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Triumph TR6 - Negative camber

Obviously I've got lots of time on my hands today.
I just replaced my original Michelins (110,000 miles)with beautiful new Dunlop red-lines (205/70/R15) from Diamond Back Classics in South Carolina. They look and drive great, but all of a sudden I have HUGE negative camber in the rear, just guessing maybe 10 to 15 degrees. Will new rear coils correct this? If so, go with original or uprated?
Thanks again,
Keith
Keith Rosenblum

Did you just jack up the car, put them on and lower it again ? If so, drive it around the block and re-check it. If you can't drive it, roll it back and forth to settle the suspension. Then check it again.

Don Elliott
Don Elliott

Don,
Drives fine; just looks funky, and will certainly give me bad tread wear that I don't want on this brand new rubber.
Keith
Keith Rosenblum

Keith
I would have thought u where helping wife with the turkey? OK, this does not make sence?? As you know when the rear is lifted off the tyres then you put it down you get the neg. camber. As Don says go for a long bumpy road drive and get the rear end to "settle in". It sounds like u did this so...sorry I am at a loss here. I do not think that even a change in tyre size would do this.
Good Luck
Rick
Rick Crawford

What about tire pressure? I was driving the Michelins at 20 and 24 PSI. I am driving the Dunlops at 30 and 32. Couls this be it? I had 'some' camber issues before the switch. Now they are simply much more.
Keith Rosenblum

Sorry going to be blond for a moment here.
Neg camber...is top of tyre leaning in or out? Also do the new tyres require that much pressure? I do not see that the increase in pressure would do this..maybe as you said you simply need to do the shim thing to correct the camber.
Rick
Rick Crawford

Negative, In at the top, out at the bottom.
I'm sure i need new rear coils anyhow; I am just hoping that the camber is not an 'additional' problem. Thanks for the feedback.
Keith

PS I got a response from Jeff Zorn. Thanks for the contact.
Keith Rosenblum

Keith
Thanx for helping me out in my blond moment..I was thinking the opposite angle and the road drive corrects this. Yup time to replace the springs and then check out your alignment and camber. We have all seen the good old rear end squat of a 6.
Rick
Rick Crawford

Rick,
Any thoughts on standard or uprated springs? I don't want the reard end to ride too high. (Leave that to the TR7's)
Keith Rosenblum

YUK YUK on the wedge mobiles (hopefully no 7 or 8 owners read this part of the BBS). I think the " race springs" will raise the rear end. Mine are standard (and new). Do not forget to put in new upper and lower collars. Jeff is a good supplier and have only had good dealings with him. I have customers in Detroit so when I go across border I see him.
This conversation is more suited to a chat site.
Rick
Rick Crawford

I caught you guys dissing the wedges; it's ok even though I own a 8 I love my 6's way more. I have a 73 with 280000 miles (driven daily to work at General Motors)with 4 wheel disc brakes, a.c., hardtop(skin cancer),overdrive. On my racecar I ran T.S. imported springs. They were cold rolled steel (won't sag as easily)and also lowered the car. If you run them you may have to get spring spacers to get camber right. Are you sure something didn't get bent when the tire guys put your car on the rack? Also if you have the 3 notch bracket it could have broken, a common problem.

Mike Munson

Keith - You say that you had a bit of this with the Michelins. Are the Dunlops a larger over-all diameter size ? This could make it look more tilted.

Don Elliott

Don Elliott

Keith:

Have you checked your trunk?? maybe 1 too many turkeys back there or a load of bricks?

Seriously, the usual cause for negative camber is worn bushings for the trailing arms. If you still have the original ones, (which were soft to begin with) time to replace them with newer harder ones. Also check the brackets, they develop cracks and will fail. I replaced 2 of mine that had cracks...they usually crack vertically along the mount holes. Also check the frame where the trailing arms attach A NOTOROUSLY weak spot in the frame which is the first place to rust. This can tend to cause neg camb. if the bolts are pulling through the frame.

Re tires 205/70R15 is the same overall diameter as the original 185R15 Michelins (which had a 78%aspect ratio). Keep the pressure the same as the original size 20/24, 30PSI is way too high for that car.

All 6's do have a degree of neg camb. even with new springs, bushings ect Due to the geometry of the design.
steven

Make sure the trailing arm bushings are good, the frame is OK, that you have no cracked brackets, give serious consideration to spring and packing replacement. There is always the rather inelegant way that BL addressed this by using aluminum spacers, but I do not recommend that route.

After you have established that all else is well and good, you can adjust the rear camber by you selection of brackets (1, 2 or 3 notch) and the orientation, notch up or down. There is a rather handy table in the Moss Motors catalog that provides the relative camber change with all 36 combinations of notchs and orientations.

SteveP

Thanks for all of the feedback. Sounds like the first step is to let some air out of my tires, then check for damage, then new springs, bushings, etc., then take another look.
I looked at the chart in Moss with the 36 combinations of bracket settings. It makes me think that there is a prescribed rear camber angle of so many degrees. I thought I just wanted a simple perpendicular position. Am I missing something?
Keith Rosenblum

Also check the upper rear suspension transverse cross member that it is intact and joined to the chassis. If it is rusted out and weak it will cause excessive neg camber.

Like I said in my last line dated Nov 22, even with all new parts there is a little bit of neg camber dialed in...probably by design as neg camber does help in handling.

The Triumph TR6 IRS design dates back to the TR4A and was never a great design in the first place...have you ever heard of any other system where the frame rails actually run under the half shafts? Even in the days of the TR4A IRS, the racing version used the solid axle with leaf spring set up.

One final note, since you have over sized the tires to 205/70R15 they are an inch wider and if you have excessive negative camber you could get rubbing of the inside of the tire under cornering ie hard left corning would make the righ tire rub against the sheet metal that extends up from the bump stop in the wheel well.
steven

This thread was discussed between 21/11/2001 and 25/11/2001

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