EdwardBs Mk4 #8674 20th Anniversary Build

[edwardb]

I know some are following this thread because of the new IRS setup, so thought I would pass this along. Yesterday afternoon I got a little bored (OK, both of my football teams were losing badly...) so I decided to play around with the IRS alignment. Just to get it somewhere in the ballpark. Used a level on the hubs for camber and a laser level pointed toward the front of the car for toe. Like I said, really rough. They were clearly way off from the original assembly. What I discovered is now quite obvious in hindsight, but I missed it during the initial assembly and I don't remember it from the instructions. It it's there, I obviously overlooked it. For the two adjustment points on each side, it's necessary to have equal threads showing on both sides before you bolt in the heim joint. I had the toe adjustment pretty centered, but that was mostly by accident I guess. For the camber adjustment, I had the fitting almost all the way into the UCA, but then the heim joint only about halfway in. So it was impossible to adjust it properly. I had to remove the large bolt holding the joint to the knuckle, center things up, and re-torque the bolt. Now it works perfectly. In both cases, you loosen the jam nut on each side and rotate the center adjuster as required. Then tighten the jam nuts. That's it. No dis-assembly required.

Here are a couple of pics. Camber adjustment showing equal threads on both sides now:



Toe adjustment showing roughly equal threads on both sides. Note where I have these as pictured is roughly to the spec. Looks like plenty of adjustment still available either way, and plenty of thread engagement. Also note, not surprisingly, the adjustments interact with each other. Adjusting camber also affects toe. Adjusting toe also affects camber. I'm planning to have the car professionally 4-wheel aligned when the time comes.