caster is 7 degrees forward

[adam]

Is 7 degrees forward for caster alright?

 

[bigfrank330]

No way no how
CASTER must be top of kingpin toward rear of bucket
If the top is forward you will be constantly fighting the wheel to make it go straight
Not to mention chewing up the tires every 100 miles
The car would almost be undriveable
7 degrees is a good number but it has to be top of kingpin towards the rear
Hope this helps
Frank

 

[Youngster]

Stock old Ford was 5 degrees. You can set at 5 to 7 degrees. In theory more will give better handling at high speeds and less will give better manors at low speeds.

Ron

 

[adam]

Well the top of the kiing pin is behind the bottom.. I have split wishbones which are welded in and I dropeed the body on finaly..I wnet to check caster and it ia 10 degrees back..top king pin behind bottom... its not adjudtable unless I re weld the radius rod brakets.. is 10 to much

 

[adam]

The way I found that was to put an anglefinderon thefrontedgeof theaxle..itsa I beam axle so there's a lip on the top and the bottom..I put the angle find on the top and bottom lip verticaly..this might be way off but I figure the beam lips should be even..it said 10 degrees

 

[Dirt-T]

Try it if it's to much make changes as needed. I always run 5 on low sid and 9 on tge high side.
Some times you can put your angle finder across your upper steering arm.

 

[Stephen]

I always run 5 on low sid and 9 on tge high side.

What the hell was this about????

 

[Youngster]

Could you post a couple pics of your frontend?

Ron

 

[adam]

So what are your thoughts on death wobble at low speeds with 10 or 11 degrees..I definetly not interested in dying..but I'm also not intersted in cutting my body so that the rod ends of the wishbones can sit in the cab above the frame

 

[409T]

Do you know for a fact that what you have now won't work? I would be tempted to test it before making changes.

 

[RazzBarlow7]

I would think the issue at low speeds with that much caster wouldn't be "death wobble" it would be very high steering effort.

 

[Youngster]

Remember those Harly's with the raked necks and extended girders? Ever try to drive one? Talk about death wobble at a low speed. The cause, excessive caster.

Ron

 

["The Bat" out of hell]

Actully 7*kingpin layback at top is just fine at any speed on a lite rod,but in many cases I see the wrong off set of rims , rims too wide and or wrong tires=too big/too wide/to many lb.s and not balanced ,plus no shocks or poor shocking;
Those things are what screws up strait axle front end set ups making wobble

 

[Youngster]

I agree with "The Bat''. This wrong kingpin inclination comes up everytime "death wobble" occures. Along with the list above you need to remember just because you bought a new whatever or new tires or etc. that dosen't necessarly mean they are spot on.

Ron

 

[old round fart]

Front engine dragsters have a lot of caster and no problems with "high speed death wobble". Remember the wheels laying down when they turn?

 

[Youngster]

They are also running on a flat surface straight forward hopefully.

Ron

 

[adam]

I got a new magnum axle and spindles from speedway.. I have the on and the top of my tires are farther out tan the bottom..but there's no way to fix the cambe since the axle is static..right??

 

[Youngster]

That's call camber ... a good thing.

Ron

 

[Rogers23T]

I'm going to say that you guys all need to be a 5* back in order to have proper steer, 7 is too much it will not bring the wheel back to center properly.

 

[RPM]

I'm going to say that you guys all need to be a 5* back in order to have proper steer, 7 is too much it will not bring the wheel back to center properly.

7* is not too much. The more caster the more the steering wants to return to center. A lot of drag race cars run 10-15* of caster with no problems at all. However the more caster that is run the harder it is to turn the steering wheel. Caster causes the front end to have to raise the chassis to make a turn. Increasing caster makes the chassis have to raise more when the steering wheel is turned.