Your truck won’t really provide the perfect drive without a right camber adjustment. Some people like positive camber or some people want negative camber, actually the position entirely depends on your preference. If you own a Chevy truck, then you’re at the right place cause we are going to show how to adjust camber on Chevy truck.
What Is Camber?
Before getting into the tutorial, you should have a clear idea about what Camber is. Basically, a camber or camber angle is the angle that is made by the wheels of any vehicle. If we elaborate it more precisely, the camber is an angle made by the vertical axis of the wheels.
Now you might be wondering why Camber is a so discussed topic in the automotive world. It is because of the different purposes that are served by different types of cambers. There are three types of camber which are— positive camber, negative camber & neutral camber.
What Is Positive Camber?
The positive camber is when the top of the wheel is projected more outwards than the bottom. As a result, it provides more stability on your vehicle while going for straight roads.
As it provides less control on the steering, you can’t easily have a turn with these vehicles but comes handy where it needs to be one its line. That is why we often see the use of a positive camber on agricultural vehicles or recreational vehicles like a tractor or RVs.
What Is Negative Camber?
On the other hand, negative camber is characterized by the bottom end of the wheel being projected more outwards than the upper end. Not only it provides excellent control over the steering but also a negative camber provides more high cornering speeds on any vehicle.
That is why we often see the sports car having a negative camber. Negative camber does have some drawbacks on a car, like having premature wear & tear on the tire & providing less stability on straight roads.
What Is The Best Camber Angle?
Now the question is, which one to get for your car? Well, that will actually depend on the nature of your roads, if your area has more zig-zag roads than straights, you should go for a slightly negative camber. On the contrary, a slight positive camber would be the right choice if your area more straight roads.
Although, the optimum camber angle would be a mixture of two, producing a Hybrid Camber, which provides the facility of both positive and negative camber. You can consult your car mechanic on the perfect camber measurement & follow their instruction.
How To Adjust Camber On Chevy Truck?
Now to the real question, how do I actually adjust the camber angle? This calls for multiple steps & instructions, which is actually pretty easy and you can do it yourself! Let’s cut to the chase and dig into the tutorial.
Measure The Camber
The very first step is to measure the current camber angle in your car. If your car already has the perfect camber angle, you do not need to change it, thus saving a lot of time skipping the whole process. You can skip even the measuring part by just eyeballing how much camber angle is actually present.
Anyways, start by keeping wheels pointed forwards. You should really keep that in mind because your measurement might be wrong if the wheels are tilted on sides.
We will need a camber gauge for the easiest process, it has three adjustable arms which can attach to the rim. Now set the gauge & adjust the arms in such a way that the center part of the gauge remains exactly in the middle of the hub.
Now that you’ve set it correctly, measure the camber angle on your vehicle. You can follow the manufacturer’s instructions to understand the measurement properly. Determine how far it is from the ideal camber angle and start the process.
Remove The Tires
First, target the front two wheels of your truck. For that, lift the front part of it. You can use a jack to lift the car and let the jack stand under the frame.
Now remove the tire from your truck and expose the control arms on which we are going to work.
Locate The Arm Mounting Bolts
You will find out the upper control arm mounting bolts on each side of the frame. Try to locate the camber alignment on the outsides of it & you’ll find out the alignment pin as an extension of the frame. This basically indicates the current cam setting of your vehicle.
Loosen The Upper Control Arm
The next step is to loosen up the upper control arm. As you found this part, loosen the mounting bolts of the upper control arm by an open-end wrench along with a ratchet & socket. Continue to loosen up the control arm until you can see the alignment pin has come to the perfect position as per your preferred alignment camber.
Once you have got this part right, now tighten the mounting bolts down again with the ratchet & socket along with an open end wrench. And you’re pretty much done with the front wheel camber.
Check The Camber Angle
The final step is to release the jack stand & lower the truck down. Set the jack aside and check if you could adjust the camber to the perfect angle. If not, repeat the process again until you are satisfied with the result.
Chevy trucks do not usually need rear camber adjustment as the front camber adjustment does most of your work. If you still want to adjust the rear camber, you can do it with the same process.
That’s all for the tutorial. Now you know how to adjust the camber on your truck. Follow the steps and reward yourself with a safe & comfortable drive. Until then, happy riding!
