Savage arms have me up in arms

[hernan43]

I recently purchased one of the new Savage SS kits and have been putting it together in my free time outside of work. When I was putting together the upper(adjustable) suspension arms, I tried to make them look exactly like the picture showed. Well, yesterday I finally got to the point where I put my tires opn and all of the tires basically look like this:

__....__
\_\---/_/

If you are looking at them from the front (I apologize if my ascii art doesn't appear right). Essentially the tires aren't straight up and down, the bottom of each tire is pointed inward, and the top of each tire is pointed outward. I know that I need to readjust the camber of the tires, but I was wondering if I can re-adjust it with everything put together, or if I am going to have to take the bulkheads apart. Thanks for your help.

--Ray

p.s. -- In case you couldn't tell, this is my first kit. Hopefully I will know better next time. :smoke:

 

[AC48]

Your upper suspension arms tilt the tire in and out of the truck, like this / or \. With the design of the savage upper arms it is possible to adjust this without taking anything apart. The metal part that connects the two halfs of the upper arm can be turned either way to either lengthen it or shorten it making your tire straight up and down.

 

[hernan43]

One more question:

The wrench that HPI provided is a little rough on the fingers. Do you have a favorite tool/method that would give my fingers a break?
--Ray

 

[AC48]

Do the metal parts on them have holes? I can't remember but if they do you can put like an allen key or something in there in it makes it easier to hold on to/turn.

 

[jon2]

I beleive they do and AC48 has a great point on the allen wrench. You can use it as a lever. I personally like using a hex driver so I can get a better handle.

The Tires if looking at it from the back should look like this / - \ . Maybe not so drastic.LOL If you have multi-position shock towers what position on the shock tower have you placed them on? You may have them in the wrong hole.

 

[sweetdiesel]

If you have the stock SS kit, there is only one position on the towers to mount the shock. Looks like you will have to shorten those upper arms. It might be a little tough with the shocks in place. I usually just unscrew the shocks from where they mount on the lower arm so I can get a better angle on the little hole that goes through the upper arm.

In terms of tools, I would pick up a quality set of hand tools. I use hex bits with a 1/4" magnetic screwdriver. I also use a set of metric hex drivers for places where my magnetic screwdriver is too long. If you can find one, OFNA makes a 3mm hex bit that is about 4 inches long. Attach it to the screwdriver and it is perfect for tightening those engine mount screws from underneath the truck.

some links to tools

for bits

http://www.lara.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?product=&keywords=bt-h[0-9]&oc=&next=10

magnetic screwdriver

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&vertical=TOOL&pid=00941467000

hex drivers

http://www.southeastrc.com/item/DYN2904

 

[rossb]

The turnbuckles have holes. You can use either an ice pick, a scratch awl, or a really thin phillips screwdriver to adjust the turnbuckles.