Is anyone who installed the AC upper a-arms having camber problems? I did bring the front about 2 1/2 inches, and then got it alligned. It drives fine but it seems that the camber is off. I looked at the adjustments on the a-arm and it's adjusted to the max.
I looked at gothamist's pics and it seems he's having the same thing. Is that normal?
If you look at it, it looks like this \ /
take a look...



Is it just me?

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01 SE Super Black

When I had my truck aligned here are the specs they gave me on camber:

Nissan spec is 0.1 to 1.1 degrees on each front wheel, they were able to get the left one to 1.0, the right one to 1.1.

Cross camber spec is -0.8 to +0.8, mine is at +0.4.

The only thing they couldn't quite get back into spec was the left and right caster (cross caster is within spec, though.)

Any chance you cranked up the lift more than you meant to?

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Vikram/gothamist -- MAXC member
http://www.4x4LO.com

Well here is mine they got it all in perfect factory spec's.



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[This message has been edited by SSRXterra (edited 08-06-2001).]

What did they get your caster to?

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Vikram/gothamist -- MAXC member
http://www.4x4LO.com

I will have to find the spec sheet I believe its somewhere in my X so let me see and I will post it. I know it was all correct because I remember being quite shocked once I heard the news. I first took my truck to NTB and they couldnt get it in spec's, so I set an appointment up with 4wheelwholsalers, and 40 minutes after I dropped off the truck I was driving out a perfectly happy man.

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I only raised it by 2 1/2 inches. I'm not sure what's wrong... What does the caster do? Does that affect the camber at all?

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01 SE Super Black

gothamist / SSRXterra,
Are you running with the add a leaf & shackles? How much did you have to lift the front to level it out? How much lift in the front are you guys getting away with?
Also, I didn't replace the stock torsion bars. Would that have something to do with the camber?

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01 SE Super Black

[This message has been edited by stormy (edited 08-06-2001).]

I'm running both aal's and shackles in the back, but I have quite worn/trashed spring packs. How much distance do you have from the bumpstop to the upper a-arm? This is what I have.



p.s. the upgraded torsion bars shouldn't affect your camber or caster at all. For a good explanation of what those are, try here.

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Vikram/gothamist -- MAXC member
http://www.4x4LO.com

The distance on mine is almost 2". I also looked at the camber adjustment. It looks like there is a little room for adjustment. Maybe next time I shouldn't leave it up to Pep Boys for an allignment.
How much were you able to bring up the front?

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01 SE Super Black

[This message has been edited by stormy (edited 08-06-2001).]

The reason I'm avoiding that question is that it has a pretty meaningless answer, IMHO, unless you know exactly where you started from. I had my t-bars cranked up pretty high before (less bumpstop clearance than I have now) because I was compensating for the aal's I installed the month before, and therefore I only got about 1.5" out of the AC lift. However, where I had my t-bars adjusted to, I couldn't get the truck aligned to factory specs (camber or caster.) So me saying "I got 1.5 inches" doesn't help you much, because your torsion bars were probably cranked up to a different level than mine were. Make sense?



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Vikram/gothamist -- MAXC member
http://www.4x4LO.com

It makes sense, but your truck looks level. I guess what I'm saying is with the AC lift installed and the t-bars adjusted to level the truck out, I can't get the camber at the right angle.
I have the aal and shakles installed and I can't get the to look proper. Is there any other method, that you know of, of lifting the front without using the t-bars?

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01 SE Super Black

Stormy came over last night and we talked about it. I suggested he reindex his T bars 2 clicks and try adjusting. if that's too much go down one. I suggested 2 because if he already has them at the max, and he goes up one setting, he may reach the max and find he needs to reindex, meaning he'll have to remove the nuts all the way back out again... whereas if he goes up 2, he may quickly find out that it's too much, in which case it'll be easier to remove them.

Am I ok in assuming this?

I don't think that would affect the camber problem stormy seems to be having, but for what it's worth I had the end of my anchor hanging down about 2" below the frame crossmember before I threaded the bolt and started cranking them. I have plenty of adjustment left, and the anchors are recessed about .5" in the crossmember (meaning they are more protected from rocks.)

Hope that helps...

One more thing to put in the mix... I called AC and they said that the spec for the AC lift as far as the distance from the bump stop and the pad on the a-arm should be no less than 1/2" (I wonder why SLR's spec says no less than 3/4"?) and you will be able to get the camber and caster adjustment into factory spec. Again, I have 2" of space.
AC also said that if they hace any problems to call and they will explane how to get it into spec... I'll be taking it in on saterday afternoon to allign it.

I'll let you know...

You're measuring the wrong bumpstop.
Even a stock Xterra, at stock ride height, with stock control arms doesn't have 2" of room between the upper bumpstop and the upper control arm.

I'm going by what SLR and AC have for instructions... If that's wrong, Then what is the right bump stop so I can get this thing finished and looking and riding proper???

Why are you using SLR's specs ?

Regardless, all of you are going to have major problems soon with the amount of lift you've dialed in up front.

I've been running about 1.25" of clearance from the upper bump stop to the upper arm, and my steering crosslink is now toast, the end bushings are shot, and I have 3 degrees of toe-in play at the wheels.

A new one is going on next week, which should hold up for another 10,000 miles.

I used them for a comparison. You see Ian, when someone is having a problem, they go look at simmilar products to compare and try to find an answer.
As for your review in the lift... I don't remember seeing "steering crosslink is now toast" or "the end bushings are shot" in your write up in the reviews section.
I'm just looking for an anwser to my question. Thanks for your 2 cents.
:rolleyes:

Umm, why would you compare the specs on trucks with differently designed A-Arms? That is a bad comparison and a bad idea.

Ian said "Why are you using SLR's specs?" I wasn't using them, just comparing them to see if I could find an answer.
There are no illustrations with the AC instructions. I used the AC instructions and some of the pictures from SLR. While looking at the SLR install, I noticed that they had a spec for bumpstop-to-pad. The AC instruction didn't. I called AC to get the spec from them (as I stated in one of my earlier posts). If you read my post, I was only wondering why the specs were different. At what time did I say I was using the SLR specs???
FYI - I'm looking for help. Isn't that one of reasons for starting this message board?

Now I see how this member rating thing works! Disagree with XOC and it goes down
Whatever! I see you pull that sh|t all the time... Pick and choose who you help.
I think you know a sh|t load about the X but, who would want to post a problem in fear that you could or would technically shred them instead of help them out.
Fvck this

Stormy,

Hope this helps…I know a couple of people running the AC lift and they have been able to get alignments within all the factor specs including camber without too much of a problem using 31" tires with moderate amounts of torsion bar adjustments.

I'm not sure actually what you meant by bringing the front up 2.5" inches but if you cranked the T-bars that much you will likely have problems. Reindexing the T-bars is what AC recommends I believe. However, if you do have 2" of space between the upper bumpstop & upper control arm then you don't have much of a torsion adj. at all or not enough in my opinion. I would think that 3/4" - 1 1/2" is more like what you should be aiming for. When the front is aligned properly the tires should look more like | |

I would recommend you consult with the vendor to help resolve any problems, clarify the instructions, etc. then find a shop that does computerized thrust angle alignment.

BTW I think everybody else is trying to help, sometimes advice doesn't always come across cleanly or is accepted as constructive

Good luck and let us know the resolution

[ 08-11-2001: Message edited by: Xtoolbox ]

Okay, can someone clear something up for me? Assuming you don't run out of threads on the torsion bar adjusment bolt, what is the point of reindexing them? All that seems to change is the angle the torsion bar anchor makes with the frame crossmember, not the actual amount of twist the bar is undergoing due to tension in the system. How does this change anything? (Preload, etc...)

I've asked the techs at a few Nissan dealerships about this very question and they've all agreed with me--reindexing isn't neccessary, or even beneficial, until you run out of adjustment on the torsion bar anchor bolt.

So what am I missing?

This is exactly why i am having a shop install my lift.

The total ground to bumper lift was about 2.5".

I think I finally have it fixed. I did as AC recomended. I'm not sure why it worked, but here it is.
I put the truck on a lift. Then backed out the T-bar bolts completely. I re-index each side 2 notches. I counted a total of 29 turns per side on the bolts. I then lowered the truck and drove it around for about 15 minutes. Then looked at the bumpstop to pad and it was about 3/4"on the drivers side and 1/4" on the passengers side. The camber was just slightly off. I lowered the passengers side 2.5 turns and it is now sitting level and the camber looks good. It could use a very slight camber adjustment but as of right now I am very happy with the result.

gothamist :
I don't think that the re-index help with the camber. But it did make me look closer at the bumpstop to pad distance. Also, It looks like the passenger side took less tuns, not equal turns, to raise it level.

Thank-you gothamist, SSRXterra, Xtoolbox, and Matt for your help on this.