70 alt lowered negative camber

[70xlt]

Hi, I lowered 70 xlt with DJM lowering kit. sits fine, looks good, etc. but went to get lined up, mechanic says that it has negative camber and not enough adjustment to align. I called DJM, they said needs Isolator on worn/weak/old springs. does anyone know how big of isolator I need, where to buy or any suggestions. Looking at its tires there is very little negative camber, with plum level it's less than 3/16". I wish to raise just enough to have front end aligned but not change the front height of truck to much. Please share your thoughts

LT

[JoshT]

Your mechanic is confused. There is not camber adjustment on a kingpin twin I-beam suspension. On those you bend the beam to bring camber back into spec, that's only applicable to stock beams though. You can't adjust camber on those DJM Dream Beams, only way to affect camber on them is to adjust ride height and hope it comes back into spec.

The coil spring Isolator they refer to is a rubber (?) pad that fits between the coil spring and the lower spring seat. I've never seen one shown in parts breakdowns for these trucks, but I admittedly haven't looked into 2wds much either. Even if they are available it would not be a good way to adjust camber IMO. Being rubber they will compress and breakdown over time and you'll be right back in same position.

Probably the proper way to fix this would be to replace the springs with new springs, that is of course assuming that you still have original springs. At 50 years old those springs have probably sagged a bit over time, new springs would bring it back up to proper ride height and maybe back into spec on camber. Flip side of that is new springs will settle in and given enough years they will sag just like your original springs did, but it should last longer than a spring isolator would.

If it were my truck I'd probably steal a trick from the 4WD/Offroad crowd. On the little Ranger trucks people will make homemade coil spring spacers to lift the front end. What they do is take large diameter steel washers, stack and weld them together to make a spacer. This spacer is placed under the lower coil spring mount to provide lift. Obviously you wouldn't want to build as thick of a spacer as those guys do, but it should work just the same on a 2wd truck as it does on their TTB trucks.

Here's a link to a write up about the spacers on a Ford Ranger Forum: http://www.therangerstation.com/how-to/ ... l-washers/

I don't know what 3/16" would convert to in degrees or how much ride height would need to go up to fix it, but I doubt it would take more than a couple of washers per side to fix. Benefits are it's cheaper than new springs that'll sag again over time and more permanent than an insulator that'll breakdown and compress. Down side is it's trial and error to get just the right height, which means more time spent pulling apart and reassembling the suspension.

[70xlt]

I say mechanic but actually it was shop foreman, I didn't talk with mechanic, but many have told me the same as you about non camber adjustment on I beams. Honestly if I could plum the wheel instead of tire I don't think it's off that much, I'm gonna ride for while to see, they make a rubber and cast metal type isolator so I've got options, but not sure either. This is a cruiser, I'll never wear out the rubber if going that way. check out flashback f100 in Reidsville nc, this guy deals in old fords from out west, moves a lot of parts.

[jamesdfo]

It's a heck of a drive, (~362 mi) but there's a shop in Marietta, GA that can get you closer to the ground, AND aligned. They have all the gear needed to do this job correctly.

See my post in the link below, dated January 8, 2012, 11:29 am

http://www.slick60s.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=24343


James

[DuckRyder]

Do you have any readings from the alignment?