Camber adjustment

[Zeeman]

Hi all. Recently fitted drop spindles to my Bedford. Unfortunately the negative camber was pretty severe - about 3 degrees. As the stock pressed steel upper suspension arms don't allow any camber adjustment, I thought I would get some adjustable upper arms made up. Thought some of you may be interested. Although it was a decent amount of work, at least I'll be able to dial in the camber to get an exact wheel alignment this way.

[Marishka]

Look great!
Do they need engineers pass?

[Zeeman]

No idea! I was told verbally at Vicroads that the van can be re registered as is because it has been previously registered with the same running gear (of course that isn't worth a pinch of shit). I can get engineers certification for them if needed. The material is well in excess of engineering requirements ( 1.25" DOM tube with a 6mm wall thickness ).

[Zeeman]

I don't think I could do much worse than the original builder's idea of 'engineering':

[stuuuz]

Those upper arms look terrific Zeeman, nice one. Sounds like you've got the camber issue sorted

According to the manual, there is some camber adjustment available with the use of small shims under where the lower wishbones bolt to the crossmember. Not sure how effective it is, but next time I go for a wheel alignment I will ask them to try it out. I only noticed it in the manual after my last wheel align, I showed it to the technician (an older guy who has had a couple of Bedfords in the past) and he wasn't aware of it.

I have put pictures of the manual page and the shims at the link below (the pictures are too big to upload here). Item 35 on the diagram is the shim.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/EyhuKWwVYyYvx9aEA

[phill]

Hi I have just pulled the front end apart and on the drivers side only there were shims in between the crossmember and lower wishbone

[Zeeman]

The problem was with the drop spindles I think. The discrepancy was about 15mm at the top arm, too much to correct with shims. I approached Rod Hadfield about it , but the problem was the guy who designed the Bedford drop spindles had since died, and it had been so long since he made a set for Bedford, he couldn't remember the exact specs. The fitting instructions were pretty rudimentary, basically a few scribbled notes. Now I know a lot more though about Bedford suspension setup though! Wanted to make sure Ackerman angle, camber, caster etc were setup properly.

Those upper arms look terrific Zeeman, nice one. Sounds like you've got the camber issue sorted

According to the manual, there is some camber adjustment available with the use of small shims under where the lower wishbones bolt to the crossmember. Not sure how effective it is, but next time I go for a wheel alignment I will ask them to try it out. I only noticed it in the manual after my last wheel align, I showed it to the technician (an older guy who has had a couple of Bedfords in the past) and he wasn't aware of it.

I have put pictures of the manual page and the shims at the link below (the pictures are too big to upload here). Item 35 on the diagram is the shim.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/EyhuKWwVYyYvx9aEA

[stuuuz]

Yep drop spindles would change the game completely I imagine. Sounds like it was a bit of a mission, well done on figuring it all out!

[Lucdown]

Did you go with Bedford drop,spindles or Holden ?   If you have the camber sorted you could use Holden and change the ball joints. Could you post the instructions. Rod was pretty vague when I spoke to him. As well.

What did it cost you make  or did you do it all yourself ?

Betweeen us all we have to be able to solve this issue.  So many beddies want to,drop the front and still have good geometry.  Who is going to design the kit ?

[Marishka]

Yeah Zeeman they are shocking!
Not much thought or work went into them that's for sure😵