TA22 castor adjustment

[TwentyTwo]

The passenger front wheel has been rubbing on the guard when turning right with the suspension compressed (every driveway i turn out of), but not the drivers side, which turned out to be because the castor was wound out way further on the passenger side. So now im just concerned that the castor is gonna be buggered on both sides.
My question is, how many threads should be visible protruding from the adjusting nut on the castor rod? I cant afford for a suspension joint to set it up at the moment, hence my caveman measuring techniques. At the moment they're both set at 32mm.
The wheels are 15x7'', with 205/50/15 rubber, so i think they should fit fairly comfortably. I'm just after a stock setting really, or a fairly small angle so the wheel will stop rubbing.

Cheers guys,

Jim.

[TwentyTwo]

Anyone got any idea?

[mrshin]

Kind of hard to answer that one... the reason it is adjustable is to allow for variations! Best thing to do is to get an alignment (shouldn't cost that much), with as much castor as you can without actually rubbing anywhere. The other way is to just adjust the castor yourself until the tyre doesn't quite touch anywhere, then check the toe afterwards with blocks of wood, measuring tape, etc.

[TwentyTwo]

Ahh, forgot the toe and castor will be related. I've got it set so that the tyre just misses the guard at the moment, I guess thats about all i can do.
Has anyone else with a 205/50/15 tyre and a +90mm offset had rubbing issues?

[river]

Hi,

I have 205/55/15 - not sure of the offset. They don't rub. Nowhere near it.

seeyuzz
river

[BigBadBenny]

Jim,
maybe just a simple one, just have a look on your front lower control arms and make sure your steering stop bolts are still there.
if they are, then a wheel alignment is in order, the radius rods can be adjusted to change your castor, it is quite normal for worn bushes in your radius rods to play havoc with your alignment.
Regards
Benny

[TwentyTwo]

Yeah i just had a wheel alignment done about 2 weeks ago when i changed the ball joints and tie rod ends. It starts rubbing the front bottom corner of the guard at about half a turn right. Im still sus on the castor, the steering is really twitchy and it tramlines heaps. Its pretty difficult to keep in a straight line if the road isnt perfectly flat. ie. it follws the camber of the road. I guess i'll just deal with it for a couple of weeks till i can afford to have it set up on a jig. Cheers for your help so far guys,

Jim.

[mrshin]

Sounds like they messed up your alignment - too much castor (not that there is such a thing! HAH!) and toe out. Go back and tell them to fix it for you.

[TwentyTwo]

I still had the same issues before the alignment, and they didnt touch the radius rods as far as im aware. I was going to add a bit more toe in to stabilize the handling a bit, but im not convinced that thats the root of my problem.
Even with the castor the same on both sides, its still only the left tyre rubbing, the right hand misses by about 5-10mm. Mabe the subframe is fucked? There are small signs of an accident in the front end....

[BigBadBenny]

they should be able to give you a print out of your spec's and what they should be,
there are a lot of places that just do the "toe and Go" special.
maybe find a place that actually will do a professional job, if there is something wronge they should tell you straight away.
Benny

[Rodger]

Twenty Two,

Measure the wheel base on each side to see if they are the same or different, then you can compare the castor readings to give you an indication if the chassis is good. You may also find the rear is not square to the chassis.

Head for a specialist suspension place and not a local alignment shop as mentioned before. They can check the rear alignment too.

I have, and I think I have noticed other TA-22s, cut the front corner out of the guard to clear. Measure about 40mm along the bottom edge and then a straight line up to merge with the lip. I successfully did this with a hacksaw to my Three tone green TA-22 without damaging the paint.

Another benifit of the increase in castor is to get the wheels to clear the inner guard at the firewall.

Regards

Rodger

[TwentyTwo]

Cheers for that mate, I've already tried rolling that guard, didn't fix anything.
I did check my tyre pressures today, and i hate to admit it, but the drivers side front was only 9psi, so with all 4 set to 38psi, the thing handles alot nicer (duh) parking is easier too ;-)
I'm sure i could fix the rubbing issue by dialing in more negative castor, but I dont really want to for obvious reasons, plus if River can fit bigger tyres on than me, something is suss. I'm pretty sure its not the offset thats the issue, as its rubbing in the middle of the tread, not the sidewall.
Thanks for all your help guys, but i think its time i went to a specialist and had the whole thing set up properly, sure it won't cost too much. (famous last words)