rear end camber/lean in 74 tr

[Guest osrocket]

what do you guys find the most common reason of the rear tire camber/leaning in, weak springs or other< thanks johnb

[Richard Crawley]

John (?)

Could be any one or combination of a number of things, can you give us a few more clues? What’s the history of the car? Are both sides the same? Maybe someone’s fitted shorter springs & not bothered to adjust the suspension geometry! It could be accident damage, a botch of replacing the chassis outriggers or the wrong combination of trailing arm brackets,

[Guest osrocket]

richard here is some info on it,,i got this car (74) from a guy that i went to school with and the drivers side has a little more negative camber than the passenger. it has 56k original miles on it, and he said that nothing has ever been changed back there, the frame and trailing arm brackets all look perfect, and the upper spring mounts look good, i havent checked the spacer condition on the springs yet, i was thinking that they maybe the springs are just weak(not sure) it did set quite a bit with the wheels on the ground, i will check the trailing arm bushings also.     thanks john

[Guest ron]

John

If you are sure nothing has ever been changed, I would tend to think the springs are a bit tired, especially if it's the same both sides. If you know somebody with a car with good springs or can do height comparisons at a car show it might give you a clue. A lot of TR6s do tend to have a tail down/negative camber look about them, don't know if it's an illusion or not.

At the end of the day the rear springs are relatively cheap and it isn't a difficult job to change them

Ron.

[Tom Fremont]

Speaking for TR250s, two of mine had different camber on each side. Renewing springs definitely increased it (+) but the difference remained, as spring settling was fairly even. In those cases the camber was positive on one side, resulting in scary oversteer. Availing myself of the various bracket offset options ( there are 3 ) it was possible to achieve parity on each car. I don't know about TR6s but renewing springs on the 250s made them go from (-) to (+) on one side. I believe a good target value is 1 degree negative.

 

Offset amounts in the brackets are described on the following website: www.goodparts.com. They are a fairly easy changeout, as are the springs.  

[Richard Crawley]

i was thinking that they maybe the springs are just weak(not sure) it did set quite a bit with the wheels on the ground, i will check the trailing arm bushings also.

I think probably a combination of tired bushes, weak springs & even possible disintegration of the rubber spring seats. If it’s settled more on the driver’s side (& in the nicest possible way), how “heavy” was you friend? I would change all the bushes as a matter of course & check all the trailing bracket mounting holes for ovality, they will wear if the bolts have been allowed to come loose. Measure the springs off the car, you may find they are OK but are so cheap, you may as well change them as well while you are in there. I would certainly consider an adjustable gas telescopic conversion but go for at least one with proper brackets & not the “thro wheel arch, bodge job; it’s the best £100 quid or so you will spend. Think hard before you up rate the springs with such a  conversion & also about fitting polly bushes; personally I have stuck with standard springs & rubber (with a telescopic gas conversion) & I find them a good compromise for road use, they are really firm but allow you to hang on to you fillings! While your in there, check the top lateral spring cruciform has not been distorted due to continual “bottoming” - a regular occurrence with the old lever arm set up, more so if the car has lead a hard life with someone who has a size 12 lead right foot (I will admit I have!).