URGENT: Rear Wheel Alignment Issue - Please Help!

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ScoJo
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Re: URGENT: Rear Wheel Alignment Issue - Please Help!

Post by ScoJo »

Do you think it would be worthwhile to put new nails in straight into the rears to see if I can get going straight before trying to bend them again? The problem with that of course is that none of the nails is actually straight.

I'm just hoping there's no issue I can't see with the car body. That part I can do nothing with by the weekend.
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Re: URGENT: Rear Wheel Alignment Issue - Please Help!

Post by ScoJo »

I turned the outside of the wheels on my Taig. I turn my own wheel mandrel like Stan has described in the past and it works very well. I believe they are less than 0.002 out of round based on my gauge.

As far as the bores, I just clean them up by hand with a chucking reamer, then polish and burnish with graphite. The wheels usually turn out really well, so I don't THINK they are the issue. I have a few extras that I made that I can swap out to see if that changes my rear wheel steering problem though.

Thank you, speedster, for the very kind offer, though! :)
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sporty
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Re: URGENT: Rear Wheel Alignment Issue - Please Help!

Post by sporty »

In trying to resolve the issue. To eliminate. I'd try different wheels. Sounds like A plus process to me. I use that process too. I get it too .0005.



Try straight axles. At least you can see if it's better or worse. The drift.
and naturally I assume. you are turning them to try and tune the rears.
slots are a oain. Could be a bad piece of woid. Bad slots.
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sporty
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Re: URGENT: Rear Wheel Alignment Issue - Please Help!

Post by sporty »

Have you checked with a level ? Just to double check board is not twisted or developed one ?
ScoJo
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Re: URGENT: Rear Wheel Alignment Issue - Please Help!

Post by ScoJo »

I've checked the board with a level. It seems okay. I will try the straight axles and see if the drift gets any better.
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Re: URGENT: Rear Wheel Alignment Issue - Please Help!

Post by ScoJo »

I think I figured it out.

We've been running the car on it's nose and not using a thumbtack. I looked at it, and I think the shape of the underside that it was dragging on is not level, which is causing the car to lean to one side slightly. The straight nails still tracked way to one side. I put in a thumbtack and it ran quite straight!

Now to bend these axles and align with the thumbtack.

I feel better...
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davet
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Re: URGENT: Rear Wheel Alignment Issue - Please Help!

Post by davet »

That's exactly how we aligned last year, straight axle in DFW hole then kept twisting the rears until the car tracked straight and wheels went to heads in both directions. It didn't work well this year because no matter how we twisted the rear axles the car steered one way, sometimes more, sometimes less. It wasn't until we aligned it like in the video that I discovered the DFW hole wasn't perfect. Very quick and easy to do. This yr we drilled canted holes without The Block. With this vid I think we'll run bent axles next year. I got this vid the night before our pack race and had the rear aligned within 30 minutes.
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Re: URGENT: Rear Wheel Alignment Issue - Please Help!

Post by Speedster »

Thank you, Stan. That made it easy.
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Re: URGENT: Rear Wheel Alignment Issue - Please Help!

Post by Speedster »

Scojo, if you are running the car on it's nose with bent axles in the rear, you are going to change the toe-in and camber as the car is raised and lowered. Even if you are using straight axles, if they are inserted at any angle in the slots the same thing would happen. I like to put a front wheel on, measure from the bottom of the car to the test board with the calipers, then set the front of the car at the same height as when the wheel was on. Once the rears are set they will stay the same when you install the DFW, or at least very close.
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Re: URGENT: Rear Wheel Alignment Issue - Please Help!

Post by davet »

Speedster wrote:Scojo, if you are running the car on it's nose with bent axles in the rear, you are going to change the toe-in and camber as the car is raised and lowered. Even if you are using straight axles, if they are inserted at any angle in the slots the same thing would happen. I like to put a front wheel on, measure from the bottom of the car to the test board with the calipers, then set the front of the car at the same height as when the wheel was on. Once the rears are set they will stay the same when you install the DFW, or at least very close.

Very important to have the front same height during aligning as when racing. I adjust this by just adding more layers of doublestick tape to the bottom of the thumbtack. This way the rear alignment won't change when u put the front wheels on.
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