Hi there,

I've just noticed a little mistake...

I thought the little rings were simply washers... but they aren't. They sit between the A frame bar and the subframe. Which one belongs to which side. Larger or smaller one to the front?

Cheers

Damien

 

Same. You should have the same sized washers on both sides.


There are three types. A 1/32" spacer, 1/16" spacer and a 1/8" spacer. Different cars have different spacers in there. I just adjusted my spacers according to the most recent alignment info I got. I added some spacers to the passengers side, and removed spacers from the drivers side.


The two sets of spacers between each A frame bar and the subframe need to be the same. Front and back should be the same. The passengers and drivers side can be different.

 

Oddly, mine differ from front to rear. As I took the axle apart, I marked which side they were on. But not front or rear. Both sides have the same washers. One thinner and one thicker one. The really thick ones are obvious.

 

Perhaps they both had a thin and a thick one. My car had an entire sandwich of spacers varying in thickness!


Basically each 1/16" of spacer results in a 1/4 degree change to camber. Taking spacers out increases the camber rating. (-1.5 degree camber moves closer to zero)


Adding spacers decreases the camber rating. (-1.5 degree camber moves further away from zero)


You're going to end up taking the car in for an alignment anyways. Take your best guess and you'll be able to adjust later if you're wrong.


You need to keep them the same both front and back. Amateur mechanics may make a mistake thinking their affecting caster this way, but the proper way to do that is by moving the shims at your upper ball joint.

 

Yeah, alignment is required. The entire axle has been overhauled so that is definatly due...

I'll just leave it until then...

 

Damien,

Why don't you do the wheel alignment yourself, its not difficult and requires

4 jack stands
I used 4 concrete pavers
4 steel sheets to act as turnplates for the front wheels with grease between them
Vinyl tiles to sim the car level
String, I used high visibility fishing line

You will do a far better job than any shop.

 

I'l be doing it myself on my brother's workshop's alignment machine I won't let anyone else touch my car... Not my XJ8 nor my XJ-S

 

The shims on the upper inner pivot are Camber adjusters, you knew that anyway, and the thickness at the front bolt MUST be the same as the thickness at the rear bolt. This is to maintain the upper and lower pivot pins in a parallel plane, Most "general shops" do the camber/caster adjustment in one shot and that is why we get odd shim thickness there, and it is WRONG. The upper and lower inner pivot bushes will wear prematurely if it is left at that.

The Caster is done with movement of prefitted shims fore and aft of the top balljoint.

This is time consuming for shops, hence the "one shot" method I mentioned above.

 

Castor was obvious. So as it looks, an earlier expert did the castor bodge thing. So 'll be correcting that...