The only adjustment for camber in the rear is spring/spring pads. I suppose its possible that your center carrier could be warped, fixing that.............

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http://superturbodiesel.com/images/sig.04.10.jpg
1995 E420 Schwarz
1995 E300 Weiss
#1987 300D Sturmmachine
#1991 300D Nearly Perfect
#1994 E320 Cabriolet
#1995 E320 Touring
#1985 300D Sedan
OBK #42

excuse my ignorance, but whats the center carrier? is that what the diff mount attaches to?

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'85 300D, 'Lance',250k, ... winter beater (100k on franken-Frybrid 3 Valve Kit)
'82 300D, 'Tex', 228k body / 170k engine ... summer car
'83 300TD Cali Wagon 210k, wife's car

dieseldan44, I'd quit worrying about the "flexible" axles. Your trailing arms are cocked - that's the issue.

Springs, like us, get tired with age. May have the correct unsprung length but can't carry the weight, meaning they squish too far and pull the tops of the tires inward. Which isn't your issue, providing you have the right spring/pad correctly installed. Shocks don't carry weight - they keep the springs from bouncing.

Put a small block of wood on top of a floor or bottle jack, then gently push up on the fronts of the trailing arms and watch for excessive "give" in the bushings. Isn't much room to sqeeze yourself into. If I'm pulling springs then I'm changing those bushings. Be a good idea anyways at this point.

Trailing arms mount to the wishbone/center carrier. Wishbone mounts to car unibody in front. Correct parts/installation? Miss a shim? Wishbone mounts to differential in rear. Differential mounts to car unibody. Correct differential mount/installation? Shims?

Rear sway bar isn't supposed to carry weight - it just keeps things from getting too mushy back there.

Was the car in an accident? This may affect the wishbone/unibody alignment if the unibody is bent. The wishbone or trailing arms may have been bent by an accident or jack/jackstand. The unibody may be bent at front wishbone mounts or at differential mount from corrosion or many years of road pounding.

Bottom line: if the parts/installation are correct then you're going to need to shim something or live with it. Your fuel system will thank you for keeping the fuel tank full, by the way, and that's a few hundred pounds the rear end was designed for. One step at time and measure that camber/toe in before and after each step - you can do this at home. Remember to roll the car after putting it back on the ground.

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daBenz - 1970 220D

dabenz,

thank you for the advice. ok, no more worrying about axles - makes sense.

I will try pushing up on the front of the CA's as you described and report back. Ill also do another inspection and post some pics. Pictures could say 1000's of words here.

Where are there shims in the system? I know if the spring pad shims - where else?

Car has not been in accident to my knowledge. Carfax is clean. No signs of any major repairs anywhwre. No rust - Texas car (hence the name, rust free is quite the commodity here).

Thank you, pictures are on their way.

dd

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'85 300D, 'Lance',250k, ... winter beater (100k on franken-Frybrid 3 Valve Kit)
'82 300D, 'Tex', 228k body / 170k engine ... summer car
'83 300TD Cali Wagon 210k, wife's car

Pic #1 - view from up close, with the level. Other wheel is the same.
Pic #2 - from rear, tough to see
Pic #3 - CA bushing
Pic #4 - another CA bushing
Pic #5 - general diff area (that flash rust was from *one drive* in salt on the first day of winter when I got caught - amazing)

From my inspection I didn't see anything remarkable. No damage or worn spots or signs of funny business etc. I was hoping I did something like put the diff mount in backwards - but no.


dd

Attached Thumbnails

         

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'85 300D, 'Lance',250k, ... winter beater (100k on franken-Frybrid 3 Valve Kit)
'82 300D, 'Tex', 228k body / 170k engine ... summer car
'83 300TD Cali Wagon 210k, wife's car