should be enough adjustment on the eccentrics for the toe-in. I am suprised people are buying adjustable camber arms to reduce negative camber. I got mine for the opposite reason - to increase negative camber for the track and so I can return it to normal when and if I stop tracking it.

[V28VX37]

Yes there should be enough adjustment on the eccentrics for the toe-in. I am suprised people are buying adjustable camber arms to reduce negative camber. I got mine for the opposite reason - to increase negative camber for the track and so I can return it to normal when and if I stop tracking it.

Thanks mate. What kind of camber are you running on the track (front + rear)? I thought too much rear negative camber would be bad for straight line traction?

[KiwiRS4T]

Thanks mate. What kind of camber are you running on the track (front + rear)? I thought too much rear negative camber would be bad for straight line traction?

2 1/2 to 3 deg neg - its for slicks (Ex NZV8 series) - should have enough traction with awd. On the street I have 17 40 255 good quality rubber.

But for expert advice ask Duncan - he's a real racer I'm just a wannabe!

[Jezboosted]

Yes there should be enough adjustment on the eccentrics for the toe-in. I am suprised people are buying adjustable camber arms to reduce negative camber. I got mine for the opposite reason - to increase negative camber for the track and so I can return it to normal when and if I stop tracking it.

KiwiRS4T - whats your ratio of track/street driving ? mine is 99.99999% street - 1000k's a week. I wanted the car to stay low, not chew out tyres within 25,000k's and not have 4 rotations done in that period of time. I will have doubled the life of my tyres which will have paid for the suspension work by the time i need new tyres again. Makes sense in my situation.

V28VX37 - I am running the NeoTech's on the rear as well and have been very happy with the quality and ease of adjustment.

[KiwiRS4T]

I have spent over $15k to make my car go fast so I can have some fun on the track. I am a truck driver so I can't afford to lose my licence on the road so drive within limits and as as not to attract attention. I can only afford to go to the track about once a month but when my car is sorted (nearly there) I will do some club racing (an 1800kg Stagea is never going to be competitive in the big league and I'm not that good anyway).

If my street tyres last 25,000km I will be very happy. In fact the negative camber I run doesn't seem to be impacting too badly on the tyres. I have bought some timing gear and will record some times for Pukekohe and Hampton Downs for a start.

I don't advocate heaps of negative camber for everyone - it just suits me for now.

[Jezboosted]

I have spent over $15k to make my car go fast so I can have some fun on the track. I am a truck driver so I can't afford to lose my licence on the road so drive within limits and as as not to attract attention. I can only afford to go to the track about once a month but when my car is sorted (nearly there) I will do some club racing (an 1800kg Stagea is never going to be competitive in the big league and I'm not that good anyway).

If my street tyres last 25,000km I will be very happy. In fact the negative camber I run doesn't seem to be impacting too badly on the tyres. I have bought some timing gear and will record some times for Pukekohe and Hampton Downs for a start.

I don't advocate heaps of negative camber for everyone - it just suits me for now.

I will rack up 25,000 k's in 1/2 year = not happy. You would probably do that, i dunno, what? in 2 years ? = happy

I'm jealous you get to go to a racetrack once a month I still haven't even gone down the 1/4 yet, which i have done with every other car i have owned!

1st car 21seconds for S III bluebird gxe wagon

2nd car 18.9 for JD camira wagon

3rd car 15.9 for JE camira sedan - twin throttle body custom job

4th car 15.1 for MZ20 Soarer

5th car 16.3 ae92 corolla 4afe

6th car stagea - WTF NO TIMES

Hope you get someone to record you driving !! theres not enough stagea videos out there. Good ones, that is. Anyway, i think i am rambling

[V28VX37]

V28VX37 - I am running the NeoTech's on the rear as well and have been very happy with the quality and ease of adjustment.

Thanks Jezboosted - are you running them with the stock toe arms? Is your toe amount still ok?