Reply to: RE>Re: Alignment (again)
Pardon my ignorance, but which is positive camber? \ / or / \ (wheels viewed
from the front of the car). My Moke's wheel currently look like the first
picture (although not quite as bad!), whereas most racing cars have the second
camber type. Also, how can you measure castor, and how do you adjust it (if
this is a possible task) ?
Thanks in advance
"Positive camber" means that the bottoms of the wheels are tucked inward.
This helps the car track properly on a high-crowned road. Very old cars tended
to have large positive cambers. Check out an MGTC some time!
Caster is more complicated. If you consider how the wheel swivels when
you turn the steering wheel, you can imagine a line drawn roughly from top to
bottom, an AXIS that the wheel swivels on. Older cars had an actual physical
axis, called a "kingpin". In those days, caster was known as "king pin
inclination". But cars with ball joints work the same. Just imagine a line
drawn through the top ball joint and the bottom one.
"Positive caster" means that the upper ball joint is further BACKWARD than
the lower one. This means that the wheel swivels rather like the front wheel
of a motorcycle or bicycle. Positive caster makes the car "want to go
straight". NEGATIVE caster would make the car want to go any direction but
straight. This is usually undesirable! My TR2 has ZERO CASTER, which means
that the only thing making the car want to go straight, is the silentblock
bushings in the steering gear ( GAAK ).
- Jerry Kaidor
|