?Knocked the Toe out of One Side-what moved?

[AllZWay]

Remember the control arms have two alignment slots, so check the rear vertical slot as well. Does your car have slotted uppers? I've seen plenty of bent uprights that you couldnt see as bent other than by the alignment numbers and relative lower control arm location in their slots.

Yep.. I have had them bend in my favor to where I could get more camber on one side than the other. These knuckles bend pretty easily.

[BryanL]

Pulled the spindle and control arm. All the bolts were tight-nothing has moved or shows evidence of moving. On my garage floor the camber settings were still pretty exact what they were before. Maybe a few decimals off but that could be due to the floor. Still don't see anything that would have caused the drivers side wheel to be toed out an inch or two.
-The upppers don't appear to be slotted any and no evidence that they have moved.
-Spindle and control arm don't show any noticeable difference from the spares I have compared side by side. The spindle does look like it has a slight bend where the tie rod end goes through but nothing that would cause an inch or more of toe out. I stood the spindles upside down and measured the height from the floor to the top of the tie rod hole-there was a difference of 2 mm. So possibly slightly bent or just difference in build tolerances.
-Does anyone know if it's possible for the steering rack to jump over on the gear but would only affect one side? I have never seen the inside of our racks but I don't think this is possible.
-Maybe there is something else bigger that bent and I'm just totally missing it. At this point I'm going to replace the ball joint on the control arm, swap the spindle, then put it all back together. I may slot the k member a little more to see about getting a hair more camber but they are already enlarged.
-I'll max out the camber on the slots as normal to get as much as I can-around -2.0. Set the toe and run it. I'll have my suspension department doing an inspecting at the track.

[Rob Liebbe]

[QUOTE=BryanL;70837] The spindle does look like it has a slight bend where the tie rod end goes through but nothing that would cause an inch or more of toe out. /QUOTE]

Think of the geometry. You measure toe as the difference in track width between the front and rear of the tires. Large tires - way out away from the spindle. Any small change near the spindle/centerline of the tire is essentially magnified the farther away from the centerline. So a .25 inch movement of the tie rod mount can become an inch of toe change. Other bends of the spindle can cause toe changes as well. Make sure you put a non-damaged spindle back on.

You sure are hard on equipment.

[MikeP99Z]

They bend fairly easily. I've bent two and broken one. The last one got bent at Atlanta from contact, which left me with 35* negative camber. Note: new ones from GM have gone way up in price. I paid like $360 for the replacement. They used to be around $180. And Rob is spot on regarding the geometry assessment.

[Fbody383]

If you guys make Leinart any faster I'll have to buy a Mustang.

[Rob Liebbe]

If you guys make Leinart any faster I'll have to buy a Mustang.

His car may be faster, but.....

Maybe he just needs a co-driver.

[BryanL]

His car may be faster, but.....

Maybe he just needs a co-driver.

I already have a co-driver (and one who weighs about the same). That's why I have you as my Suspension Dynamics Consultant (fancy name but all you get is quality Bud Light).

[Rob Liebbe]

I already have a co-driver (and one who weighs about the same). That's why I have you as my Suspension Dynamics Consultant (fancy name but all you get is quality Bud Light).

I just became unavailable next Saturday.

[rleng1]

If you have ruled out, "Being one deal off", then you may want to check the spot welds on the steering rack itself. They can bust easily, especially if you are airborne.

[Rob Liebbe]

One deal off turned out to be a lower control arm that moved.