STX-550 front suspension adjustability

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the_bluester

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Finally stuck new tyres on my wife's 550 on Saturday, and had the alignment checked while I was at it. The car has always drifted slightly to the left (Not enough that I would call it a pull, just a slow movement to the left if you release the wheel)

Naturally given the ute has the eccentric washers at the rear of the lower arms only, it could use a tweak. Right hand camber is OK within spec and caster is roughly within spec. However the left hand side has OK camber, but around a degree less caster. Basically the OK camber and high caster on the right is driving it to the left over the lower camber.

I have had a good read up on here but did not find any threads where people have modified the subframe to fit the locating tabs and to slot the holes to permit the use of eccentric washer bolts at both ends of the arm and open up the possibilities.

Is anyone known to have done it? Otherwise are the subframes all the same dimensionally between all the Spanish built utes? (Petrol V6, YD25 and V9X) If they were it might be feasible to find a Spanish subframe with adjustment at both ends and swap it in.
 
Yon can fit a camber kit to the front bolt.
he rear castor eccentric may need to be modified to get more castor on the left side.
I have done a few D40s this way
Cheers
 
There is plenty of adjustment left in the rear adjuster so I am probably OK there, just that bringing the caster up to where I would like it would end up with a fair bit more camber and likely chew the inside edge of the tyre. It wore the last set pretty flat, the only problem was them chipping and flaking, likely from the daily torture test on the gravel road that is part of our school run.

I would prefer a proper eccentrics like the factory ones over eccentric bolts in the stock hole. A few folks I know have had them move about on rough roads and the gravel road on the school run gets pretty ordinary at times.
 
The camber kit is just like the factory castor at the back of the arm.
they are proper eccentrics with full adjustment same as factory.
It will not move. You asked for help & I gave you the answer.
your decision to make.
Cheers
 
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By "Camber kit to the front bolt" my assumption was you were talking about these things (Pic below) rather than replicating the factory adjustment at the front of the arm (Which is exactly what I am talking about preferring)

spc_hyundai_entourage_kia_sedona_rear_camber_bolt_kit.jpg


Following from that, is there anyone who actually sells a kit? I know they are not exactly rocket science in that all they require is the bolt holes slotted to match the rear ones, tabs welded to the subframe to locate the washer and a set of eccentric washered bolts, just like the ones at the rear of the arm.

It is just a PIA that Nissan did not fit them to all of them, surely the incremental cost could not have been more than about $10 per car! My D23 has them at both ends of the arms and by my reading, some Spanish and most (All?) Tai build D40's had them at both ends.
 
Hi mate.
Yep I agree camber kit should be factory fitted.
Camber kit is $120 delivered. Not like the one in your picture.
Those camber bolts are crap.
Cheers
 
I am pretty knackered for time for a few months, so when I have time I will get the kit and fit it up. Given how it wore it's last set of tyres, more than anything else it just needs the caster sorted on the left to raise it up to the same as the right to keep it from creeping to the left.

I bloody hate cars that don't track straight when you release the wheel, about as much as I hate getting an alignment done and finding the wheel offset afterwards. At least with the advent of airbags it keeps aligners from just popping the wheel off and moving it around a spline to "Fix" it. I reckon steering columns should have keyed splines to keep people from doing that.
 
Apparently the spanish built D40's including our 550s are apparently hit and miss when it comes to having the adjustable eccentric washers in the lower control arms. Mine was lucky enough to have them installed and there are few pics going around of what to look for on the front and back of the lower control arm, I'll see if I can find the pics around here or if not maybe take a pic of mine, so was anything adjusted when having the wheel alignment done? Did they mention that they couldn't adjust it properly?

Also natural camber of the road will make the car pull to the left a little as that's how roads are made so that water runs off and every car doesn't aquaplane as soon as it rains, same as why tyres especially those on motorbikes wear quicker on the right side
 
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Generally Spanish models only have the adjuster at the rear of the arm.
The front bolt is fixed.
There has been the odd exception this.
Thai model have adjuster front & rear.
Agree re splining steering wheel is definitely not the right thing to do.
Cheers
 
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I do know what to look for but mine does not have it, it has eccentrics at the rear of the arms only. They ended up only resetting the toe.

The right side has marginal camber (Not far enough negative for my liking but within spec) and caster at the high end of spec (3.3 degrees, which does not sound like a lot IMO) and the left side had marginally high camber compared to spec (Near where I would like it) but around 2.2 degrees caster. The old tyre wear was pretty flat so the camber settings were not far off the money wear wise but the low left caster means it drifts left as all else being equal cars will tend to go towards the lower caster. Bumping the left caster up to fix it moving that way is likely to increase the camber enough to introduce more tyre wear, so unless I fit something to add adjustability I am stuck.
 
Hi mate.
Yep I agree camber kit should be factory fitted.
Camber kit is $120 delivered. Not like the one in your picture.
Those camber bolts are crap.
Cheers

Hey Zordo. These Camber kits - are they easy to fit and thus get correct camber? Im not totally keen on grinding, welding and bolting a kit in, if I don't have too.

Went for a 2" Suspension lift and now cant get enough adjustment. Not keen on outlaying near on 1K for adjustable UCA's either.

Your advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.
 
Unless I have misteken the setup of the kit it will require a bit of grinding/filing and welding of tabs. The bolt hole needs to be extended the same as the ones on the rear of the arms and there are locating tabs required to be welded on to allow the eccentric washers to work.
 
So basically this?

D40%20camber%20adjusters%20wat-400x300.jpg


Is that what you're saying to fit, Zordo?


Hi mate.
Yes that is a camber kit & not that hard to fit.
The problem lies in the rear adjustor not having enough adjustment.
Some D40s do & some don't.
You can modify the rear adjustor but that involves chiselling, die grinding & a bit of welding.
Cheers
 

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