Set up of Trailing arm 350i

[Phil350]

Can't quite remeber how many washers/ spacers were used on each side.Illustration in the bible shaows washers on both sides of the arm. I do remember however apart for the one behind the nut all mine were inboard.
How do you actually set this up ??

[danny hoffman]

I believe they adjust the toe-in, so you will need to get it re-aligned.

[SEVANS]

I have never done this but I did ask the question once. It seems that you can do it by attaching bars to front and back of the car and then running pieces of string down the sides. This has to be done very accurately of course. You can then measure the toe in of the wheels in relation to the string. It didn't seem to easy to me and even the guy in the know said it could take all day!! I guess alternatively you would need specialist alignment equipment.
When I finish getting mine rebuilt I had decided to take it somewhere to get this setup. I have also got adjustable rear arms, which makes it even more interesting, as adjusting these also affects the toe in.
Don't forget the camber is also adjustable by altering the number of shims between the diff and the drive shaft. I don't know how this affects the toe in, probably not much but something to be aware of.

[shpub]

I use a toe in guage from Rally Design for about £65. Prtty good and simple but can take hours. You should move the car forward and back a few times between readings to ensure accuracy.

Steve
www.tvrbooks.co.uk

[wedg1e]

I have a Trakrite that my boss gave me a while back (well he's not likely to use it on any of his fleet of Mercs, what with having to flit between his mansion in Yorkshire and his villa in the south of Spain;-) - dead easy but as Steve says a bit of a prat on. Ideally two would make the job er, easier? quicker? not sure but I keep my eyes peeled for another one on Ebay!

I did consider copying the laser alignment thing that our local tyre place has; I was thinking of arranging it so the bits bolt directly to the hubs so you can take all the wheels off and put the car on stands. However when I checked my laser pen on a V-block, the beam is off-axis! Typical...

Ian

[UKAuto]

I have done my 350i and my (ex)Tasmin several times over the years (Over 1/2 million wedge Kilometers).

The better way:
I would fight with it to get it close, and then have it reset by a local alignment shop. In the end I realized, get it setup right ONCE, then immediately accurately measure your car between the flat of the frame that holds the bushing, and the surface of the arm -> next time you do the job you don't "need" to get the alignment checked, simply make sure the gap is the same as last time. Using this technique I had the alignment checked and it was just as good as the shop had done before... ...no fooling around, very straight forward. Note that I couldn't simply count on washer count - I suspect the bushings come from more than one source and are slightly different sizes, or at least they flex differently under static load.

The old way:
On a previous occasion I tried a home made alignment tool. Two pieces of tube that sit on two wheel studs (car still on the ground, suspension properly loaded), these two tubes had a long aluminium channel on them, with a laser pen connected in place. Set up on my flat driveway pointing at my black garage door I would put masking tape on the door, measure each side, calculate the difference between the car's track, and the marks, compare this to the distance - scratch my head, etc... All day, and still only pretty good.