Rear Wheel Alignment... solid axle... wtf?

[99'Subourbon]

So it's my understanding that you cannot align a solid rear axle - no? So that present an issue for me, as my right rear tire clearly has negative camber. What would cause this? See Below

You can't really tell from the picture, but I can hang a string from the fender, and it falls into the lip of the tire at the bottom, where as it clears the top completely.

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Compared to the driver side:

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[86454k30]

They can't be aligned so a Bent axle would be my guess.

 

[99'Subourbon]

That was my concern - but wouldn't I feel a bent axle?

 

[sewlow]

Outer axle bearing gone south?

 

[99'Subourbon]

Wish I was as mechanically as knowledgeable as some of you. If a bearing was going out, wouldn't the wheel wobble'ish when going down the road? As a bit of info - I have intermittent steering wheel vibration that fades in and out every 20 minutes or so on the freeway. It likes, you can barely feel it start, and slowly it gets stronger to where your hand is shaking back and forth (lightly) on the steering wheel and then it slowly goes away - all but 20 seconds or so out of every 20 minutes.

 

[great white]

Only way to know if it actually does have negative camber is to put it on the rack and see what it says for in or out of tolerances.

If it does have excessive negative camber the axle is likely bent. I've seen negative camber added to solid axles before by some roundy round car guys. It usually involved the smoke wrench and some bending.....wheel bearing life is shortened but they corner a bit better.

 

[99'Subourbon]

Only way to know if it actually does have negative camber is to put it on the rack and see what it says for in or out of tolerances.

If it does have excessive negative camber the axle is likely bent. I've seen negative camber added to solid axles before by some roundy round car guys. It usually involved the smoke wrench and some bending.....wheel bearing life is shortened but they corner a bit better.

This makes me think about the trucking pulling towards one direction or the other. Roundy Round guys turn left, and they probably add the negative camber to the passenger side, right? 2 + 2 =

 

[great white]

This makes me think about the trucking pulling towards one direction or the other. Roundy Round guys turn left, and they probably add the negative camber to the passenger side, right? 2 + 2 =

Naw, you're going down the wrong trail now.

If bent, most likely cause is overloading and road hazard.

Or something totally ridiculous like someone caught air with it....

 

[twomanymontes]

Try jacking up the rear end and spin the rear wheels and see if it wobbles. If it's bent at the outer end, then it should wobble. If it's bent towards the middle, you might be able to see it with a straight edge. And you might be chewing up and axle tip in the spider gears.
If you have a wheel bearing gone bad, then you would feel up and down play in the wheel.

 

[tlshaner11]

check ride height on both sides, one side lower then the other can appear this way, axle bent can cause wobble, vibration and possible noises due to brake drums/rotors hitting backing plates, caliper sliding so on and so forth.