My GEM e2 is 10 years old. I was wondering if its normal to have several degrees of negative camber with the car unloaded. (top of tire in and bottom out) I know it not adjustable but was wondering if the springs wear out. My shocks are good.
The springs will certainly sag over time. To what degree I don’t know. I will have to check my 2002 for fun. To bad they didn’t make the springs adjustable.
One can go to auto part store and get some lifters. It’s a twist block you can install in the springs. Make sure you have equal spacing around the springs. It’s all good man.
You could use them, but blocks are a temporary fix, tend to fall out, and I imagine they will negatively affect the ride quality to some degree. The only way to fix them correctly is to replace them. Makes blocks sound pretty good when you think about replacement cost right? 
They run about $180 each! I bet there is something else out there that will fit it. There is a youtube vid where someone used Honda Goldwing air shocks on the rear.
Here is another user with the same issue… http://www.electricforum.com/cars/neighborhood-electric-vehicles-hev/3168-pre-2005-gem-ride-height.html
With that kind of rust. Yes time to replace. However if you mod the lifter it is a 100 % fix. Use it on my race car, and it runs 10s .
GEM cars is not the safest as is brand new. To see that kind of rust only add to why insurance co. will not write coverage for those cars. This car in the pic should not be on the streets with traffic. Just my two cent.
al
[QUOTE=Blackhorse;12866]GEM cars is not the safest as is brand new. To see that kind of rust only add to why insurance co. will not write coverage for those cars. This car in the pic should not be on the streets with traffic. Just my two cent.
al[/QUOTE]
What post are you responding to? Rusty Gem Car? They are made of mostly aluminum sans the front & rear suspension assembly. Also, I got insurance with no issues and I live in New York where they are very particular with insurances. I am curious and want to see the pic of the car you are referring to.
That pic in your post will not past Louisiana inspection. I agree it should not.
al
Oh, the link I posted. I see what you are referring to now. That is surface rust. If you rust out an A arm from one of these Gems I’ll give you mine, LOL. They are heavier & thicker than most current full size cars! I would have to see it in person to be sure but it look like the rust stains on the thinner metal would come off as it is still smooth and not excessive. They need to scrub it down & paint it. Living in the rust belt my entire life I am all to familiar with rust.
Picture from other thread (not mine)…
This shows no under vehicle mant. And yes we have laws here that would thake this GEM car off the roads to allow others who maintain there GEM to roll with other traffic. Can’t say I’m against that at this time. Just what we need GEM cars to out lawed.
al
Cant argue with ya there, definitely no under car maintenance in that guys garage.
NY has a stringent yearly inspection, one of the toughest in the union. It would pass here. I don’t see a reason to fail it. Again, going by what little I can see in that one pic. If the structural integrity was compromised it would not pass.
I found the problem to my negative camber… the rubber bushings are shot on the ends of the shocks allowing the front tires tilt in at the top. This is what cause my bias ply tires to wear on the edges. Now that I have radials it is less of a problem. I am now in the search for the bushings so I don’t have to pay $181 for each front coil over shock.
Check 4 wheel drive site for urethane bushings.
See links below…
[ul]Shock Bushings 4 Wheel Drive Hardware[/ul]
[ul]
Shock Bushings 4 Wheel Parts[/ul]
The GEM in the picture is not driven on public roads and has about 20,000 miles. The rust is from being used to haul road salt spread on the parking lots. This rust is all surface rust. 2004 and prior GEM control arms are solid cast iron and would take decades to rust through.
Camber has been a problem on the 2004 and prior GEMs since the beginning. The factory has never offered tapered shims or any other method of adjustment. One of ours got so bad (8 degrees out!) that we used flat washers to get it reasonably straight. We try to keep them less than three degrees out.
Several members have machined bushings for the 2005+ control arms. Such bushings could just as easily be made for these expensive $188.01 GEM shocks.
Daniel
I don’t understand where you put the flat washers to shim the shocks up. Marlon is making some replacement bushings for the ring ends of the shocks so I don’t have to place the whole shock. If they work out you may want to buy a few from him.
One of our GEMs was in a collision and shock replacement did not correct the camber problem. Tires would not last long and it was awful to drive. As a last resort, we placed flat washer under each of the upper mounting bolts that hold the drum assemblies to the backing plate. This corrected the awful -8 degree camber to a reasonable -2.
Daniel
After thinking about my camber problem for two weeks. I finally took the shock off. The bushing while old was good. It’s just that the top bracket is not exactly aligned with the arc of the yoke arm below and it twists the ferrell in the rubber bushing. The shock has a uncompressed length of about 13.25" and about 12.5" to 12.75" compressed on my e2 825. If you are running 10" golf tires the positive camber doesn’t make much difference but if you put 12", 14" or 16" road tires the camber will increase according because of the moment position of the tire and any adapter spacers or deeper rims that spread the distance out between the two front tires. I have been looking at some of the member pictures of their cars and you can see the positive camber on many of the them. Radial tires handle this better than bias ply tires. A double wishbone suspention would correct this. What is needed is an adjustable shock like that on many motorcycles that you can rotate to increase the pre-load on the shock springs for the pre 2005 cars. Marlon is working some.
I imagine if you were not up to doing it yourself, you could take them to a trusted mechanic who could install them for a nominal fee.
They can be difficult at times but this method works well if just lubricant doesn’t do it for you.
Try this…
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE6zMmc8Xco]How to install new bushings into old eyelet shock absorbers - YouTube[/ame]
After inspecting my shock bushings I wanted to correct my camber. I corrected it by installing some straight flanges used to hold flared pipes to a muffler or such. I cut off the ears and installed below the end of each spring. (1.75" flange). This will give you about a 1/4" lift and bring the wheels to a zero to minus camber. TSC sells 1 3/4" 14 gauge machine washers that will work too. I made a spring compressor because the ones made for autos are too big. A press would work too but you still would have to make some adapters. I made it out of two 2.25" flanges, some 3/16" or larger threaded rod, ends of a moly bolt anchor to keep the threads from cutting into the flange. You must be very careful to align the flanges on the spring and keep it straight by alternating tightening the nuts on each side of the spring. It works great! I bought all the parts for less than $18 from Tractor Supply Company. The first picture is the spring compressor and the second is the shim mounted on the shock. The third picture is the flange shim before I ground off the ears making the out edge round or concentric to the large hole. I didn’t notice any more stiffness in ride.
we compalin about camber problems but no one mentions toe in/toe out.
If you hve a camber problem it pays to check toe before you do anything else.
Too much toe in causes positive camber. Too much toe out causes negative camber.
I like about 1/8" toe in.
If you have negative camber, on early machines, it can usually be corrected by drilling new mounting holes in the top shock bracket. Make SURE to leave at least 1/4 inch of solid meat between the holes.