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Rear camber

rcamacho

Well-known member
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850
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Location
Bainbridge Island Wa
Good evening ,
I went to a local auto shop to get the Toe adjusted. My 1989 M 998 Humvee would not fit on there machine as the Humvee was to wide. It was recommended that I go to a Firestone as they have a full size alignment machine. I did and my Humvee was able to fit on their machine. Had 4 wheel toe set only. No cast or camber. They told me that specs would be based on a 1992 - 1997 Hummer 1. No Military Humvee of any year would come up in their system. Attached are the specs before and after. As long as the specs are close to the Hummer 1, I should be in good shape. You can see how far the rear Toe was off comparing both the before and after. Cost would have been $79 one time or $179 - 10% Military Discount for the life time alignment. I went with the lifetime. Thank you all for all for all of your help and suggestions.
Front caster is way off and will need correction for stability. Rear Camber is still positive, remove some shims?


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Milcommoguy

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Supporting Vendor
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Location
Rosamond, CA
I ran into the same hobby experience...

IMO, There is a lot of interaction to get a Hummwv dialed-in on a wheel alignment. (tweeking and elbow action not being a straight axle rig)

Military specifications were for daily heavy load carrying and tires are cheap replacement items. (bullets, beans, boots... tires)

A quick study of the control arms and mounting positions, location of shims, swinging parts, the angle to the dangle, it becomes clear (owners note) this is something to be addressed to set-up for your daily operating needs, handling and tire wear, right after all of the fluids and cool led's. (Does daddy owns a tire store?)

IMO, there's no spec to a "one size fits all". (maybe close?)

Rigs here run from stripped down to full up body armor, guns a smoke-N !

I am a little disappointed that the tire dudes took your $$ not explaining the next tire wearing pattern. Maybe they did?

Being cheap and having a box of tools, looking in the TM's and found the "how to do it" Only thing I didn't have was a long piece of string. Now my kid's kite is flying 10 feet lower.

After messing with the shims to get the tires to sit on the ground (camber / castor, untangle the string) the last thing was the toe, then a recheck (short story due to bandwidth, two tries later, nail it)

Best use of string and Hummwv maintenance tip. Then installed the LED's, CAMO
 

Inspector 1

Active member
105
73
28
Location
Spring Texas
Front caster is way off and will need correction for stability. Rear Camber is still positive, remove some shims?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Its interesting that as far off as the front caster is, the vehicle drives strait with no wear or at least very little even wear to the front tires. I have not noticed anything out of the ordinary on the way the vehicle handles. The rear camber appears to be more cosmetic as the rear tires were wearing evenly although at an alarming rate. I will eventually remove the rear shims. For now I believe the Toe adjustment will make the difference that I was looking for.
 

Inspector 1

Active member
105
73
28
Location
Spring Texas
I ran into the same hobby experience...

IMO, There is a lot of interaction to get a Hummwv dialed-in on a wheel alignment. (tweeking and elbow action not being a straight axle rig)

Military specifications were for daily heavy load carrying and tires are cheap replacement items. (bullets, beans, boots... tires)

A quick study of the control arms and mounting positions, location of shims, swinging parts, the angle to the dangle, it becomes clear (owners note) this is something to be addressed to set-up for your daily operating needs, handling and tire wear, right after all of the fluids and cool led's. (Does daddy owns a tire store?)

IMO, there's no spec to a "one size fits all". (maybe close?)

Rigs here run from stripped down to full up body armor, guns a smoke-N !

I am a little disappointed that the tire dudes took your $$ not explaining the next tire wearing pattern. Maybe they did?

Being cheap and having a box of tools, looking in the TM's and found the "how to do it" Only thing I didn't have was a long piece of string. Now my kid's kite is flying 10 feet lower.

After messing with the shims to get the tires to sit on the ground (camber / castor, untangle the string) the last thing was the toe, then a recheck (short story due to bandwidth, two tries later, nail it)

Best use of string and Hummwv maintenance tip. Then installed the LED's, CAMO
 

Inspector 1

Active member
105
73
28
Location
Spring Texas
Now that the toe has been adjusted, is there anything else that I can expect as far as tire wear? Front tires have been fine before toe adjustment. Rear tires wearing evenly strait across before toe adjustment, just at an alarming rate. Stated by several people that camber was more for cosmetic reasons if tires were wearing evenly and that toe would solve wear problem. I guess time will tell. Vehicle is driving as smooth as glass. As far as alignment guys, they were specifically told to adjust toe only.
 
Last edited:

Inspector 1

Active member
105
73
28
Location
Spring Texas
Now that the toe has been adjusted, is there anything else that I can expect as far as tire wear? Front tires have been fine before toe adjustment. Rear tires wearing evenly strait across before toe just at an alarming rate. Stated by several people that camber was more for cosmetic reasons if tires were wearing evenly and that toe would solve wear problem. I guess time will tell. Vehicle is driving as smooth as glass. As far as alignment guys, they were specifically told to adjust toe only.
I ran into the same hobby experience...

IMO, There is a lot of interaction to get a Hummwv dialed-in on a wheel alignment. (tweeking and elbow action not being a straight axle rig)

Military specifications were for daily heavy load carrying and tires are cheap replacement items. (bullets, beans, boots... tires)

A quick study of the control arms and mounting positions, location of shims, swinging parts, the angle to the dangle, it becomes clear (owners note) this is something to be addressed to set-up for your daily operating needs, handling and tire wear, right after all of the fluids and cool led's. (Does daddy owns a tire store?)

IMO, there's no spec to a "one size fits all". (maybe close?)

Rigs here run from stripped down to full up body armor, guns a smoke-N !

I am a little disappointed that the tire dudes took your $$ not explaining the next tire wearing pattern. Maybe they did?

Being cheap and having a box of tools, looking in the TM's and found the "how to do it" Only thing I didn't have was a long piece of string. Now my kid's kite is flying 10 feet lower.

After messing with the shims to get the tires to sit on the ground (camber / castor, untangle the string) the last thing was the toe, then a recheck (short story due to bandwidth, two tries later, nail it)

Best use of string and Hummwv maintenance tip. Then installed the LED's, CAMO
Now that the toe has been adjusted, is there anything else that I can expect as far as tire wear? Front tires have been fine before toe adjustment. Rear tires wearing evenly strait across before toe just at an alarming rate. Stated by several people that camber was more for cosmetic reasons if tires were wearing evenly and that toe would solve wear problem. I guess time will tell. Vehicle is driving as smooth as glass. As far as alignment guys, they were specifically told to adjust toe only.
 

Ajax MD

Well-known member
1,569
1,414
113
Location
Mayo, MD
Honestly, if you have a pipe wrench, string, some pencils or small blocks about 1/4" thick and the wrenches for the clamps, it's pretty easy. I just did it a couple weeks ago, and it solved my pulling to the right on a flat road issue (rear left tire too much toe out, and both front tires toed out))


it's not necessarily the best/most perfect method because there can be problems with the frame and tires being parallel to each other with how these are built (or so I have read) but it will get you pretty close to where it needs to be to drive properly.
Coug, have you actually done this?

I hate to be thick-headed but I'm still trying to understand exactly where to run the dang string. In the link you posted, I could actually just wrap a single string around the entire vehicle, passing across the centerline of each tire and just clamp the string to some hardware at the rear of the truck? Am I understanding this right?

Is it common for the alignment to change? The -20-2 makes it sound like checking the toe is a 3,000 mile check which seems frequent to me.
Also, the TM lists a bunch of "slop checks" to ensure that the spindle is properly tightened and the control arms aren't shot. I'll be sure to perform those checks before getting into the alignment.

We've been driving this truck for almost a year and the odd wear pattern on the rear driver's tire seems to have started very recently.
 

Coug

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
2,975
4,356
113
Location
Olympia/WA
Coug, have you actually done this?

I hate to be thick-headed but I'm still trying to understand exactly where to run the dang string. In the link you posted, I could actually just wrap a single string around the entire vehicle, passing across the centerline of each tire and just clamp the string to some hardware at the rear of the truck? Am I understanding this right?

Is it common for the alignment to change? The -20-2 makes it sound like checking the toe is a 3,000 mile check which seems frequent to me.
Also, the TM lists a bunch of "slop checks" to ensure that the spindle is properly tightened and the control arms aren't shot. I'll be sure to perform those checks before getting into the alignment.

We've been driving this truck for almost a year and the odd wear pattern on the rear driver's tire seems to have started very recently.

Unless something isn't properly tightened, or something is worn out (like a bushing or ball joint or something) then alignment shouldn't really change.
Keep in mind the 3k mile check is primarily for trucks in the military, where you get boneheaded privates seeing just how badly they can abuse these things. When on the street (and not repeatedly jumping curbs and the like, or pothole riddled alleys) the alignment should probably good until you suspect something is worn or damaged.

Yes about the string. It's just run it all the way around the truck at the mid point of the tire, and up to the hitch area to tie it.

The string alignment is a good starting point. It will show you if anything is very far out compared to the others. Hardest part I had was getting the front tires to point forward.
I drove mine with just the string adjustment for a while, once I had the truck set up how I wanted it to stay I took it to an actual shop to do an alignment (my truck as it sits is around 9k lbs right now, so a big difference compared to when I picked it up as a stripped down version)
 
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