Hello,
I hope one of the forum participants can help me with my problem. I am currently installing a few new TopCad tuning parts on my mini Z racer and I am running into a problem with the new knuckle arms and the front aluminum bulkhead. After installation of the new knuckle arms, the front wheels don't align anymore. Does that have to do with the old standard tie rod? I have a new TopCad aluminum tie rod as well but did not install it yet. The old knuckle arms with the new bulkhead work fine though, so I put them back on. Has anybody had a similar problem before?
Thanks guys for the super fast response! And I am sure you are right. TopCad knuckles seem to come in 1 and 3 degrees (just found it on their homepage). Maybe the new tie rod will equalize this effect? I will try it out. Otherwise I may have to find some neutral knuckles...or use the stock ones!
If the knuckles have build-in camber, what I don't understand then is that I suddenly have toe-in after installing the new knuckles? I thought camber and toe-in are independent from each other. I clearly have strong toe-in with the new knuckles while the stock knuckles don't show any toe-in. With the same tie-rod for both old and new knuckles.
The only way of getting rid of toe-in in this situation that I see is to use a slightly shorter tie rod. That should straighten the wheels out.
That will work. I have 3 degree toe in knuckles and a tie rod set. I think the tie rod set was -1 degree, 0 deg, 1 deg, and 2 degree toe settings.
I installed the -1 deg tie rod and ended up with 2 degrees actual toe and liked that set-up. That's what I'm running now. That little bit of toe-in made my car more stable on the straights.
Camber and toe are different as you said.
Neutral camber looks like this looking at car from the front or rear.
|----|
Neg on both sides----> /----\
Caster is the forward or backwards rake on the kingpin. Caster can affect camber during turning also. The more rearward rake you have on the kingpin, the more camber gain you have on the right tire while turning left or vice versa. Caster can also increase "wedge" while turning.
Hope this helps.
__________________
You can screw up a great handling race car with an ill handling driver.
Thanks a lot! Indeed, this clarified it for me. I will now play around a bit with my parts, install the new tie rod and see if that changes the situation (I have bought a hop-up set and since I did not want to take the servo apart, I only tried the new knuckles w/o the tie rod).
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