Test: Unequal Caster. What happens?

When I first aligned the suspension after the frame swap, I must have gotten the darn thing pretty close, as it drove pretty nice. Since then, I've had different sections apart doing modifications, along with ride height changes, and now I'm fighting a minor pull to the right. (The tires are the same pressure, but I might try a left-right swap to see what happens.) Tweaking the front toe settings hasn't fixed it yet. Just for kicks, I've tried to increase the caster on one side (left side), just to see if that wheel would be the dominant straight-ahead wheel, and that the other wheel would then point in the direction of the left or right pull. So far the test isn't giving me the instant information to rectify the pull to the right. Does this test make sense?

Also, I believe I've got the rear wheels pretty well aligned. But, in the event they're not aligned as well as I think they are, could a rear misalignment give the same steering pull to one side?

nothing happens. I've done a seat of the pants alignment on mine for the past 12 years.

That's shit anal retentive people worry about.

Mine has been pulling to the right. I changed the caster on both sides one at a time and it didn't seem to make much difference.

I do agree with the premise though that the more caster a paticular wheel has the more dominant it will be.

turtlevette said:

nothing happens. I've done a seat of the pants alignment on mine for the past 12 years.

That's shit anal retentive people worry about.

Click to expand...

And you're the one doing the engineering on my factory production lines??????:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

Now you see why I believe the proper knowledge of how to wield a big hammer & a 24" pipe wrench is equal to a college degree in real life applications!!

(sorry Jim couldn't stop myself!)

JPhil said:

turtlevette said:

nothing happens. I've done a seat of the pants alignment on mine for the past 12 years.

That's shit anal retentive people worry about.

Click to expand...

And you're the one doing the engineering on my factory production lines??????:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

Click to expand...

So your product is a bit lopsided??:clobbered::bounce::crap:

I'd think that if the rear was not pointing straight ahead that it would try to turn whatever way they were pointing. thrust angle could possibly play a part in your turning. If the rear was pointing 2* left it could drive the car that way. Just a guess from me, but it seems logical. I just drew a quick bunch of lines on a paper. No clue if it's real world application.

Caster difference side to side will cause a drift or pull depending on how much difference there is. Generally speaking you need about 1/2 a degree or more to notice the drift. The car will go towards the side with the least amount of positive caster. Increasing the caster on the let side will not help your situation and may in fact make it worse. What are your alignment specs? It is a fairly common practice to put a little more positive caster on the right side to compensate for drift do to the crown in some roads.

JPhil said:

turtlevette said:

nothing happens. I've done a seat of the pants alignment on mine for the past 12 years.

That's shit anal retentive people worry about.

Click to expand...

And you're the one doing the engineering on my factory production lines??????:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

Now you see why I believe the proper knowledge of how to wield a big hammer & a 24" pipe wrench is equal to a college degree in real life applications!!

(sorry Jim couldn't stop myself!)

Click to expand...

You're absolutely right. Many times the calcs give you the wrong answer and you have to put settings in based on experience (pull em out the ass). This applies to setting the front end on an old car and setting a relay on a 500kv transmission line.

I'm the one keeping your lights on. Scarey Huh?

turtlevette said:

JPhil said:

turtlevette said:

nothing happens. I've done a seat of the pants alignment on mine for the past 12 years.

That's shit anal retentive people worry about.

Click to expand...

And you're the one doing the engineering on my factory production lines??????:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

Now you see why I believe the proper knowledge of how to wield a big hammer & a 24" pipe wrench is equal to a college degree in real life applications!!

(sorry Jim couldn't stop myself!)

Click to expand...

You're absolutely right. Many times the calcs give you the wrong answer and you have to put settings in based on experience (pull em out the ass). This applies to setting the front end on an old car and setting a relay on a 500kv transmission line.

I'm the one keeping your lights on. Scarey Huh?

Click to expand...

You do a very inconsistent job too, but except for that tree across the street taking down our pole trans years ago, I have to say that Clay Electric Co op does a damn good job, considering all the HUGE amounts of lightening storms, like one last evening....

what is it you design for electricals??

Sky65 said:

Caster difference side to side will cause a drift or pull depending on how much difference there is. Generally speaking you need about 1/2 a degree or more to notice the drift. The car will go towards the side with the least amount of positive caster. Increasing the caster on the let side will not help your situation and may in fact make it worse. What are your alignment specs? It is a fairly common practice to put a little more positive caster on the right side to compensate for drift do to the crown in some roads.

Click to expand...

That's the opposite of what i thought. Good information. I might play around some more with mine. I can see why asymmetrical settings could be beneficial to solve some specific problems. That's why i just play with mine until it drives the way i want and don't really care about what the settings are.

turtlevette said:

I'm the one keeping your lights on. Scarey Huh?

Click to expand...

I trust you to keep 'em shining more than I'd trust 99% of the rest of them....

& yeah, the numbers don't matter, it's the peformance that counts. I need to realign mine again, I'll take this info into account.

JPhil said:

turtlevette said:

I'm the one keeping your lights on. Scarey Huh?

Click to expand...

I trust you to keep 'em shining more than I'd trust 99% of the rest of them....

& yeah, the numbers don't matter, it's the peformance that counts. I need to realign mine again, I'll take this info into account.

Click to expand...

I know I have mentioned this before, but where/who, I can't remember....

the guys doing my alignments up north...D&R Alignment Kensington Md.....were VERY particular, for one thing they knew me, customer and hotrodder....they would stand next to each wheel, and look down on it look to the back wheel, and if a IRS, do the same in the rear....

then to the machine....they guy would drive it afterwards, sometimes right back to the machine after another look see....

the damn jobs always came out perfect....

:hissyfit:

any car i've every had has driven worse after a "professional" alignment.

One time when having my T-Bird aligned i quizzed them about the toe. They said we set it at zero for tire wear. I'm thinking to myself. The hell with that, i just want it to steer nice.

turtlevette said:

any car i've every had has driven worse after a "professional" alignment.

One time when having my T-Bird aligned i quizzed them about the toe. They said we set it at zero for tire wear. I'm thinking to myself. The hell with that, i just want it to steer nice.

Click to expand...

I agree to a large part, GOD I miss my old car network up there, down here I am almost on my own...so do my own alignments now....been to 3 alignment shops and none are any good, so learned how some years ago...no choice n the matter....:goodnight: