Any caster experts?

skipnrocks · Mar 5, 2019

When I set my buggy up first I had to set my caster at 0 to get the driveline in perfect. So now I have my knuckles apart to gusset them and thought if I wanted to add some caster now would be the best time. So will there be enough advantage to adding a few degrees? I have driven on the street a handful of times and it drives like I would expect a full hydro buggy. But not aweful. Just curious on your opinion if it would be worth the grind and weld time

Forbanger · Mar 6, 2019

Aim worth black boogers

P · Mar 6, 2019

It's always fun to haul ass and not chase em, hell Yea it's worth the effort

You sure you can't afford 3 -4 degrees out of the driveshaft ? Assuming your links are adjustable

Bebop · Mar 6, 2019

I'm not a caster expert, but 6 to 8 degrees is nice to have.

skipnrocks · Mar 6, 2019

Yea no go for sure on the driveshaft. It kisses my links on full flex and the starter on full compress. Would definitely have to cut and rotate to get much more than what I have. Mostly increasing would give better return to Center?

waggener1 · Mar 6, 2019

Shoot for 3 - 5 degrees of caster.

In my experience, most trucks and SUVs have 2.5 - 3.5 degrees specified. I've seen some cars that have close to 7 degrees. The greater caster provides better return-to-center response of your steering.

'05+ Ford SD 60s have a 10 degree included angle between caster and pinion (or at least my '06 model did). With my caster at 0 degrees my pinion was rolled up 10 degrees. I needed 6 degrees of pinion angle, so I rolled it down 4 degrees to get my desired pinion angle as well as my 4 degree caster angle.

GIZMO1 · Mar 6, 2019

This always confuses me ( not hard to do ) do you set the caster as positive or negative ?

Bebop · Mar 6, 2019

waggener1 said:
'05+ Ford SD 60s have a 10 degree included angle between caster and pinion (or at least my '06 model did). With my caster at 0 degrees my pinion was rolled up 10 degrees. I needed 6 degrees of pinion angle, so I rolled it down 4 degrees to get my desired pinion angle as well as my 4 degree caster angle.

This is exactly how my 14 bolt is set up.

Drawing on the difference between positive and negative caster:

POSITIVE caster is the standard.

According to TireRack :

"Increasing the amount of positive caster will increase steering effort and straight line tracking, as well as improve high speed stability and cornering effectiveness. Positive caster also increases tire lean when cornering (almost like having more negative camber) as the steering angle is increased.

What's the downside to positive caster? If the vehicle doesn't have power steering, a noticeable increase in steering effort will be felt as positive caster is increased. Other than that, the effects of positive caster are pretty much "positive," especially increasing the lean of the tire when the vehicle is cornering while returning it to a more upright position when driving straight ahead."

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=4

xjtony · Mar 7, 2019

^yep. Positive caster. Way back in the day zero or negative was how they did it. Manual steering boxes and negative caster help steering effort but you don't get much feel. Or so that's how it was explained to me.

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