Too much castor?

[Z()LTAN]

Hey all,

I just pulled my front housing down to check my castor angles and found that i must have buggered up my C&T a little as im gettin around -8deg, as far as i know thats 3-4deg too much.

The reason im checking my castor is from some random low speed death wobbles im getting.

Can too much castor cause this?

PS; The wobble only happens at low speeds (less than 40kmph) and i have to hit a bump for it to set off.

 

[Ron R]

Yes the caster could be the culprit.
If you want to read some simple but nice info about wheel-alignment, then THIS is a page you can look at.

 

[dgangle]

I disagree. IME, more caster increases stability and your death wobble is due to some other issue.

The only downsides of more than +3-5 degrees of caster are increased steering effort and increased tire wear on the outside edges of the front tires due to the scrubbing effect encountered when turning very sharp either direction. Read the link above again.

Are you saying you have ~+8 degrees or -8 degrees? VERY different scenarios.

 

[Radd Cruisers]

Too much castor will contribute to "death shakes."

You want to aim for about 5 degrees in doing a C&T.

Castor is a non-wear angle. If your tires are wearing at the edges, check your toe-in (among other things).


~John

 

[Z()LTAN]

cheers guys,

i have changed my castor to 5deg and its perfect.

 

[Ron R]

So mission accomplished!!
Good you got it fixed.
Did you use wedges to correct?

Just out of curiousity, how got it that bad (longer shakles?)

 

[Radd Cruisers]

Longer shackles removes caster in an LC (that does not have an SR done).

~John

 

[Z()LTAN]

Yer i have a SR, i changed my shackle angle and that changed the castor.

I did another cut and rotate, no dodgy wedges for this rig!

Cheers fellas