Following the SKOSH chart - your experiences?

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autoxcuda said:
No.

But if you use that for manual steering you might want to reduce those caster numbers depending on your front tire width and if the manual steering ratio is 20:1 or 16:1.
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I have the flaming river 16:1 215/65-15 cooper cobras up front 275 rear. This was my previous alignment when I had them try to do the best they could from the skosh chart. Street and strip, but not bracket racing.
 

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Kent mosby said:
I have the flaming river 16:1 215/65-15 cooper cobras up front 275 rear. This was my previous alignment when I had them try to do the best they could from the skosh chart. Street and strip, but not bracket racing.
Click to expand...

How does it steer at low speeds. Do you do much low speed maneuvering; parking lots, driveway, etc?

It's a lot of what the driver is used to and finds acceptable.

235 and wider up front will start being noticeable difference.

Guy in club has a 4spd 69 Roadrunner with 16:1 and 235/60/15's up front. He didn't complain. But when he changed to power steering, he wished he would have sooner. He lives in suburban LA area too.
 
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autoxcuda said:
How does it steer at low speeds. Do you do much low speed maneuvering; parking lots, driveway, etc?

It's a lot of what the driver is used to and find acceptable.

235 and wider up front will start being noticeable difference.

Guy in club has a 4spd 69 Roadrunner with 16:1 and 235/60/15's up front. He didn't complain. But when he changed to power steering, he wished he would have sooner. He lives in suburban LA area too.
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It is manageable at slow speeds but I experienced a torn rotator cuff that is not repairable without a complete shoulder replacement. I find that I do not drive it as much because of that. At 64 yo, I want to drive it as much as I can. I will post a build thread when I get the project started.
 
Map63Vette said:
Old thread, but I wonder, have you changed the ride height from stock? I think I read some of your posts about the car when looking up caster settings and may have just missed it. It looks like the caster curves on the A bodies at least are pretty quick and will add a lot of caster as you drop the suspension. I wonder if maybe one reason you got the nice numbers is if you are running a bit lower ride height than stock?
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The change in caster is absolutely evident as the suspension goes through it's range of travel.

Align 2.jpg


Looking at this chart of an A body 73-76 Disc brake steering knuckle, if you were at 1.17 degrees of caster at the stock ride height, you're over 4 1/2 degrees of caster 2 inches below stock.
 
Kent mosby said:
I have the flaming river 16:1 215/65-15 cooper cobras up front 275 rear. This was my previous alignment when I had them try to do the best they could from the skosh chart. Street and strip, but not bracket racing.
Click to expand...

autoxcuda said:
How does it steer at low speeds. Do you do much low speed maneuvering; parking lots, driveway, etc?

It's a lot of what the driver is used to and find acceptable.

235 and wider up front will start being noticeable difference.

Guy in club has a 4spd 69 Roadrunner with 16:1 and 235/60/15's up front. He didn't complain. But when he changed to power steering, he wished he would have sooner. He lives in suburban LA area too.
Click to expand...

I run a 16:1 Flaming River manual steering box, 275/35/18's up front, and +6.5° of caster. I use the car almost daily, I do a 120+ mile round trip commute weekly which includes mountain roads, highway, and freeway driving.

@Kent mosby - looks like you've only got about +3° of caster, so, if anything I would add some additional caster if possible if you went to an EPAS set up. With 215's up front you might not find it necessary, the wider the front tires get the more likely they are to wander and positive caster improves the self centering effect of the alignment. Which is why I run +6.5° with my 275's, makes for a much more stable car at speed.

I don't have any issues with mine, it is definitely not something you want to have to do a lot of "dry steering" with- ie, turning the wheel while the car isn't rolling. But like I said, I literally get groceries in my Duster and parking lots aren't a problem as long as you have a plan for what you're doing. If I was parallel parking everyday I might do something different. And we'll see if it's too much on slow speed autoX courses, it's fine above say 20 mph. Below that it can get a bit heavy, but not unmanageable
 
72bluNblu said:
I run a 16:1 Flaming River manual steering box, 275/35/18's up front, and +6.5° of caster. I use the car almost daily, I do a 120+ mile round trip commute weekly which includes mountain roads, highway, and freeway driving.

@Kent mosby - looks like you've only got about +3° of caster, so, if anything I would add some additional caster if possible if you went to an EPAS set up. With 215's up front you might not find it necessary, the wider the front tires get the more likely they are to wander and positive caster improves the self centering effect of the alignment. Which is why I run +6.5° with my 275's, makes for a much more stable car at speed.

I don't have any issues with mine, it is definitely not something you want to have to do a lot of "dry steering" with- ie, turning the wheel while the car isn't rolling. But like I said, I literally get groceries in my Duster and parking lots aren't a problem as long as you have a plan for what you're doing. If I was parallel parking everyday I might do something different. And we'll see if it's too much on slow speed autoX courses, it's fine above say 20 mph. Below that it can get a bit heavy, but not unmanageable
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It is very stable at high speed. tracks very straight on the dragstrip. 11.46 at 118+ no drift or squirrelly motion. Around the street if I did not have the shoulder injury, I would be fine. I will have to have it aligned after and will ask if they can get more caster
 
Kent mosby said:
It is very stable at high speed. tracks very straight on the dragstrip. 11.46 at 118+ no drift or squirrelly motion. Around the street if I did not have the shoulder injury, I would be fine. I will have to have it aligned after and will ask if they can get more caster
Click to expand...

If the high speed stability is fine how it is now you don't really need more positive caster. With 215's up front it shouldn't really be necessary. It would add some more camber gain which would help handling, but it doesn't sound like that's a big concern. And of course it would add more steering effort, although that should be handled by the power assist.

The caster requirements go up really fast once you get past a certain tire width up front, so the 275's I run definitely need a lot more than the 215's you have.
 
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