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caster question
#171384
12/20/08 12:05 PM
12/20/08 12:05 PM
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Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 9,225
Charleston
sixpackgut
OP
Drag Week Mod Champion
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OP
Drag Week Mod Champion
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 9,225
Charleston
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i have my front wheels and rotors off and i notice my upper ball joint is out in front of the lower one buy a good bit. maybe a half inch. i have had the car alighned<sp? years ago. and never any real problems driving the car but i thought the upper ball joint is supposed to be behind the lower one or at least in line.
is this normal? i pulled the rear of the upper control arm in as much as possible and it helped a little
Gen 3 power 6.22@110, 9.85@135
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Re: caster question
[Re: sixpackgut]
#171385
12/20/08 01:38 PM
12/20/08 01:38 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 27,467
So Cal
autoxcuda
Too Many Posts
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Too Many Posts
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 27,467
So Cal
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Quote:
i have my front wheels and rotors off and i notice my upper ball joint is out in front of the lower one buy a good bit. maybe a half inch. i have had the car alighned<sp? years ago. and never any real problems driving the car but i thought the upper ball joint is supposed to be behind the lower one or at least in line.
is this normal? i pulled the rear of the upper control arm in as much as possible and it helped a little
Is the car on jackstand and the suspension drooped down? If so, the upper control arm is designed at a angle from the side view for anti-drive anti squat characteristics. So when the suspension is all the way hanging down, the upper ball joint moves forward.
No concerns.
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Re: caster question
[Re: sixpackgut]
#171389
12/20/08 03:19 PM
12/20/08 03:19 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 27,467
So Cal
autoxcuda
Too Many Posts
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Too Many Posts
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 27,467
So Cal
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Quote:
i have my front wheels and rotors off and i notice my upper ball joint is out in front of the lower one buy a good bit. maybe a half inch. i have had the car alighned<sp? years ago. and never any real problems driving the car but i thought the upper ball joint is supposed to be behind the lower one or at least in line.
is this normal? i pulled the rear of the upper control arm in as much as possible and it helped a little
I didn't notice that. If you moved the rear cam you have changed the alignment. When the upper ball joint goes back, the outer tie rod goes down. Then the outer tie rod goes out or in unless it has perfect bump steer (99% it doesn't). The camber have changed too. Need to get it checked again on an alignment machine.
Caster angle split from side to side can make the car put to the side. Most guys seem to shoot for less than 0.2 degrees split or so.
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Re: caster question
[Re: autoxcuda]
#171390
12/20/08 08:49 PM
12/20/08 08:49 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 27,421
Balt. Md
383man
Too Many Posts
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Too Many Posts
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 27,421
Balt. Md
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Have it aligned and set where you like. Caster will make a car pull if they are off by more then 1/2 degree on some cars but I can get away with up to 1 degree difference. The more positive the caster the better the car will handle but with manual steering more positive to after a point makes it harder to turn the wheel. On a stock front end of your car you wont get much more then 2 or 3 degrees of positive caster if that much. Just remember toe and chamber will wear tires and caster wont but it will make a car pull to one side if not close to equal. If its a street car you can just use factory specs but on my 63 street car I set the toe at 1/16 in and chamber at 1/8 positve with as much posistive caster as it would take at that chamber setting which was about 2 degrees. Ron
Last edited by 383man; 12/20/08 08:53 PM.
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