View Single Post
  #5  
Old 12-04-2009, 06:12 PM
mfain mfain is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 453
Thanks: 76
Thanked 108 Times in 51 Posts
Default

Another thought -- it is hard to tell looking at the photos, but it appears that your idler arm is longer than the pitman arm. If that is the case, the two outboard tie rod end mounting points will swing in slightly different arcs, which will make the Ackermann different when turning in one direction vice the other. For visualization, I have had good luck making scale models of the steering componenets (1/2 or 1/4 scale works) out of poster board and pinning them together at the pivot points with thumb tacks. Thumb tack the "fixed" points like the pitman arm, idler arm, and ball joint centerlines to a piece of wood (in appropriate scaled positions). You can then turn the wheels back and forth and measure each wheel's turn angle with a protractor. Its not super precise, but it will let you see what is happening to the Ackermann. You could also just draw it out on graph paper. Here is a quote from the Woodward catalog that may shed some light on your situation. You can replace the words "rack and pinion" with "drag link". "On frames based on the 1971 Camero, it was impossible to locate a rack and pinion far enough to the rear, so it became common to fabricate spindles with a shorter steering arm on the left side, and give a faster steering ratio to the left wheel." This was obviously to help a circle track car with left turn entry, but it gave toe in (negative Ackermann) if you turn right. Having different Pitman Arm/Idler Arm lengths will have the same effect to some degree. Just food for thought -- hope this helps.

Pappy
Reply With Quote