Urgent KE70 Help Needed

[KEBOOM]

Hi,

I need some urgent help RE the front suspension in my KE70 corolla. I have recently upgraded to ST141 Corona front struts and brakes and for some reason my tires are now wearing ridiculous amounts on the outside, and not at all on the inside.
I have tried all sorts of things to rectify the situation but so far nothing has worked. The wheels were completely out of alignment when I first drove it so I adjusted the front steering arms by hand(not completely accurate but better then it was ). I cannot get a wheel alignment as yet because there is 14"s on the front and 13"s on the rear (original 13"s fouled on the calipers). I have some 15"s to go on soon but I'm not willing to fork out $100 for expensive tyres when they will only last a couple of months!!. Trust me, the wearing on the outside is that bad
Anyway, any help would be extremely well appreciated.

Cheers,
Alex

[WDE_BDY]

Your camber is screwed, got positive when you want a couple of degrees negative. It may require adjustable strut tops or longer bottom arms to fix it.

Callum

[KEBOOM]

Ahh, so simple yet I didn't think of needing longer lower control/steering (whatever the hell they're called) arms . I think I changed the control arms to ST141 jobbies when I did the swap. As I remember they were slightly shorter then my originals. So all I should have to do is replace the old ones. Many thanks

[mrshin]

Not quite that simple... The corona/celica/etc. struts have a different angle to the Corolla ones, so you'll always have a battle with camber. You have to use corona/celica/(or cressida if you want longer) lower arms to match the size of the steering arms. The easiest/nastiest solution is to go the strut bend.

[KEBOOM]

Ok, so I had the car up on stands today to have a better look at it, and I've come to the realisation that I will definitely need longer lower control arms to match the different strut angle.So...has anyone done this sort of thing before? I had a bit of a search on the old forums and the like but couldn't find anything relavent (except for something about Sigma control arms being used but there wasn't much info).
What size arms would I need and from what? Corona of the same make? Celica, Cressida? And, more importantly, does anyone have any that would suit my application??

Any help much appreciated.

[SeptemberSquall]

1. Measure your arms.
2. Measure some arms at whatever Pick-a-Part is called in your corner of the world.
3. ???
4. Profit.

Actually, I'll be a little more useful and say look at TA22, RA40 and RT132 arms for a start as these will have the right ball joints and inner bush parts for your setup. If these are not enough, some Cressida arms are stupidly longer (ie. + 60mm). At this stage you need to plan for flares too. Let me know if you find some good ones...

[KEBOOM]

Ok, thanks for the input. I will head out to good 'ol pick-'n-payless ASAP. Just one moe thing, why the need for the flares? I only want to extend the arm by a small amount, to fix the camber problem. It shouldn't push the wheel outside the guard though I would think. Or is this only for the Cressida arms?
Cheers

[stahlz_ae86]

I did a search and found this before asking about upgrades for my AE71.

Did you establish a solution to the camber issue KEBOOM?
Other questions...

• Are the ST141 struts and brakes the same as RA60?
• Which springs did you use, KE70 or ST141?
• Does the front sit higher/lower?
• Has the brake bias changed at all?

Sorry if this (ST141/RA60) is a noob question.

[KEBOOM]

Yeah the camber will be fixed in a couple of days (when I can find the time to get around to it ). I'm now going to be running RA40 lower control arms to fix the camber. They are slightly longer (somewhere in the order of 5-10mm I think) so it should hopefully give a slight bit of negative camber.
I'm not sure if RA60 brakes and struts are the same as ST141, but if you want to go down the strut-changing route, I'd suggest using XT130 struts and brakes. I'm fairly sure that's what mine are anyway (guy who sold them to me wasn't completely sure... ). That way you can do the Hilux/Peugeot brake conversion that everyone on the forums talks about.
Front springs are to match the strut, ie either XT130 or ST141. Rear springs are KE70. They are both King Springs Lows, and to the naked eye it looks like the front and rear are at the same height.
Brake bias, to my knowledge, hasb't changed a bit.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Alex

[rthy]

the xt130 and ra40 have the same lca's or look pretty much the same, u could use the GH sigma (79-81) lca and the xt130/ra40 tie rods+tie ends rods for the extra track

[slide86]

ST141 and RA60 struts are not entirely the same.

the stub axles are the same, allowing the hubs to be swapped over, but the lower mount (where is bolts to the steering arm) isnt. the bolt holes are not the same.

i tried to use the ST141 struts in my 86 and they wont bolt to the LCA.
I have been told that the RA60 ones do.....which would mean that the lower bolt spacings are different

[rthy]

ra60 struts dont bolt into the ae86 idle/knuckle/lower mount arms but u can swap the knukle arms over but will still get the + camber with ae86 lca so sigma arms will fix it but will have massive of track...

unless a shorter sprint/strut is used? sw20 rear shocks should do the trick???

[Pluto55]

Hi Yep... Positive Camber Can be a problem, that is why your tires a getting chopped out on the out side. Changing the LCA (lower control arm) could fix this but unfortunately when doing modifications to struts introduces lots of issues.

I have the same problem with My 55 KE55 im 1deg positive.. the different types of LCA ive fitted up to my car are many waist doing the RA65 v/disc&strut conversion.. to name them heres a list RA40 RA60 MX71 MX61 and Sigma GH, LCA's None of these Fitted well enough everything RA left me still with Positive camber and although what all the Hear say said nothing will be perfect, coz even if the lengths are longer then the bends are sharper equaling same length when put on the car.

Your best bet is Sigma LCA off GN GH GJ but check under the car coz some models have the Three bolt strut not the two which is what you may want.. But keep in mind the Negative camber will chop out the insides of you wheels at a faster rate then what is happening now. Also your track will be out and i would not do this without putting on spacer’s coz the side on aspect of the car looks silly with the front wheel out and the rear in.

Or Change your thoughts and get and engineer to make some LCA's (im unsure of the Legalities here) Otherwise your looking at the same thing as me Strut Tops i need Adj strut tops but you may not have any movement in the tower to do so.

Well good Luck ,, sorry to ramble on. catch ya

[southozet]

hey man, use sigma contolr arms. they gave me -4 degrees of camber, handles sick.. just go to u pull it and rip out a set of arms out of the old sigma, not the newer ones, aswell as a set of tyre rod ends out of a carona or ra40 celica. everything bolts straight in. good luck.

[Robbos_Toyotas]

also, mx62 cressida's have longer lower control arms...."should" fit...