Club Car Precedent Camber

[NOLA26]

On my Precedent, the camber on the front wheels is off. The front wheels each are angled outward at the bottom of the wheel. No matter what I do to adjust the camber, I can't get them to align. Other than loosening the clam shell plate and banging the leaf spring to one side or the other, I don't know of any other adjustments that can be made. And any adjustment I make on once side, the opposite happens to the other wheel. Its almost like the leaf spring is too long and it makes the bottom of the wheels bulge out. From searching for answers, I have come across lots of posts of the same problem, and I found camber correcting king pins for the precedent that is supposed to fix the problem. Before I buy them, I wanted to ask if there is anything else that can be done to get the camber aligned correctly with stock parts or is there anything else I should check to try and isolate the problem?

[Scott quail]

If you have a single leaf front spring than chances are its a weak spring. Other than that, you can adjust the tow in and out. If the wheels are not towed out but still cambered than id bet you have a weak front spring. Make sure the front spring is centered. I pull the headlight out of the way and take the centering bolt out completely and just center the hole and put the bolt back in. Its pretty fool proof.

[NOLA26]

The leaf spring has two pieces and the eccentric bolt in the middle. I loosened the plate and beat the pass. side spring in as much as I could. The bolt didn't seem to do much to correct the problem. The bushings seem good, not much play in either wheel.
[IMG][/IMG]

[CCNorth]

What year is your Precedent? Is this a new problem that recently appeared? If so, did the cart have a recent "bump" to the front end, like hitting a curb or a bad pothole? Did you install new tires?

My cart is a 2009 and yours appears to be in this same range. However, my front leaf spring is a OEM single spring.

Before you spend money on the camber correction spindle you need to check for the most common causes of this problem. If these problems exists then the correction spindle will not correct your problem.

Cartmaster, an expert on this forum, helped me with my camber issue. The first thing he had me check were the bushings. Worn bushing are a very common cause. You said yours "seem good" but you don't really know until you pull the tires and disassemble things. You might be surprised what you find. I've seen post on this forum where bushings looked good but were actually broken and fell out when the front end was disassembled. You may not get a wobble in the tires when you move them with your hands like you would get if the bearings are bad. So, that's not a fool-proof way to check the bushings.

Also, Cartmaster said, "the Upper clevis (lets call it the bracket that the bottom of the shock mounts to) has bowed/dished at the bottom and allows the spindle to sag backwards creating negative camber. No real way to repair so i replace the bracket and spindle top nut together and this usually fixes it.

The issue with the Clevis is not obvious. Remove and place on a flat surface. You should have no wobble at all. If the bottom surface is slightly dished and you have a wobble or the hole that the king pin thread goes through is worn, you will see negative camber.

If not the Clevis, then maybe the A-arm is bent. Even a mildly bent a-arm, also not obvious, can show the same neg camber. Add both issues and it shows up real bad. Trust me. I work with fleets of these carts and I see it regularly."

Please do not take the big hammer and beat on the leaf spring again. You are correct that the bolt doesn't seem to move the leaf spring very much because it doesn't. That bolt allows only for slight centering adjustments. It's not an instant camber cure. Try the advice offered by Scott quail.

It is possible that the leaf spring needs to be replaced but is usually one of the last solutions unless it is visibly damaged and it doesn't look like this is the issue. However, if you bought the cart second-hand, it's possible the previous owner installed the wrong leaf spring. I remember being told about companies selling front leaf springs for a Precedent when they were actually too long.

Hope this helps you. Keep us posted on your progress.

[ImplantLabTech]

I just rebuilt the front end on my cart and I used the center eccentric bolt a tiny adjustment makes a BIG difference at least it did for me. What ever way it moves one wheel it moves the other wheel the other way.

I had put a jakes spindle lift on and it was a bit off but once I replaced the bushings I was able to get the camber to at least match side to side but it is not perfectly up and down it still leans in a smidge. The one thing that I am unsure of is how tight to thighten the castle nut for the hubs, I have a little play so it does not bind but I back the nut off a 1/4 turn after snug.

[NOLA26]

The serial number is PH1244, so I believe the cart is a 2012 model. It was bought used, but there are no other indications of any kind of crash on the body or anywhere under the cart on the frame. I am gonna check the clevis and the bushings tomorrow. I'll let yall know what I find. Thanks for the help so far.

[CCNorth]

Originally Posted by ImplantLabTech

I just rebuilt the front end on my cart and I used the center eccentric bolt a tiny adjustment makes a BIG difference at least it did for me. What ever way it moves one wheel it moves the other wheel the other way.

I had put a jakes spindle lift on and it was a bit off but once I replaced the bushings I was able to get the camber to at least match side to side but it is not perfectly up and down it still leans in a smidge. The one thing that I am unsure of is how tight to thighten the castle nut for the hubs, I have a little play so it does not bind but I back the nut off a 1/4 turn after snug.

sorry, I need to sort this thread out before I respond.

[CCNorth]

Originally Posted by NOLA26

The serial number is PH1244, so I believe the cart is a 2012 model. It was bought used, but there are no other indications of any kind of crash on the body or anywhere under the cart on the frame. I am gonna check the clevis and the bushings tomorrow. I'll let yall know what I find. Thanks for the help so far.

Looking at the photo that leaf spring is not centered. The passenger side (PS) tire is a mess. Totally wrong. You need to center the spring before you do anything else. The tires will never be straight up and down. There should be equal distance between the bottom of the tire and a framing square. Here are the instructions from the CC manual:

Camber Adjustment
1. Check each front wheel with a framing square. At the floor (or ground), there should be an equal amount of space between each tire and the framing square
2. Loosen, but do not remove, the four bolts that secure the leaf spring to the bottom spring plate.
3. Loosen, but do not remove, the hex nut on the adjustment eccentric in the center of the spring.
4. Use a 7 mm deep well socket to rotate the eccentric
5. After adjusting camber, use a crisscross pattern to tighten the four spring retaining bolts to 37 ft-lb (50 N·m). Then roll the vehicle forward one full tire revolution and recheck the camber.
6. Tighten the hex nut on the adjustment eccentric to 10 ft-lb (13.5 N·m)

I'd like to see another pic after you center the leaf spring. That PS spindle has a bad angle; more than the DS. And, what's up with the DS shock??

If the cart had a hard bump to the tires there will be no obvious damage. That's why it's important to follow Cartmaster's instructions for checking the spindle, clevis and a-arm.

[CCNorth]

Originally Posted by ImplantLabTech

I just rebuilt the front end on my cart and I used the center eccentric bolt a tiny adjustment makes a BIG difference at least it did for me. What ever way it moves one wheel it moves the other wheel the other way.

I had put a jakes spindle lift on and it was a bit off but once I replaced the bushings I was able to get the camber to at least match side to side but it is not perfectly up and down it still leans in a smidge. The one thing that I am unsure of is how tight to thighten the castle nut for the hubs, I have a little play so it does not bind but I back the nut off a 1/4 turn after snug.

The lug nuts should be torqued to 55 ft-lb, no more, no less. Finger tighten with tires off the ground being sure the tire is straight on the spindle. Lower cart, then torque in crisscross pattern. It's very easy to have one lug nut on tighter than the others before you lower the cart to the ground and the tire will be crooked. There should be NO play in the tire.

[Cartmaster]

How did i miss this one yesterday.

It is not easy to see the detail in the picture as it is a bit grainy, But as CCNorth says, you need to center the spring first before any other adjustments!

From what I can see, the spring looks aftermarket and it has already been stated that they are often too long. This will definitely cause the negative camber. I would suggest getting an OEM spring before doing anything else, even a used one will help to find out if this is the issue. Also, as suggested by CCNorth, check your upper clevis exactly as described. If these are good, and the clamp nut is nice and tight, the next thing to check before reassembling is the threaded part on the top of the king pin, If it is bent after a collision it will allow the clevis to lean in and alter the camber. The next thing to check would be the A arms, and again as already stated, the slightest bend in these will allow the spindle to lean in. If you find one or all of these issues, then replacement of those parts will be necessary. Once you have solved the camber issue, align the camber equally on both sides with the concentric centering boltbolt, then, and only then, adjust your toe. If you adjust your toe first, any other adjustments will throw the toe back out again. Ask CCNorth how we know LOL.

Maybe it would be worth CCnorth directing you to her thread regarding this and other issues.