rear alignment issue

[PUSHER]

I have some toe in on my passenger side rear tire and I've taken parts of the car apart and checked for bending but havent really found anything. I then tried to put on a pretty wide tire on, It fit on my drivers side rear and did not rub, but when I put it on my pass side it rubs. My question is that since the hub and strut housing are connected does this mean my hub/strut housing is bent?

[blueovalz]

The answer no one wants to hear, but try the "search" feature. I could be wrong here but I believe this is a common trait of the Z. I had it on mine, and I've heard many others with the same issue. It has been covered in one or two strings (perhaps last year some time).

 

Where is the tire rubbing? How much of a difference is there between the left and right side tire clearance that you make reference to (e.g. how much clearance do you have on the drivers side verses it rubbing on the passenger side).

 

This is one reason I made an adjustable rear toe-in mechanism. I've used the delrin eccentric bushings (but they started wearing and eventually became too loose for my likings), then I returned to the OEM rubber bushings with the outside half of the passenger's front bushing shaved while inserting a piece of 2" (not sure of this size) schedule 40 PVC pipe between the unshaved "inboard" part and the steel saddle. In effect this moved the centerline of the bushing outward by about 1/8", which was just about right, and it's was there for years until I installed the toe-in adjustment device and installed new poly bushings.

 

[PUSHER]

Yes, I know this is a common problem for z's and what Ive basically been told to do is take apart the rear end and hammer everything to spec. There is about a 1 cm gap between the spring perch and the tire on drivers side, the same tire/rim will rub on the spring perch on the pass side. What I was mainly wonder was if this means my hub/strut housing is bent. Because if something else in the rear susp was bent wouldnt the tire not rub? And I do have the adj bushings and have it on max toe out settings.

[JMortensen]

There have been a few cases of the spindle pin hole in the bottom of the strut housing being drilled wrong. I know John Coffey posted about that a while back, if you search you may find his old post. Basically if the hole isn't drilled straight then the toe will be off, and probably way off. There would be several ways to fix: offset bushings (apparently not enough), adjustable control arms, or Terry's poor man's toe adjuster. If the control arms, the frame, and the transverse link aren't bent, a poorly manufactured strut could be the cause of your problem.

 

Do you have the alignment specs from the last time you had it done?

[blueovalz]

If I understand your rubbing problem correctly, toe has nothing to do with your issue. If the tire is rubbing on the spring perch on one side, but not the other, then it sounds as though 1) strut housing (hub) is bent; or 2) the spring perch is not in the same location (height) on each side. One thing to look for is to place the car on a known level and flat floor, and then measure the camber on each of the rear tires with a "neutral" setting on any control arm bushings if you have adjustment capability on them. Your problem indicates to me that you will have more negative camber on the passenger side verses the driver's side. I'd also measure the distance from the top of the hub boss (the cast steel bearing carrier) to the bottom of the spring perch on both the rear struts and see if there is a difference in this dimension between the two.

[PUSHER]

will try, thanks.

[Michael]

There was a very similar problem with my car (78 280Z); the camber of the left front tire was different than on the right front. Similarly in the rear. And indeed the gap between the spring perch and the tire rim was different on the left vs. the right. In the rear, asymmetry in camber can also LOOK like asymmetry in tow, when visually trying to follow the shape of the tire in the wheel well; the tire with more negative camber appears to “plunge†more into the fender (tow-in).

 

After chasing some dead ends, such as looking for bent control arms or crash damage in the unibody, I removed the strut assemblies from all four corners. And behold, the included-angle between the spindle axis and the strut housing centerline was off by about 2 degrees on the front-passenger and rear-driver corners! This was obvious after unbolting everything from the front strut assemblies, and standing them side by side on a workbench.

 

So I started a thread on heating and bending the strut housings in a hydraulic press, to bring the spindle angles back into spec – and whether that might crack the castings, or the strut housings, or cause some metal to lose temper. The upshot was – bending a little is OK, but don’t heat it. But the best solution is to find new strut housing assemblies.

 

The following year I scoured junkyards for 280Z strut housings. Many were bent, and the quest seemed doomed Then, last winter Mike Kelly kindly donated a spare set of housings. Standing the front and rear strut assembly pairs side by side, they looked absolutely symmetric. When I installed the front assemblies, my asymmetry problem magically disappeared – the gap between spring perch and tire rim was equal on both sides. Installation in rear wasn’t possible because I couldn’t remove the infamous spindle pin from one of the rear strut assemblies.

 

So the point is, (1) remove the strut housings and measure them, and (2) either get new strut housing assemblies or bend – very carefully – the ones that you have.

[PUSHER]

Good side

 

Bad side

 

So its bent? What strut housing/hubs will work? only 280z or will a 240, 260 or 280zx work? Thank you so much for your help.

[blueovalz]

Wow, over a 1/4" off. Quite a difference! If you've got a 280, then I'd stick with the same strut housing being the 240 housing has a slightly smaller diameter, which would cause fitment problems with strut inserts.

Out of curiousity only, is this difference shown in your photos attributed to a bent tube or bearing housing, differnt dimensions in the cast bearing housing, or some other reason? I'm assuming this difference is due to a bent tube, thus changing the angle and consequently, closing the gap at the top where you're measuring it. I wish it was sitting on my bench where I could study it.

[PUSHER]

Not sure what you mean, I believe the wheel bearings are fine because they showed no play when I would giggle on the wheel. Also, I rotated the hub around and it all measured about the same. Dont know if any of these help your question, I guess Ill be calling around junkyards this week. Anyone know how much one these should cost, also should I get the control arm to? Because I've heard its hard to seperate the housing from the control arm for some reason, although I havent really tried. Thanks.

[PUSHER]

also, would a 280zx housing work and does it matter what side I get?

[jeromio]

75-78 280Z housing is what you want. You might try Zbarn. If it's a local, non-Z specialty yard, they may have a hard time removing the strut housing from the arm. The spindle pin is very difficult to remove. If they use a hammer on it, then it will ruin the pin. I know of some local yards around here that like to use the blow torch to remove parts. If so, I recommend requesting the arm and strut assembly as a whole.