Installed caster shims

Last weekend I put the IM up on my scissor hoist and went about install a set of caster shims. I ended up loosening off the beam bolts and pried the bottom of the beam out with a big pry bar, while my wife slipped in the shims. All-in-all, a fairly easy job.
Afterwards, before I put the car back down on the ground I noticed the front wheels had a serious case of pigeon-toed(ness). Seems installing caster shims has seriously altered my toe-in.
Guess what I'll be doing this weekend?
I doubt I'll get the settings right on, but hopefully I'll get it close enough so I can drive down to the alignment shop. And hopefully the alignment shop tech won't look at my antiquated VW suspension and say, "What the hell is this?"
Ron
Before anyone asks, I did put in a set of longer bottom bolts.

i bought longer bolts, but didnt use them (and i looked hard at the threads on the frame head)

maybe if you doubled them up, but with just one, i didnt need them.

you will need to fart around with your tie rods. back them out a turn.

Did you roll the car a bit after lowering it to let it settle back down onto the suspension? Seems weird to me that the shims would make it look pigeon toed. Try backing the car up a bit then pull forward and hit the brakes and see how it looks then.

~WB

If you rotate the steering box upwards to line back up with the column after adding the shims, the tie rods would push out on the spindles causing toe-in.

But, since you didn't rotate your steering box a bit to compensate (and sometimes, after rotating them, they don't stay put) it's just as easy to take it to an alignment place to get the front end aligned. At the same time, the alignment guy can verify what the caster is now and you can add or delete shim thickness to make it right (and you DO want to make it right, believe me). I had added a pair of 1-1/2 degree shims to both sides and when it was being aligned aI found that I needed another 1-1/2 degree on the passenger side and almost 3 more degrees for the driver's side. We ended up making an additional shim out of a piece of electrical conduit for the driver's side. But once they were in......What a difference! Best it's tracked since I built it.

BTW: I took mine in last Summer to a local shop where I had lined up a grisly, old, VW mechanic to align it - "No problem! Used to do those all the time!" was his comment.

Except that he was out sick the day I showed up, and I got "Tony" - a kid with a mohawk (red and green - WTF??) and LOTS of tattoos, who was crawling under Pearl when I first met him, trying to see what the suspension was. Turned out Tony was a very young (maybe 20-22) T-1/T-2 fanatic and did a fantastic job aligning Pearl. Earned him a tip PLUS a case of really good microbrew.

They're out there - those young kids keeping the dream alive.

I have noticed that my rubber steering coupler deforms quite a bit.

I didn't think about this being caused by the caster shims.

I got the car aligned after I installed the shims.

Will the flexing caused by the deformation cause it to fail sooner?

Of course, I would rather have it not fail at all.

Installing the shims had the effect of rotating my bumper bracket ends up. I just installed short pieces of caster shims at the top of the bumper brackets to rotate them back down to their original angle.

Yes, the rag joint will fail pretty quickly if the shafts are not lined up close to perfect.

Good reminder I should check my rag joint as well,it's been a while.
I had a kid with a Mohawk,nose rings,ear plugs and tatts do the smog on my F250, same kid? Maybe he escaped from the wild animal park in town?

I've had a problem with the steering shaft rubbing slightly on the top of the steering tube. I didn't want to change the angle of the steering box because the shaft on the steering box and the steering shaft lined up perfectly.
Now, after adding the shims, the steering box easily clears the steering shaft, which is what I was hoping for, but I'll have to check the alignment of the steering box shaft and steering wheel shaft.
Michael, I never occurred to me that adding the shims would change the bumper's angle. I'll have to check that too.

Don't go nuts trying to get the steering box shaft and the steering column shaft to precisely line up. The flex-coupler is in there for a reason foreseen by the designers, like changing caster on the front end. It'll handle it.

Adjusted the toe-in this morning. Having the car up on a hoist makes a world of difference! I measured the distance between front wheels )forward and aft) and I marked each tie-rod. I then gave each tie-rod shaft one turn and measured. Half way there. I gave each side one more full turn and measured. Shockingly, I was right on the money. The rear was 1/8" wider than the front.
I know this isn't perfect, especially since the wheels were off the ground, hanging in the air, but it's enough to get me to the alignment shop.
By the way, after installing the shims the rear of my front wheels were 2 2/8" wider than the front!!!
Gordon, I looked at the steering box shaft and the steering wheel shaft and I'm happy with the way they line up. As you stated, the rag/disc thing was made to compensate for less than perfect steering box, steering shaft alignment.