Forward facing steering arms

[John Bonnett]

I just wondered if anyone sells forward facing steering arms with correct Ackerman angle?

Thank you

John

[Howard Wright]

Hi John

I may be totally wrong here... but wouldn't the arms have to splay outwards and possibly foul the brake backplates? I guess as a test you could try fitting the arms forward but on opposite sides which should give about the right angles?  The track rod would also need to be much longer!

Howard

[John Bonnett]

They'd need to be bespoke because I'm sure you're right that if the standard ones were swapped side to side they would foul the back plates. The track rods would be custom made to suit the Imp steering rack.

[spannerman]

Big 7 front axle has forward facing arms But wider track may help if it's a special your building?

[Alan]

Actually I wouldn’t bother too much about preserving the Ackerman angle. The benefits are far outweighed by the benefits of having the track rod in front of the axle. Engineering courses are full of diagrams showing correct rolling circles and things, but actually apart from at very low speeds that’s not what makes a car change direction.

[Terrytuned]

Having setup several cars with front track rod and std steering arms swapped to front it doesn't feel any different more important to have some caster angle and 1/8" toe in without caster the steering won't self centre.
Terry.

[John Bonnett]

Good information Terry. Thank you. Can you quantify the caster. I was thinking of at least 6 degrees.

John

[Terrytuned]

Yes John 6 degrees minimum 8 seems to work OK the chassis is supposed to have 4 degrees built in not found one yet,
most you have put in a spring wedge. Terry.

[Greig Smith]

This is the modified front end on our recent race build, I fitted the arms facing forward, then heated them with an acetylene torch and bent them outwards to be just next to the backing plates. the track rod was then adjusted to suit and the curve fitted perfectly behind the blower.

We ran the car at the Historic Grand Prix in East London South Africa and the steering was great, apart from too much play in the box which has now been sorted out a little machining - race cars are never actually finished !

Aye
Greig

[Phil Kingdom]

As far as I can remember when I did this stuff 45 years ago, the ackerman angle is the point on the diff where two imaginary lines from the steering arms would meet, so by refitting them on the front of the axle the arm angle would remain the same only be moved forward, so should make very little difference as the original angle of the steering arm is maintained.