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Relationship of bachelor lean to front wheel camber?

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bthompson

bthompson

Jedi Warrior
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Nigel has a case of bachelor lean. Par for the course. The passenger side front wheel has excessive negative camber: I've just discovered the inside edge is far more worn than the outside edge. Also par for the course.

I was pondering just now: many have said that the solution for bachelor lean is to lower the opposite side front suspension. Does this mean the low driver's side rear is pulling up on the passenger's side front? Would this cause the alignment to go wonky on just that one wheel? (The wear on that tire is worse than the other three, like it is scrubbing.)

I did a quick rock-and-jerk check on the front wheels, and judging by feel there's no obvious bearing or bushing wear.

What do y'all think? Would the best course of action be to a) drop the spring pan to correct the lean, b) try new trunnion bushes, c) shim the damper up, d) adjust the toe-in to minimize the scrub, or e) ignore it and just start rotating tires so they all wear out together? Keep in mind I have a bad back and no money, so "just buy a new suspension" ain't gonna fly in this case. :greedy_dollars:
 
Before trying any "custom" fixes be cerating that everything else is in good condition. If you have excessive negative camber, then you could have more serious problems than bachelor lean. I'd suspect worn fulcrum pin and inner A-arm bushings.
 
Trevor Jessie said:
Before trying any "custom" fixes be cerating that everything else is in good condition. If you have excessive negative camber, then you could have more serious problems than bachelor lean. I'd suspect worn fulcrum pin and inner A-arm bushings.
Click to expand...

I agree with Trevor but if you are cutting the inside of the tire I'd check alignment as well.

Kurt.
 
Good idea, Kurt, I checked the toe-in today and it was dead-on, zero degrees. So that's one less thing to worry about. * Since the fenders are currently pulled, it's easy to eyeball the tires from the front (I was fixing broken wheel arches) and both wheels are noticeably off-camber, the passenger side more than the driver's. So it looks like some suspension work is in store. I've heard horror stories galore about frozen fulcrum pins, but any suspension work is probably gonna be a backbreaker. Guess I'll try the upper trunion bushings first; if they're cooperative, I'll replace 'em with polyurethane. It probably won't be a 100% fix, but it'll be better. :rolleye:

* ...after watching John Twist's Midget suspension video, when the upper bush goes, it causes negative camber and toe-out. Sooo, it's probably toeing out while in motion, and scrubbing the tire. Great. There's a lot of things I can comfortably do with a Midget. Suspension work isn't one of them. Guess it's time to learn.
 
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Poly is clunky and didn't center right on mine, it made things worse.
 
The suspension never made sense to me looking at the exploded drawing until I actually took it apart to repair. Assume everything will be rusted together. I'm about to dive into my 3rd suspension rebuild for Bugsy II. Wishbones rebushed and ready, need to get painting started to get the sub assembly completed in advance. Come armed with a saws all and some fresh blades and have some fun. That's why the major suspension kit cones with new kingpins and fulcrum pins. Once you cut the fulcrum pin in both sides it simply falls apart.
 
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