Steering wheel / front tire angle

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BLS
Posts: 441
Joined: May 11th, 2011, 7:52 pm

Steering wheel / front tire angle

Post by BLS »

I am back to working on my car and hope to get it on the track in 2022. Several of my modifications I have lost some of my notes about. Prior to modifying my steering system I had measured the change in angle with the steering wheel at one revolution in order to calculate and keep the new system in the same range. I have lost my original data so cannot check against what I have now.

Anyone know what the approximate angle the front makes with one turn of the steering wheel? I realize this is not the same for all cars/systems.
Barry
Old Zink FV,
'87 Citation
FV80
Site Admin
Posts: 1195
Joined: June 27th, 2006, 9:07 am

Re: Steering wheel / front tire angle

Post by FV80 »

Barry,
I can't tell you the ANGLE.. but a standard box with standard arms requires about 3/4 steering wheel revolution from straight ahead to full lock in either direction.. Approx 1.5 turns lock to lock (IIRC).

Not sure what you are trying to DO that would require you to KNOW that. It's just a 'fact of the steering box' - nothing more. The exact angle value for exactly 1 turn of the SW will change if you modify the pitman arm length or steering arm length... but likely not a whole lot.

Perhaps I misunderstand the question? Why would you need to know the value of the angle? .. they should match (roughly) side to side ... other than that ... that's about all there is. The spindle has a STOP on the dogbone .. you (generally speaking) should NOT hit that stop anywhere other than the paddock or garage.

YOU'RE going to get your CAR ON THE TRACK IN '22 ?? HA! I resemble that remark. Will believe it when I SEE it :shock:
Maybe you've finally RETIRED and actually have TIME to work on the car now??
Hope you finally GET THERE!! :) .

Steve, FV80
The Racer's Wedge and now a Vortech, FV80
BLS
Posts: 441
Joined: May 11th, 2011, 7:52 pm

Re: Steering wheel / front tire angle

Post by BLS »

Heh, no promises but I am going to give it a try. Haven't retired, but finally have the beach house in pretty good shape. That's been a lot of work, especially for a house that was considered in good shape to begin with.

I made a big change to the Citation that remains untried and unproven. I can make one complete turn CW or CCW before my tierods hit structure. The angle of the tierods is much greater due to the fact they start between the top and bottom torsion beams. I have decreased the distance from the spindle pivot to the steering arm connection point to compensate. I made notes of what I was doing at the time, but apparently they didn't survive the move we made a couple years ago. I was just trying to verify my changes and thought the angle from straight ahead for some amount of wheel rotation *might* be a known thing :)

Why? I increased the wheelbase by the 2 inches Ed Zink thought good enough (minimum per rules). My big feet don't have enough room with the brake rod activation and the steering shaft between them. So I changed it all and tried to keep as much room as I could for my long legs, meaning pedals as close to the beam as possible.

I don't have a photo account to share pics but I'll email you a couple and you can see what I mean.

Thanks!
Barry
Old Zink FV,
'87 Citation
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