Paging Ray O

But anyone else can answer...

When reassembling my front sus after a bearing change, the hub-strut
bolts (two bigguns) allow a good 5 degrees play in the camber of the
hub and can be tightened in any extreme. Is there a 'toyota rule of
thumb' on these - do i load the hub lightly to hold them in place while
i tighten (most +ve camber) or do i tighten while they are 'dangling'
(most neg camber position). The car isnt meant to have adjustable
camber so one of the settings must be correct. I checked the BGB online
and it just says tighten all bolts with fingers until all assembled
then torque up - is this the method Toyota recommend do you know?

(5th gen celica alltrac)

I set it to max +ve camber but (naturally) have found it gives me
nervous handling around centre, tramlining, but with nice cornering. I
dont want to sacrifice the cornering but I'm sick of having to hang off
the wheel to keep it going straight on a rutted motorway. 1st
lane....70mph.......catch a tyre rut - wow, now im not only using the
first lane but also sharing the second lane with another driver :-) But
it did this before with the wheel bearings shot so im not sure if its
normally like that ?!

Input much appreciated.
J

Find yourself an alignment machine and make sure the camber is back where
it should be. Some models claim that camber is 'not adjustable', but if
there is free play when the two lower strut bolts are loose, then that
seems adjustable to me. I always perform a wheel alignment after doing any
suspension work on Macpherson strut setups.

qslim wrote:[color=blue]
> Find yourself an alignment machine and make sure the camber is back where
> it should be. Some models claim that camber is 'not adjustable', but if
> there is free play when the two lower strut bolts are loose, then that
> seems adjustable to me. I always perform a wheel alignment after doing any
> suspension work on Macpherson strut setups.[/color]

As I said I will be going for a full alignment check soon, though you
cant adjust the clamp bolts with the wheels on so you'd have to strip,
work, reassemble, test, strip, adjust.....etc so its a bit of a pain
and not a usual adjustment method as far as im aware. But since I had
it checked 6 months before and it was fine I am working on the premise
that it was assembled 'correctly' before and so if I match that
assembly it shouldnt alter the camber much at all (the lower ball
joints all remained in place so wont have altered that side.

The manual suggests that if the camber is out at all a suspension
component must be bent and to find and replace it, it mentions nothing
of checking the clamp bolts etc which one would think it would do as a
first check.

J

J

"Coyoteboy" <coyoteboyuk@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1146053611.815219.141510@j33g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...[color=blue]
>
> qslim wrote:[color=green]
>> Find yourself an alignment machine and make sure the camber is back where
>> it should be. Some models claim that camber is 'not adjustable', but if
>> there is free play when the two lower strut bolts are loose, then that
>> seems adjustable to me. I always perform a wheel alignment after doing
>> any
>> suspension work on Macpherson strut setups.[/color]
>
> As I said I will be going for a full alignment check soon, though you
> cant adjust the clamp bolts with the wheels on so you'd have to strip,
> work, reassemble, test, strip, adjust.....etc so its a bit of a pain
> and not a usual adjustment method as far as im aware. But since I had
> it checked 6 months before and it was fine I am working on the premise
> that it was assembled 'correctly' before and so if I match that
> assembly it shouldnt alter the camber much at all (the lower ball
> joints all remained in place so wont have altered that side.
>
> The manual suggests that if the camber is out at all a suspension
> component must be bent and to find and replace it, it mentions nothing
> of checking the clamp bolts etc which one would think it would do as a
> first check.
>
> J
>[/color]

Are you the only owner of the car? The only reasons I can think of as to
why there is that much play would be A) someone used special smaller
diameter bolts to allow camber adjustment; B) someone enlarged the holes; or
C) there are aftermarket parts in there.

To answer your actual question, I'm not aware of any actual Toyota
"procedure" for tightening up the bolts because there is not supposed to be
that much play. As qslm suggested, you should get it aligned before it
starts to eat tyres.

good luck!
--

Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)

Ray O wrote:[color=blue]
> Are you the only owner of the car? The only reasons I can think of as to
> why there is that much play would be A) someone used special smaller
> diameter bolts to allow camber adjustment; B) someone enlarged the holes; or
> C) there are aftermarket parts in there.[/color]

No, im about the 6th, however the bolts appeared to be normal size,
they had that green toyota spray paint blob that a lot of the bolts on
alltracs have and they fitted snuggly in the shock clamp plates, but
the hub carriers holes appeared far larger than the bolt diameter. I'm
going to have to measure them I think and compare to a known one. The
holes in the carrier dont seem to be enlarged, no machining marks. The
bolts arent cam bolts. Im fairly sure the shocks have been changed for
standard replacements some time in the last 5 years so maybe they came
with new bolts and they were smaller diameter..I am going to measure
them and i have someone with another stock setup who is going to
measure a bolt for me.
[color=blue]
> To answer your actual question, I'm not aware of any actual Toyota
> "procedure" for tightening up the bolts because there is not supposed to be
> that much play.[/color]

Right, looks like more investigation needed :-(
[color=blue]
>As qslm suggested, you should get it aligned before it
> starts to eat tyres.[/color]

Fronts are knackered anyway, ready for changing, they're staying on
until i sort out whats wrong so i dont waste another $250's worth of
tyres :-)


Ta for the info!
J

"Coyoteboy" <coyoteboyuk@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1146128967.682199.80690@j33g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...[color=blue]
>
> Ray O wrote:[color=green]
>> Are you the only owner of the car? The only reasons I can think of as
>> to
>> why there is that much play would be A) someone used special smaller
>> diameter bolts to allow camber adjustment; B) someone enlarged the holes;
>> or
>> C) there are aftermarket parts in there.[/color]
>
> No, im about the 6th, however the bolts appeared to be normal size,
> they had that green toyota spray paint blob that a lot of the bolts on
> alltracs have and they fitted snuggly in the shock clamp plates, but
> the hub carriers holes appeared far larger than the bolt diameter. I'm
> going to have to measure them I think and compare to a known one. The
> holes in the carrier dont seem to be enlarged, no machining marks. The
> bolts arent cam bolts. Im fairly sure the shocks have been changed for
> standard replacements some time in the last 5 years so maybe they came
> with new bolts and they were smaller diameter..I am going to measure
> them and i have someone with another stock setup who is going to
> measure a bolt for me.[/color]

IIRC, the stock bolts do not allow any camber adjustment but Toyota has
special smaller diameter bolts to provide some measure of adjustment. They
are not cam bolts, just smaller diameter.

<snipped>

good luck!
--

Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)