. Not sure why a manufacturer like Westfield would not have supplied adjustable arms. Why it's important to detail exactly what your asking about.
hello everyone.
i have buy a pre lit westfield with live axle . how i can make wheel alignment?
do i have to add something or to change something ? thanks
I had my live axle, heated, welded and manipulated by Procomp.
Ivan has a wealth of knowledge about live axles. But in light of recent news, I'm not sure if they are still undertaking projects.
What is wrong with the alignment?
Do you just want it checked or is there something which needs adjusting.
the shop told me that it’s fix and can’t adjust it . is any chance to make some conversion that let me adjust it ?
thank you
If it's bent then as above otherwise you'll need to buy/make adjustable trailing arms to get square to car
Wheel alignment will be fine unless your axle is bent. That's just the reality of a live axle. You don't get the flexibility that you get with irs.
are you trying to 'fix' the axle or locate the axle properly in the chassis? Its two different things.
The axle is fixed geometry and hopefully straight, if not you'll be bending half shafts and wearing out bearings. The only way to 'fix'
this is as others have said via heat.
The axle location on the locost / westfield is fixed due to the trailing arms / panhard rod being fixed length so you're hoping the axle brackets
and chassis brackets are correct. It is possible to rebuild / remake the trailing arms / pandhard rod to be adjustable - but you've got to ensure
you don't have them different lengths as that introduces twists which puts pressure on and eventually breaks things.
What is the exact problem?
i didn’t know that live axle can’t ubjusted.there is no problem just wanted to make my own alignment . is any option to make live axle ubjusted?
You could look at the rally car world say escorts and see how they do things
G
So bearing in mind I often don't know what I'm talking about, could the live axle make use of alignment spacers fitted behind the hub? I
remember in my VW days the rear axle had a similar lack of adjustment, but you could buy shims to sit behind the hub, like this;
Could the same be done with the Ford option?
(no expert on this)
Assuming the axle was straight and the drive shafts could take the degree (degree - do you see what i did there?) of bend then it seems a good idea
for small changes. How much you can practically do before it becomes an issue - no idea?
(joke)
You could fit a washer under a couple of wheel studs and do the same.
You have not clarified if your axel is bent or you just want to adjust the trailing arms (or you need some that are adjustable) to realign the axle
relative to the rest of the car. They are two quite different problems...
I suggest a photo of your axle.
On the rover sd1, rear axle alignment is done by the torque on nuts applied to "leading" arm bushes. It's possible to have the car crab when not done correctly.
As per Pigeondave's response, you can adjust a live axle to some degree by heating it.
If it's only a small amount of adjustment needed, you don't need to cut and weld or physically bend the axle: if you heat it locally using
an oxyacetalene welding torch, the metal expands where you heat it, but doesn't shrink back all the way to where it was before, as it cools.
The trick is therefore to heat it on the side that you need to make longer in order to get the adjustment you require.
tbh from the OP replies, it sounds like it's the trailing arms that are not adjustable not some wonky banana axle. If you managed to bend an axle
case on a Westfield there'd be little left of the car . Not sure why a manufacturer like Westfield would not have supplied adjustable arms.
Why it's important to detail exactly what your asking about.
Westfield make the chassis on a jig and weld up the axle brackets on the jig. In theory the arms therefore don't need to be adjustable. If you do start adjusting the arms you risk having different lengths and introducing all sorts of problems including shearing brackets off with unintended stress.
quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
tbh from the OP replies, it sounds like it's the trailing arms that are not adjustable not some wonky banana axle.