I used a tall level held in a drill press vice sitting in the driveway.
That frees up both hands to deal with a ruler over to the wheel.

Mine are not quite right with your specs, though an alignment was just done!

Thanks,

Jim

On Wed, Oct 16, 2013 at 9:17 PM, Scott Daniel <scottdaniel@turbovans.com>wrote:

> safe advice..
> I use a carpenter's level and short ruler to get the static camber with
> wheels straight ahead.
> I like to roll the van forward to settle the suspension first..
> and stop it with the parking brake.
> Has to be on a very level flat floor.
>
> I have at times simulated the driver's weight with a sack of concrete or
> whatever in the front seat..
> though alignments are never done that way. .. Makes quite a difference
> actually.
>
> then ..when camber is where I it ....I go for straight up and down or
> barely tilted out at the top ...like 1/8th inch.
> then do toe ..as changing camber can affect the toe.
> I go for 1/16th inch to 1/8 inch toe-in.
>
> if you really want to be cool...check the castor ..
> or check that it's about equal on both sides.
> like this ..
> turn full right, measure left and right cambers. You'll find the inside
> tire leans Way in ..like a fat two inches at the top.
> and the outside of the turn tire leans in barely ...like 1/4 to less
> than 1/2 inch.
> that would be fairly normal.
>
> then turn full left and repeat.
> if the measurements are pretty close on both sides, ..your castor is
> about right.
>
> I change whole front suspensions with this method ..
> I get 'em darn close ...tires don't wear, van goes straight, etc.
>
> Scott
>
>
>
> On 10/16/2013 6:50 PM, Don Hanson wrote:
>
>>    Even parts for Vanagons.   Today I was doing some long-deferred
>> maintenance, getting a head start on my pre-winter trip chores.   My front
>> alignment has been bad now for a while, probably since I got the van......
>> so the RAO 8s are wearing the inside shoulders, more on the left wheel.  I
>> decided to dismount the front tires and swap them around to use up the
>> remaining tread, and to address the poor alignment while I had the wheels
>> off.......needs some camber adjustment, at least.
>>
>>    I've not messed with the vanagon suspension much, so I discovered I
>> needed a 14mm hex key to move the camber settings...and of course, didn't
>> have that one.    Off to the city.... and I went to 4 likely auto and tool
>> supply houses....without any  luck.. Anyhow I found the tool at NAPA in
>> The
>> Dalles, Or (pretty small town)....  I've seldom been 'skunked' when I go
>> to
>> any NAPA....though the one in a really tiny town we frequent often has to
>> order out and get stuff  for me sent in the next day......
>>
>>     Anybody have any sage advice on reducing the negative camber my front
>> obviously has?   Any gotchas I might encounter or hidden complexities that
>> won't be readily apparent or outlined in the Bently book?    I don't have
>> an alignment rack or lasers but I can usually do most vehicles acceptably
>> well without that fancy stuff...
>>
>>