Hi guys,

Ok, so im cheap and want to set up my suspension at home. I can do tracking, toe and camber all easily, but the problem is with castor.

I know you can get cheap castor gauges from the likes of minispares, and as far as i understand there is some forumla for obtaining the castor angle from camber at different degrees of steering lock. Would anyone happen to know how to do it? I guess it works on the same principle as the old dunlop style optical alignment tools.

Yes, im too cheap to order the castor gauge from minispares too.

Cheers

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Mini - The Wizardry on Wheels!

Turn your wheels 22 1/2degrees to the right. Measure camber. Turn'em 22 1/2degrees to left . Measure camber. The difference is the castor. +ive or -ive ( I think!! ). Problem is you gotta measure the camber....with what ?/ and you gotta get you wheels to that angle. Get some cardboard out and scissors and string and a geometry book. Or go down to your Wheel Aligner,

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62 Saxon Green 850
Clubby van

I,ve tried this method-But had problems with the string.....

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Was that string........ or st ir ring ?? LS

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62 Saxon Green 850
Clubby van

why use string? I'm going to just use a large steel square, set it up against the wheel, and measure the distance between the rim and square at the top and bottom. Then use geometry

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Mini - The Wizardry on Wheels!

Actually theres nuthin' wrong with that,V !!! But on a flat surface . Thats camber. Caster is the angle looking at the side, of a line drawn thru the top and bottom balljoint. +ive caster is the bottom further forward than the top. Too much caster will make the car really twitchy. Should be 3-5 degrees for road use, but everyone has their own ideas.

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62 Saxon Green 850
Clubby van

I've just returned from NZ,and there may be two problems with this method
1/ Finding a flat surface in NZ-you would have to drive to the Desert Road....
2/ Road-use in NZ is different to road-use in Australia.so what allowance to be made..

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Put the wheels on turntables, take camber measurements at 20 deg in and 20 deg out, multiply the difference by 1.5 and you have your castor.

PM me with an email addy if you want the details