Did the Big brake conversion,NOW one wheel sticks out further than the other--help

[AsphaltAnihil8r]

Well I did the B-Body spindle swap,Robert Adams UCA's,new 1LE rotors,
Seems that the Passengers side wheel is out about 3/4" - 1" more than the drivers side,it's been to the alignment shop and drives straight but when looking at the car from the front it looks like the front end is all shifted to the passengers side
Heres what I think some possiblities could be ..
1 One innner bearing could be thicker?
2 A spindle shaft longer or shorter?
3 A Robert Adams Arm could be thicker at the mounting holes
4What do you think the problem is

 

[Ormand]

???

That's really wild! Lot's of things it MIGHT be, but no way to be sure other than to start taking it apart. You ought to be able to do most measurements with just the wheels off.
The calipers mount on a machined surface. Seems to me that if the spindle was wrong, or the bearing, the brake rotor would not fit into the caliper, because it would be too far out. On the other hand, if the mounting surface for the wheel is wrong on one rotor, that would move just the wheel, and the rotor on one side would be farther from the wheel than on the other side. If the spindle is mounted farther out, the distance between the upper ball joint and the upper A arm shaft would be noticeably different from one side to the other. I would just pull the wheels, then start checking dimensions. Let us know what you find, I know others are interested in this conversion. (I'm starting to lean toward the Baer conversion, that uses modified Regal spindles, and stock A arms!)

 

[roz930]

Could be wrong, but I doubt there is anything wrong w/the parts you installed. GM wasn't real too sharp w/tolerances back then - I'd guess the body is sitting off a bit. Any chance the new parts change the track width a bit and it wasn't as noticible before?

 

[RealFastV6]

Have you taken a look at the shim stacks for both the upper a-arms? What do the two stacks look like? Are they about the same? Did one side require more shims then the other?

 

[Buick Beginner]

Prolly Shims

Yeah, I've got about 1 inch worth of shims on one side and about an 1/8th on the other, it's very common. - BB

 

[AsphaltAnihil8r]

Re: Prolly Shims

Originally posted by Buick Beginner
Yeah, I've got about 1 inch worth of shims on one side and about an 1/8th on the other, it's very common. - BB

On my car both sides are about equal shims,,Should I have alot more on one side and less on the other to correct this problem,,,If it so common why is this the first anyone has talked about it ,I thought I did my homework on this upgrade...

Thanks for any info

 

[Matt Weiser]

The big brake upgrade adds about 5/8" to the front track on each side, but that should be equal side-side. I personally don't think it's common to have a great difference in shim-pack width. Should be fairly equal unless you have a bent frame or other problem. If your alignment is good, messing with the shim pack to address your off-center problem will only cause other problems. It's possible your body wasn't centered on the frame and you never noticed until you did the big-brake upgrade, since it pushes the wheels out closer to the edge of the fenders.

 

[Ormand]

Shims..?

Also possible that there's a difference in the upper control arms. Maybe you got two for the same side, or something. The big shim stack would be used to get alignment after the odd control arm throws it out. Or maybe it's the control arm shafts. Some are offset, to allow smaller shim stacks. You need to check some dimensions.