hi Neil.
camber is easy.......
makes me wonder if you are really clear about which adjustment the camber
is.....
I think you do know that camber is whether the tire/wheel is exactly
upright,
or tilted inward ( negative camber ) or tilted outward ( positive camber ) .

I always think of a bicycle wheel...........when you turn it ......depending
on steering head angle somewhat .......
when you turn it , the front tire is very tilted in the direction it's going
to go.

too much positive camber ( tire leaning out ) on the right front will cause
a pull to the right.
( or, not enough negative camber there - same thing )

it's adjusted by the large eccentric bolt going through the upper a-arm
inner bushings. Takes a 12mm allen wrench I think.

be interesting to see what an alignment shop says about your van now that
you've done a major re-do on the front end.
Scott

----- Original Message -----
From: "neil N" <musomuso@gmail.com>
To: "Scott Daniel - Turbovans" <scottdaniel@turbovans.com>
Cc: <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
Sent: Sunday, April 12, 2009 1:50 PM
Subject: Re: Trying To Understand Tie rod Adjustments

2009/4/12 Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@turbovans.com>:
> right........
> but we're not talking about 'on a rack at the alignment shop' are we ?
>
> We're talking about back yard............shade trees mechanicin'
> ...............
>
> and........I'm curious - is Neil's goal to get it good enough to drive to
> an
> alignment shop,
> or get it good enough for real road use ?
> I get them quite good with just back yard methods. ..
> and ................( on no ! ) no centerline reference point.
>
> ok.......trivia question.......
> name a mass-produced four door hatchback car from a Euupean car company
> .....
> with a wheel base that is shorter by a solid 3 inches or so on the right
> side, than on the left side .
> ( and if you tweak the torsion bar preloads incorrectly......you can get
> oversteer turning one direction,
> and understeer turning the other direction - lots of fun ) .
>
> Scott
>

The original goal; align things by my "shade tree" hand so I could drive it.

Current goal: see if changing castor on passenger side help RH drift.
Mostly for learning.

I will take it to a shop. If my adjustment corrects drift, I'll be
curious to see how close i got toe and castor. (I'm not dicking with
the camber)

Neil.

--
Neil Nicholson '81 VanaJetta 2.0 "Jaco"

http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/

http://groups.google.com/group/vanagons-with-vw-inline-4-cylinder-gas-engines