musubk Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 (edited) Is it possible? I don't see a way, other than bending the trailing arm a bit. Has anyone done this? My BRAT has an EA82 crossmember and complete front suspension; I have slight negative front camber even with 4 inches of lift, and the front end feels great. If only I could do something about the rear. Edited July 14, 2016 by musubk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el_freddo Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 You can mess with the three bolts on the trailing arm to change the camber of the rear hubs. They're the ones on the outer arm that bolts to the swing arm. I can't remember which way it goes (up or down, I think it's up from memory), but it will take a couple of goes to get it where you want it. I hope this helps. Cheers Bennie 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skishop69 Posted July 16, 2016 Share Posted July 16, 2016 Those rear bolts do nothing for camber. You'd have to shim then with a custom made degree shim which would twist the rear control arm and make the ride worse. Changing camber has no effect on ride quality. Handling, yes. Changing the rear camber will do nothing for ride quality. They ride like a brick in the rear because of the torsion bar. Someone somewhere suggested using an EA82 rear suspension, but I don't see that being a direct bolt in fix since it's wider than the EA81. Adjusting the torsion bar will do nothing but raise or lower it because the spring rate on the torsion bar remains the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbosubarubrat Posted July 16, 2016 Share Posted July 16, 2016 My hatch has the same setup but i have a 6" lift and 1 1/2" rear wheel spacers. The wheel spacers made my track front and near perfectly the same. Rides great with new shocks, struts, and springs. Springs are a little stiff but rides way better than many lifted 4wds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craigar Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 I was starting to think the same thing about bending the trailing arm, but knew it would take a WHOLE lotta force, and I know these Subie Engineers are world class,, I love my (albeit the honeymoon, only about a month) 119k 93 Loyale FWD 3AT wagon, but it sits a little lower on the driver side, then I looked at the driver rear tire and it's cambered out on the bottom (like it's doing a little side kick) so I looked ye ol 1990 Loyale factory service manual and YES WE DO ADJUST THOSE BOLTS! here's an image of that page - but I don't even know what positive and negative camber is for sure... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skishop69 Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 That's EA82. OP is for a Brat. EA81. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carfreak85 Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 The semi-trailing arms are virtually the same EA81-EA82, so it should be applicable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Numbchux Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 Yep, procedure is the same for an EA81. It's not much of a change, but it's there, and with that in mind, I think it would be possible to slot those holes and get more without too much difficulty. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skishop69 Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 (edited) I never paid attention on the EA82 arms, but I've had the EA81 arms off many times and I still don't see it making any appreciable change in camber (talking 10ths of a degree here). Add to that, I don't recall seeing anything in the FSM regarding rear camber adjustment for EA81. I also just pulled out my vintage alignment book (it's all I have access to for this at work) and it says no rear camber adjustment for EA81. I'm not definitively relying on it, but unless it's in the EA81 FSM, I don't see it working without mods to the trailing arms. Like I said up top, you can do it, it's just not going to do anything to change ride quality. Edit: Just got access to the FSM for the Brat and it states no rear adjustment for camber or toe. Different set up. EA81 - single trailing arm, Ea82 - dual trailing arm according to FSM. I can verify that when I get home to eyeball both. Edited August 22, 2016 by skishop69 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craigar Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 (edited) Ooops, I "casually" ASSumed that his mention of "EA82 cross-member AND complete front suspension" was the cross-member in the rear and COMPLETE front suspension included it's cross-member . But really digesting what he said now makes me believe the front is now at EA82 width, wider than stock EA81, so maybe he can/should replace entire rear sus. with EA82 cross member , arms,etc to have matching widths,,, When I was way younger always liked to have a wider rear end in a car ( thinking it might possibly shift the focus off how wide my exes rear end was! My BRAT has an EA82 crossmember and complete front suspension; I have slight negative front camber even with 4 inches of lift, and the front end feels great. If only I could do something about the rear. Edited August 23, 2016 by Craigar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skishop69 Posted August 23, 2016 Share Posted August 23, 2016 Just checked. Different trailing arm set up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbosubarubrat Posted August 23, 2016 Share Posted August 23, 2016 Saw this on facebook 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Numbchux Posted August 23, 2016 Share Posted August 23, 2016 Just checked. Different trailing arm set up. How so? I admit I'm going from memory, and it's been a long time since we lifted my brat. But when we unbolted those 3 bolts to reclock the torsion bar, there was some wiggle room there, and with some creative work with a jack, we were able to pivot that connection a bit towards negative camber, as described in the EA82 FSM. Now, we didn't do any comparison or measurement, so I don't know how effective it was. I do distinctly remember thinking that it looked exactly like the EA82 setup, except the outer part of the arm pivoted around the torsion bar instead of on it's own bushing. my Frankenwagon: And my Brat: I consider those to be very similar design, and should adjust similarly. With that, and the EA82 procedure in mind, I don't think it would be hard to slot the holes in the outer bracket to allow more adjustment. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craigar Posted August 23, 2016 Share Posted August 23, 2016 (edited) Numchux Thank you for these views of these rear suspensions. Really nice IMHO that the brat has a torsion bar "spring" I guess a lot like a "swing arm" VW which always felt really nice to me. I haven't digested what the FSM page I posted earlier is saying about the "adjusting toe effects camber and vice versa" but I imagine it will make since when I adjust my leftt/drivers side rear wheel - Here's a couple of images of my Loyale with it's rear driver's side wheel seeming too cambered out on the bottom (positive camber? ) - and what got me looking at it is this side is sitting lower also - but maybe that a need to adjust the coil spring height. It looks cambered out about 2~3 degrees further than the front tire? looking from front driver side looking from rear driver side Edited August 29, 2016 by Craigar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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