awaiting result

Badger · Mar 22, 2011

sat at the tyre centre awaiting the results of my wheel alignment, replaced the damper with a nice delphi de carbon jobby and the track rod and ends last night, looking forward to a smoother drive now.

gotta whip off tthe timing cover as i've got a god awful rattling coming from it atm...found a piece of what looked like an oil seal poking out the wade hole yesterday

lynall · Mar 22, 2011

That woont be an oil seal it will either be a chunk of cam belt or the plastic idler pulleys breaking up.

Lynall

Badger · Mar 22, 2011

Well bugger me what a difference! Nice n smooth in rolling now, it was toed in ( rear nearer than the fronts of the tyres at the front )

As for the odd noise, about to go investigate....

instantsquid · Mar 22, 2011

I got my tracking done a week or so back after fitting new track rod ends - what a difference! I can actually go round corners now without feeling like I'm gonna end up in the ditch.
I've been considering replacing the steering damper - just not sure whether it needs it or not! What made you replace yours Paul? How did you know it was knackered?

Badger · Mar 22, 2011

Tbh Ian it was just on the job of bits to do ( you know the list we have

) and the bush was picked up on the MOT anyway as a advisory, so it made sense to replace the main parts whilst i was there.

Receiving the new one it's held together with a strap to stop it moving, so i took the old one off and it never moved, in fact 2 days later and it's still the same length, not moved at all.

I paid about £40 for the damper ( another £20 and i could've got the RTC one but wasn't sure i was comfortable with that ) and tbh £12 for a bog standard replacement is hardly money not well spent.

Just going to replace the UJ's on the steering and i'm done with the steering overall i reackon, all new bits including the steering box last year.

instantsquid · Mar 23, 2011

Fair enough - I'll add it to the list!

Badger · Mar 23, 2011

They were nice enough to give me a shiny printout of the adjustments they made and one area they couldn't adjust was the caster setting, anyone know what that is?

Station House · Mar 23, 2011

Caster is the angle to which the steering pivot axis is tilted forward or rearward from vertical, as viewed from the side. If the pivot axis is tilted backward (that is, the top pivot is positioned farther rearward than the bottom pivot), then the caster is positive; if it's tilted forward, then the caster is negative.

Positive caster tends to straighten the wheel when the vehicle is traveling forward, and thus is used to enhance straight-line stability. The mechanism that causes this tendency is clearly illustrated by the castering front wheels of a shopping cart. The steering axis of a shopping cart wheel is set forward of where the wheel contacts the ground. As the cart is pushed forward, the steering axis pulls the wheel along, and since the wheel drags along the ground, it falls directly in line behind the steering axis. The force that causes the wheel to follow the steering axis is proportional to the distance between the steering axis and the wheel-to-ground contact patch-the greater the distance, the greater the force. This distance is referred to as "trail."

Most vehicles are not particularly sensitive to caster settings. Nevertheless, it is important to ensure that the caster is the same on both sides of the car to avoid the tendency to pull to one side. While greater caster angles serve to improve straight-line stability, they also cause an increase in steering effort. Three to five degrees of positive caster is the typical range of settings, with lower angles being used on heavier vehicles to keep the steering effort reasonable.

(and yes Paul - I cut and pasted it!)

instantsquid · Mar 23, 2011

Thought you were an ex-biker, Paul? You probably already know about castor and trail from the effect that fork angle and yoke offset has on the steering of a bike.
The physics are the same, but have a far less dramatic effect on a four-wheeled vehicle than on a two-wheeled one, which also has to lean to corner rather than turning the front wheel(s).

Badger · Mar 23, 2011

Well that makes sense then

As for bikes, if it looks good, it'll work

Shifty1962 · Mar 23, 2011

Castor/caster setting is determined by the "hockey sticks" on the front axle. unless you have lifted or dropped the suspension height it should not be an issue and you can only adjust it by getting modified arms.
BTW for future info if your rear tyre edges are closer than the front edges then that is "toe out" not "toe in". Not that it matters as its sorted now.

awaiting result

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