I have a 96 z-24 that I race on dirt ovals. I keep breaking (ruining) rear wheel bearings. Its gotten to the point that I had to replace them every 2 race nights at the end of last year. Is there anything that can be done to remedy this? Anybody else have these problems?
Thanks.
Sorry, saw the same question asked below after I posted this.
I have several spindles built that are direct bolt on replacements , still use stock brake parts and do not change front to rear tracking, has stock wheel bolt pattern 5x100 have many of these running and no failures in two years, just repac tapered bearings once or twice a year and adjust just like a rwd car.
we found teh key is running more rear camber, we used to break them often and now have not broke one in a year and a half
Maybe a dumb question..how do you adjust the camber in the rear?
Thanks.
i put washers behind the bearing bolts, i washer on the bottom 2 bolts give you about half inch of camber
Older caravan wheel bearings work well. like 89 wiht 14inch wheels
97cavalier
Bob, when you say washers are you talking 1 on each bottom bolt or 2 stacked.
One on each bottom bolt to give the camber that you need.
You've got to make sure that the washers/ shims are of equal size and thickness or you may have an effect on the toe of the car which would be unwanted. You can also vary the thickness of the washers to give you more or less camber as needed but just make sure that all 4 washers for both sides are equal thickness to maintain proper alignment and camber.
I did this on my Cavy achieving about a -1.5 degree of negative camber for the rear of the car.
I've heard many say not to do it this way because of issues with durability of the bolts holding the hub against the axle but doing some research on other forums found this to be ok as long as you're not offroading the car as in WRC style driving.
In time I'll take it all apart for an inspection of the bolts, washers, and bearings to see how they're doing. Nothing like a little bit of safety to make sure that mods like this don't go awry.
Good luck with it.
Misnblu.com
Newbie member since 1999
Thank you Dave and JBO!
i have washers on the mine and i still ruin hubs out where i run (BCM:butler county motorplex here in nebraska)
1999 2.4L w/ nitrous
MadJack wrote:You could also try toe/camber shims such as Ingall's Engineering's. Though I doubt these will quite give you enough, with only 1 1/2* adjustment. The washer trick should give you more adjustment and for less money.
The Ingalls rear cam shims are junk. Plastic.
Yup, they broke on me and is what prompted the decision to shim it with identical sized washers for shims.
Ingalls does make a nice camber bolt for the front of our cars but their rear camber shims i wouldn't spend my money on.
Misnblu.com
Newbie member since 1999
Thank you Dave and JBO!