In a message dated 96-09-26 17:43:23 EDT, you write: << I thought the camber was off. i.e. the tops of the rear wheels were leaning in toward the middle of the van. This seemed odd to me but I was assured it was correct. Does your experience confirm this? >> There is a very slight negative camber to the vanagon rear wheels designed into the geometry( the wheels do not appear perfectly straight up and down), but you should not see excessive leaning of the wheel inward(negative), as the camber should be barely noticable to the eye, if this happens to a great degree you will experience an inside tire wear and a tendancy for the wheel to jack in on trailing throttle oversteer(a problem that has plagued other rear trailing arm suspension cars w/rear engine configurations, most notably the 76-86 Porsche 930).Make sure the alignment shop tests the camber w/ a proper load of gas,oil and water per Bentley spec, otherwise as you add weight the rear will camber in more.If you have questions have the mechanic show you the guage readout.I dont have my manual here to check as it is packed in storage, but ill guess it shouldn't be more than 1 degree neg.(Dennis can you help w/ the spec?).If it seems excessive or you have tire wear recheck it. One thing to note for all you vanagoners out there is the tendancy, over time, for the rear springs to sag, especially if the van has sat idle for as period of time.This will cause the appearance of negative camber as the wheel naturally cambers in on spring compression...this could be why the mechanic says it is within spec.
Ed Berroth 84 Westy Wolf 87 Stinkcrow
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