Technical Caster and Camber Adjustment After New Spring Installation

[criceo]

I'm going to be installing a new leaf spring, and I want to know if I'll have to adjust the caster and camber shims on the wishbone mount if I do so. The Haynes manual says it would be unnecessary unless the car had been damaged, but I would think that a new spring would create slightly different camber. If I must adjust these, does anyone have tips for accurately measuring these?

 

[bugsymike]

I'm going to be installing a new leaf spring, and I want to know if I'll have to adjust the caster and camber shims on the wishbone mount if I do so. The Haynes manual says it would be unnecessary unless the car had been damaged, but I would think that a new spring would create slightly different camber. If I must adjust these, does anyone have tips for accurately measuring these?

I used to have one of these, like an idiot I sold it for just a few quid.
There are modern cheap versions around. You may even do it with a suitable size spirit level held vertically to measure the camber at the wheel.
You will still need to check normal wheel alignment after that though.

 

[the hobbler]

I used to have one of these, like an idiot I sold it for just a few quid.
There are modern cheap versions around. You may even do it with a suitable size spirit level held vertically to measure the camber at the wheel.
You will still need to check normal wheel alignment after that though.

Before you fit the new spring, I would strongly suggest that you check that it is "central"---it is not unknown for the "pattern" springs to be up to 10mm out of being central. The result is, if you fit a spring that is not "central, is camber angles that are all over the place and not very easily brought back into tolerance. You should always recheck camber and toe-in (aka tracking) angles when fitting a new spring. It is also wise to have a fair bit of weight in the front of the car (in the fuel-tank/spare-wheel area) when measuring the toe-in and camber---that way the car is closer to an "as in use" condition, because the angles do change when it has people in it vis-a-vie when it is empty. Another suggestion is that when you have the old spring off, remove the alloy spacers that go between the spring and the chassis, clean up the studs and when you fit the new spring, make sure that there is plenty of grease between the studs and the alloy spacer---they can be a real bugger to remove if there was no lubrication in the original fitment of the spacer.
I ran into the "front spring not being central" problem when I re-fitted my front spring after the chassis mis-alignment had been rectified on my car---the angles were so far out that we put the car back onto the "jig" to re-check it.
As a result of this problem, I sat down and wrote an article for my Fiat 500 club's magazine on how to check whether the spring is central, and if it isn't, how to rectify the problem---not a difficult job, just tedious. Contact me on [email protected] and I will send you a copy of the article.