DIY Front Alignment Troubles

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FJRdoc

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I did a lot of thread searching on A body alignment and decided that I wanted to do the job myself on the Duster. Had the day off today and started in on the task. The front suspension has been completely redone. I installed offset bushings during the rebuild.
I set the front cam all the way out and the rear cam all the way in. My understanding is that this starting point should give me negative camber. Unfortunately, my digital gauge shows that I have 1.7* of positive camber. When I was able to adjust to -0.5* of camber, caster measured 0.6 and 0.8. I need help from my FABO brothers!

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Did you install the offset bushings according to the instructions they come with? Because that’s not the way they should be installed for maximum caster.
 
I did a lot of thread searching on A body alignment and decided that I wanted to do the job myself on the Duster. Had the day off today and started in on the task. The front suspension has been completely redone. I installed offset bushings during the rebuild.
I set the front cam all the way out and the rear cam all the way in. My understanding is that this starting point should give me negative camber. Unfortunately, my digital gauge shows that I have 1.7* of positive camber. When I was able to adjust to -0.5* of camber, caster measured 0.6 and 0.8. I need help from my FABO brothers!

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Shim between Lbj & spindle
 
I installed them a long time ago but I specifically followed instructions on FABO and to the best of my knowledge put them in as per recommendations and not the box instructions.
 
I guess that I could unbolt the upper control arm and post pics of what the bushings position looks like. Will I need to pop the upper ball joint?
 
Shim between Lbj & spindle

yeah don’t do that. If the alignment is out of whack there’s a reason. Gotta find the reason first before cobbling it up. Spacers like that shouldn’t be necessary if everything is right.

I installed them a long time ago but I specifically followed instructions on FABO and to the best of my knowledge put them in as per recommendations and not the box instructions.

I guess that I could unbolt the upper control arm and post pics of what the bushings position looks like. Will I need to pop the upper ball joint?

You should be able to tell which way the offset bushings are installed by unbolting the UCA. You can leave the ball joint attached to the spindle, just be sure to loosen the torsion bar adjusting bolts so there’s no tension on the UCA before you unbolt it.
 
yeah don’t do that. If the alignment is out of whack there’s a reason. Gotta find the reason first before cobbling it up. Spacers like that shouldn’t be necessary if everything is right.





You should be able to tell which way the offset bushings are installed by unbolting the UCA. You can leave the ball joint attached to the spindle, just be sure to loosen the torsion bar adjusting bolts so there’s no tension on the UCA before you unbolt it.
Just a way to decrease camber without losing caster that the off set uca bushings give over factory settings.
 
Looks like I 'm going to unbolt the upper control arms and take a look at the bushing install. I'll post results afterwards.
 
Stock front wheels. 1" torsion bars. Bilstein shocks. Ride height slightly higher than stock to offset some extra rear height from 1+ springs. All other components stock. Rubber bushings.
 
Just a way to decrease camber without losing caster that the off set uca bushings give over factory settings.

I understand what the spacers do. My point is that they shouldn't be necessary. With offset UCA bushings installed it should be fairly easy to get -.5° camber, +3° or more caster, and 1/16" toe in. If it's not, there's something else going on and that should be addressed before spacers are considered.

Stock front wheels. 1" torsion bars. Bilstein shocks. Ride height slightly higher than stock to offset some extra rear height from 1+ springs. All other components stock. Rubber bushings.

The ride height could be the issue. Having the ride height higher than factory has a big effect on the alignment numbers. Your numbers seem pretty off though, so I would still check the offset bushings. But it could be that the ride height is more above the factory setting than you think it is. And that's not a good thing for a bunch of different reasons, so you may want to look into that a little more and consider at least setting the factory height.
 
If you installed both offset bushings with the holes toward the frame, that would cause your problem.
 
Had a chance to remove my upper control arm today. It looks like I Installed the offset bushings bass ackwards! I just took off the right side today. I will take off the left side tomorrow. I feel pretty stupid but at least I can fix the problem. I suspect that the left side will look just the same. I just have to push out the bushing and install them correctly. I had a feeling that this was what I was going to find.
I suspect that my camber and caster numbers should improve dramatically.
 
Had a chance to remove my upper control arm today. It looks like I Installed the offset bushings bass ackwards! I just took off the right side today. I will take off the left side tomorrow. I feel pretty stupid but at least I can fix the problem. I suspect that the left side will look just the same. I just have to push out the bushing and install them correctly. I had a feeling that this was what I was going to find.
I suspect that my camber and caster numbers should improve dramatically.

Well that would do it! Here's the diagram you need. Just remember that in the picture, the front of the car is pointed "down". I don't know why the front of the car wasn't made "up", just makes more sense to me, just like you always put North "up" on a map. But whatever. Print it out and flip it so the arrow points forward if you have to.

Moog7103InstallInstructions.jpg
 
I feel pretty stupid about this but I'm glad that I decided to align the car at home rather than take it to a shop. Live and learn!
 
I feel pretty stupid about this but I'm glad that I decided to align the car at home rather than take it to a shop. Live and learn!

You could have paid for 2 alignments trying to figure that out. Or suffered lousy alignment specs for years.

that alignment tool probably just paid for itself.
 
At least you know what the problem is.
 
Spent some time Saturday working on the control arms. I just wanted to post pics to make sure that the bushings are installed correctly this time.
Right front:

IMG_2717.JPG
 
If you mean front and rear as in front and rear of car, I got bad news.
 
I'm sorry that I'm having difficulty with this concept. Isn't the first picture, right front, showing that the offset is moving the control arm out towards the fender? The offset on the right rear would move the control arm inward towards the engine.
 
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