Thank you Professor Div! This is the best explanation of caster shims I’ve seen in the 35+ years of working on VWs. Especially if the lowered VDub pan is still level. The visual model makes is so obvious, almost a facepalm 🤦 moment! Cheers brother!!
I think the boss is happy with the progress! When I set the caster on my T speedster, I read everything I could, drew some pictures, thought about it for days, and then proceeded to screw it up... Then I redid it... now it's fine. Cheers from the shed
I've been driving and working on Bugs, for 40+ yrs, and this is the first time I have seen or heard someone break down Castor on a VW... 👍👍👍 And it's supposed to reach 38 Celcius here today. 😥😥😥
Div, I always said you are a exceptional fundi, and this video proves it .. I learn something every video!! Great stuff!!! Cant wait for the next one!!!
Nicely busted that myth! It´s called parallelogram for a reason :) Porsche knew what he was doing. And by the way, your dad´s advice was so spot on. Never go with something unless you fully understand it. Should be any mechanics mantra. Cheers from Germany Doc
Thanks for video. Steering wheel size not being too small can help with resistance. But also slightly more travel. Best to have nice tight steering box and all joints tight. I think there are different length torsion arms available also. Going to convert my 1960 c10 panel to power steering so adding caster will stabilize it and the power steering with quick ratio box will make it easy and steering will way more stable and responsive.. and safer. Your wife is lucky your building her a cool custom driver.
Great lesson Div. When I am teaching new mechanics alignments explaining much of this on conventional vehicles, I need mock up suspension, lol. The hardest for many to grasp seems to be SAI (steering angle inclination), or the rise and fall of the spindles angle thru the arch while turning left and right. This is what causes the wheel to try and center after turning, since the weight wants to sit down into the least amount of weight jacking caused by the inclination of the spindles/axle. Most vehicles changing ride height would change caster(and camber) but not on a double wishbone design like a VW. In a conventional vehicle the arms are usually on different planes at their mounting points. That's another topic on its own. :) Only posted this for others wondering about the alignment settings in their vehicles. Thanks for making these videos it should help many entering the repair industry..
VERY informative video as all of yours are. Having played with numerous VWs since 1970 you explain it thoroughly and easily. Thanks for another great video as all of them are.
I know from firsthand experience that positive caster helps handling. I have a video on my YT channel, where I took bad advice with a raised front end and added caster shims to the top. It created bad mojo! I then corrected my application to caster shims on the bottom. It made a world of difference.Thanks for explaining how positive caster improves handling. Wish I had known before. But trail and error got me where I needed to be.
My brother and I worked on VW's back in the 70's and lowering the front end came with caster shims. Along with the bolts and the spindles were changed as well.We didn't go to the extreme work you had to do. We had a shop we could buy everything from. And if we wanted to we could have sent it out to be done. Thanks for the cool video Div . Go get some cookies and tea .
I am like you when it comes to doing something just because everyone says you should do it. I also like to understand why and by understanding why we now know what is correct and what is myth. Thanks for sharing your thought processor with us.
Good explanation of caster. To add to your explanation, zero caster means you are just turning the wheel. When you introduce negative caster, when you turn the wheel from center you are actually lifting the whole car up. Turn the wheel back to center and the car lowers back down. Turn the wheel the other way and you are lifting the car again. Gravity makes the car want to return to center, giving this "stability" you were talking about. It is also why the steering wheel wants to return to center if you let go of the wheel while moving forward. If you want to do another demo, you can actually measure the height of the frame from the floor at center, and then at full steering lock, and see the difference in height.
Yes Div, we call them a gear box because when we crunch the gears the pieces stay in the box, could be called the crash box when you don’t use your clutch, lol. I really enjoyed the CAD element, made a lot of sense.
Div, you mentioned recently that the responding and interaction with comments is becoming a lot of work. I think i suggested that would happen a while back, but i just want to reiterate that I totally understand and sympathize. You have been literally and truly the best at making commenters feel loved and “read”, but I, for one, will not be at ALL disappointed or feel at all slighted if you stop that practice with my comments. I love that you read them because they are genuine and sincere in the fullest. I’m taking the time to write them so that YOU understand that I feel more than just a “thumbs up” about you and your content. But I’d much rather you stay energized to produce more great stuff than become burned out and weary by feeling the pressure of having to respond. I’m commenting to let YOU know, and to help the algorithm build your following. Feel free to “ignore” me unless I’ve asked a question you think is worthy of an answer. 😊. I definitely feel your love and appreciation. I hope you truly feel mine. 😊👍👍
Thanks brother! I will keep trying my best, at the very least a 👍 and a ❤. If people go to the trouble of making a comment, its the least I can do. I will always answer questions as best I can though. I feel its just common decency🙂
I love this stuff. Thank you. Also always love seeing the peripheral stuff like Mammie, kiddos, grand Kiddos and Wayne and Dirk. Your channel id as close to real life as anyone could possibly hope for. I also wonder how many people have a clue just how many hours a 30 minute video takes to create Thanks again.
Yes man, I appreciate you Divieeee for always sharing your wealth of knowledge with us all. I love understanding the why’s and how’s of things. And today we learn also that your father was very instrumental in much of these learnings you share. Thanks Goodness for him as well, and, what a delightful visit from Wifeieeee and Grandson. Very good video buddy. Enjoy those Oatmeal cookies. My personal favorite 👍🏻✌🏻
Hey Div, I am always delighted to find one of your videos. This one is no exception. The first employment I found after serving three years in the U.S. Army was at a front end alignment shop. I knew some of the basics of alignment, but I learned a lot in that shop. Especially about straight axles which is basically what a VW front beam is. A proper straight axle caster alignment is done by inserting wedges between the axle and the spring or springs that it is attached to. Something like you did with the shim you installed between the beam and it's mounting point to the pan. Very basic geometry ? Stay Safe, Be Well
your diagram was spot on. i lowered a 67 Bug with a slight rack to the front and i put shims in just like u did, not because i thought of it, my grandfather brought it up. this was back in the early 90s when my grandfather who was in WW2 was still alive. imagine the guys that narrow the front end as well as not shimming the front end. brother they do it all the time... lol. then they wonder why their Bug darts around.
I lowered my 67 bug with 2-1/2" dropped spindles with ball joints. Slight rake with a taller tire. It does dart around a bit Im for sure going to look at this.
@@ratrodsafrica wasn't saying it does, but to narrow the beam does effect handling, bring the two front wheels closer together, i have friend who done it. the front-end darts around more
Hi Div & Folks, And I would even say more, the camber variation will also be a determining criterion for the pivot angle and the caster angle, these two values influence the camber take-up when steering.Have a good one!
You are amazing! Your common sense and technical knowledge is second to none. I learn alot with every video, thanks for sharing! Can't wait for the next installment
Great explanation again Dif. There are many myths on the internet and I’m surprised the some builders don’t figure it out, they blindly follow. Another reason for caster is it assists self centring of the steering wheel after a turn but I’m gathering you already know that. Keep up the good lessons mate👍😁
Your shorter wheelbase pan might tend to be a little "squirrely"...so adding caster angle would calm it down. A good real-time demonstration of caster angle can be done with an empty 2-wheel hand truck. When you roll it forward in the vertical position, it turns quick and wild. The more you lay it back (positive caster) the more stable it is, but takes more room to turn. Bikes and dragsters have a lot of caster, the wheels lay right over.
I had a 1939 Chevy coupe that I drag raced back in the 50’s. It had a Chrysler hemi in it and up around 100 mph the front end would start shaking. I made 10 degree wedges to fit Between the axle and springs. It was fine after that.
I'm currently building a rod and it has over 3 degrees of rake. In such a case it's important to understand that the caster angle has to be measured off level ground, not the frame. Great to see this nicely explained and illustrated with CAD. Keep up the good work Div!
Of course. I should have said "measured in reference to the ground, not the frame" In trade school, front end alignment theory really caught my interest, so it's nice to see these things explained and illustrated well, like you do 👍
Really great explanation with a super visual demonstration!!! You definitely eliminated a bunch of mysteries concerning the steering of a bug!! Thank you for this!!!
The noise of your gantry sliding across the workshop reminds me of my old garage where I had a similar setup. The neighbours were curious when I built the I beam into the roof frame, they found it was a way of letting them know I was at something at night again!
Great model, I really enjoy your teaching and the forest CAD system. I spent much of my career on a drawing board and eventually mainframe CAD (computer) systems. Making a model that you can hold in your hand and play with is far more satisfying.
Thanks for all that good info Div, the RenoBug is coming along nicely, and "Wifey" is impressed, so happy life eh! I did a castor correction on a platform only Sand buggy by cutting a small wedge out of the frame head just at the front of the firewall mounting, (Napoleon's Hat), crippling and re welding around the top, (some rougher, none faster😂), but only for off road use. We had the back suspension raised to the max, big tyres/rims and lowered/softened front beam it made it driveable at least.
Caster is used for self-centering of the wheel. It does this because as you turn the wheel you are actually trying to lift the car a very small amount. So, the weight of the car is forcing the wheel back to the straight ahead position. Best way to see this effect in action is on a go-kart.
Awesome afternoon brother and everyone from another country another awesome adventure with plenty of usable information say hi to everyone for me thanks for another awesome adventure as always brother
Ok ok...here we go! Excellent explanation Diff and great practical demo. BUT... The factory stock VW beetle was designed to be stable on Adolph's new autobahns and cruise comfortably at speed. While the front beam contains little caster relative to the frame and floorpan, take a look at the stance of a stock Beetle. It sits nose-up like a speedboat and THIS is how the German engineers got the castor and stability! From personal experience, I hated the "speedboat" look and wanted my Beetle to sit level. I accomplished this by a static cut and turn on the torsion leaf anchors achieving a 1.5 inch drop in the nose, with the car sitting level on wide 7 inch rims. As a result, the car would weave around the road and get twitchy at speeds of 80kph or more. A pair of 5mm castor shims fixed the problem and now the car will cruise at 120kph (sorry officer, I meant 100kph) and I can take my hands off the wheel with confidence.
I've never really noticed a nose up stance, but it makes perfect sense! Would be a way to get some positive caster and ties in perfectly to the whole discussion! 🙂
@@ratrodsafrica In any event, your little model with the pivots is the best graphic explanation of the VW suspension geometry I've seen, And I cringe at the thought of some misguided soul putting shims on the top beam only of their raised bug, so good job on correcting that myth!
thanks Div for the front end lesson ...ooh look out the boss, the missus, SWMBO was down for an inspection with your grandson....She seems impressed more suppers and cookies for you...hahaha
Dear Dif. 👍👌👏 Extremely well done, Sir (video and work). Thanks for going through all the effort to fabricate the African bush shop CAD 1:1 size model. This and your explanations have been very enlightening. You're simply an allround genius and that's a fact! I will definitely share these great informations. 2) I'm happy to see that your wife is pleased by the way the Renobug build has progressed. Congratulations! 🎉 It looks/sounds as if many more good meals are in the coming for you. As always: Thanks a lot for making teaching explaining recording editing uploading and sharing. Best regards luck and especially health to all involved people. Post Scriptum: Do you remember what I wrote about the necessity of longer handles in general respectively especially longer broom sticks in order to not bend your spine always? You became amused and answered that it's like a book. Now you yourself proved how important it is to explain something completely (and with the correct facts). The castor angle can be a good example for not bending your back wrong and over a long period of time. But instead of using up the tires only on one side/spot, bending over will grind away your shims between the vertrebal bones of your spine. Just like the unsafe wear of rubber tires, it's not good for motion. 😁 ;-) 😋😜👅😇😘
Brilliant! Having done the research for exactly what you just went thru, I'd have to say that you nailed it. i will be using this technology on the REO when I get started, as it will have a straight axle front suspension.
A straight axle will require a different mechanical approach, but the concepts remain the same. My straight axle rat rod currently has 7 degree caster and I'm happy with it
great explanation again Dif. i think we call "castor" in the Netherlands "askanteling" or "naspoor" back in the days when not everything was English and "camber" we call wielvlucht. but Dif , now You shortened your floorpan , how is Your Ackermann principe doeing? 😉
The Ackerman will be a little out because of the shortened wheelbase, yes. But back in the day we built many short wheelbase buggies and never found it to be too much of a problem. One could bend the steering arms a little to correct it, but I've never heard of anyone bothering with that on pans that's been shortened a little.
....u've done well bro, the caster angle is probably a good thing.... and yeah, you can decrease it as you build or drive the ride....back in the day, we chose 3-4 deg for lowered rides and the same if we were raising the ride height.... good job dif.....
Div That was a really informative session. Your CAD model showed perfectly the impact. The other way of determining the angle is to use math( trigonometry) and the old triangular calculation as you know the centre dimension of the two beams. Lets say 100 mm is the measurement. The top does not change but the bottom moves out 9.0 mm to create an hypotenuse of the triangle the and the adjacent side becomes slightly shorter than 100 mm. The opposite side of the angle of caster is the 9.0 mm you moved the lower beam out. Given Inverse of the Sin result 9/100 = 0.9 = Sin(angle) then angle is 5.16 degrees. You can compare that to your Cad model and the protractor. but I reckon you have it as per your desired result.
Yes, of course we could have constructed a tech drawing with maths, but that would have confused most people. I feel the visual model was more effective and, like I said in the video, accurate enough for the purpose of the video🙂
Fully agree the cardboard model covers it extremely well. The math would just confirm your angle. If you wanted a specific angle of caster it could then tell you what thickness your caster shim needed to be.
I don't know if you're familiar with the fact that swing axle cars (with the possible exception of low pivot swing axles on vintage Mercedes cars like 300 SL's) really need some negative rear camber to combat the excessive oversteer that early Beetles and 356 Porsches are notorious for. This lowers the rear roll center thus putting more cornering force on the inside rear tire in a turn and taking some of the load off the outside tire, and you add roll stiffness to the front to make the outside take more of the cornering load. Also sometimes a transverse rear spring leaf was added pivoted in the center (called a camber compensator) that had no roll stiffness. Another version was Z bars on some Fv's that accomplished the same thing. Remember the F1 cars with all tires the same size and a third spring in the rear (one came loose and almost killed Barricello) with very low roll stiffness. They used to lift the inside front wheel in the turns. I used to race a Myers Manx with the Z bar and other mods. The handling was neutral.
Thank you Professor Div! This is the best explanation of caster shims I’ve seen in the 35+ years of working on VWs. Especially if the lowered VDub pan is still level. The visual model makes is so obvious, almost a facepalm 🤦 moment! Cheers brother!!
A stock VW Beetle sits nose-up to achieve castor. My bug has a mild lowering to get a level stance. I needed castor shims!
Thanks man. That's a real compliment to me!
Not only you are a good fabricator, but also a good tech and teacher. awesome Joe.
Thanks Joe 👍
Great lesson of simple car geometrics. Should be clear for everyone now. Thanks for taking as along Div.
Glad you liked it!
Div.... I often think how you would have made an awesome vo- tech teacher. 👍 Someday I hope you share your story of living in the states.
One day...🙂
I think the boss is happy with the progress! When I set the caster on my T speedster, I read everything I could, drew some pictures, thought about it for days, and then proceeded to screw it up... Then I redid it... now it's fine. Cheers from the shed
Sometimes we gotta do it twice to get it nice!😁
Looking forward the body to be on floor pan 👍😄
Thank you! I understand now why I wore out so many front tires when I would air up my rear shocks on my old Mustang.
I've been driving and working on Bugs, for 40+ yrs, and this is the first time I have seen or heard someone break down Castor on a VW... 👍👍👍
And it's supposed to reach 38 Celcius here today. 😥😥😥
I'll take the 38 please 😄
Div, I always said you are a exceptional fundi, and this video proves it .. I learn something every video!! Great stuff!!! Cant wait for the next one!!!
Thanks my brother!
Thanks oom Div. Ive restored and exported 3 buses and fucked about with countless other VWs and I never understood how castor really worked. Dankie!
Pleasure boet.
Mate, what a fantastic explanation of how it all works. I have read many hi-tech books, and you are better than any of them. Great job.
Wow, thanks very much!
Who takes time to explain all these things. again awesome job.
Only idiots like me😅
Nicely busted that myth!
It´s called parallelogram for a reason :)
Porsche knew what he was doing.
And by the way, your dad´s advice was so spot on. Never go with something unless you fully understand it. Should be any mechanics mantra.
Cheers from Germany
Doc
Thanks Doc!
Thanks for video. Steering wheel size not being too small can help with resistance. But also slightly more travel. Best to have nice tight steering box and all joints tight. I think there are different length torsion arms available also. Going to convert my 1960 c10 panel to power steering so adding caster will stabilize it and the power steering with quick ratio box will make it easy and steering will way more stable and responsive.. and safer. Your wife is lucky your building her a cool custom driver.
Yes, steering wheel size plays a role!
Great lesson Div. When I am teaching new mechanics alignments explaining much of this on conventional vehicles, I need mock up suspension, lol.
The hardest for many to grasp seems to be SAI (steering angle inclination), or the rise and fall of the spindles angle thru the arch while turning left and right. This is what causes the wheel to try and center after turning, since the weight wants to sit down into the least amount of weight jacking caused by the inclination of the spindles/axle.
Most vehicles changing ride height would change caster(and camber) but not on a double wishbone design like a VW. In a conventional vehicle the arms are usually on different planes at their mounting points. That's another topic on its own. :)
Only posted this for others wondering about the alignment settings in their vehicles.
Thanks for making these videos it should help many entering the repair industry..
Yes, Beetle is nice and simple indeed. No SAI changes. It gets a lot more complex with McPherson struts or wishbones!
Great video and lesson on steering geometry.
Looking forward to another video.
Thanks!
"Stadig oor die klippe", mind the new paint. Always impressed with your skill and attention to detail, thanks Div
VERY informative video as all of yours are. Having played with numerous VWs since 1970 you explain it thoroughly and easily. Thanks for another great video as all of them are.
Thank you!
I know from firsthand experience that positive caster helps handling. I have a video on my YT channel, where I took bad advice with a raised front end and added caster shims to the top. It created bad mojo! I then corrected my application to caster shims on the bottom. It made a world of difference.Thanks for explaining how positive caster improves handling. Wish I had known before. But trail and error got me where I needed to be.
Trail and error is good as long as we learn from it!🙂
Hi Div (Diff), thanks for the video. We were having a bad day and you brought us right out of it.
So happy to hear that!😀
Great explanation! At The Bonneville Salt Flats its not unusual to see 18 degrees of caster. All for High speed stability.
That's a lot. But it makes sense for something built to essentially go fast in a straight line!😀
My brother and I worked on VW's back in the 70's and lowering the front end came with caster shims. Along with the bolts and the spindles were changed as well.We didn't go to the extreme work you had to do. We had a shop we could buy everything from. And if we wanted to we could have sent it out to be done. Thanks for the cool video Div . Go get some cookies and tea .
So Kool man! Classics I never knew existed. Woah dude !
I am like you when it comes to doing something just because everyone says you should do it. I also like to understand why and by understanding why we now know what is correct and what is myth. Thanks for sharing your thought processor with us.
Found your video and subscribed. I like building my own parts and scavenging old parts for new purposes. Again, glad I found you.❤
Thank you! Welcome to my shop!🙂
Thank you for the class on the front-end assembly and geometry. Out standing job on the Reno-Bug so far.
I enjoy watching everything you do
Professor, that was most excellent! Thank you as usual! 😊👍👍
Glad you liked it! Thanks
Great job explaining this to special people like me. I need that!
Glad it was helpful!
Outstanding. Love it when you pull out the CAD lessons.
Great wisdom as usual my friend. Always question everyone's reasons.
Good explanation of caster. To add to your explanation, zero caster means you are just turning the wheel. When you introduce negative caster, when you turn the wheel from center you are actually lifting the whole car up. Turn the wheel back to center and the car lowers back down. Turn the wheel the other way and you are lifting the car again. Gravity makes the car want to return to center, giving this "stability" you were talking about. It is also why the steering wheel wants to return to center if you let go of the wheel while moving forward. If you want to do another demo, you can actually measure the height of the frame from the floor at center, and then at full steering lock, and see the difference in height.
Yes, I am so glad you did this video, I been telling VW guys, that , it doesn't change caster angle. Thank you for this video sir❤❤
Yes Div, we call them a gear box because when we crunch the gears the pieces stay in the box, could be called the crash box when you don’t use your clutch, lol. I really enjoyed the CAD element, made a lot of sense.
😁👍
Div, you mentioned recently that the responding and interaction with comments is becoming a lot of work. I think i suggested that would happen a while back, but i just want to reiterate that I totally understand and sympathize. You have been literally and truly the best at making commenters feel loved and “read”, but I, for one, will not be at ALL disappointed or feel at all slighted if you stop that practice with my comments.
I love that you read them because they are genuine and sincere in the fullest. I’m taking the time to write them so that YOU understand that I feel more than just a “thumbs up” about you and your content. But I’d much rather you stay energized to produce more great stuff than become burned out and weary by feeling the pressure of having to respond.
I’m commenting to let YOU know, and to help the algorithm build your following. Feel free to “ignore” me unless I’ve asked a question you think is worthy of an answer. 😊.
I definitely feel your love and appreciation. I hope you truly feel mine.
😊👍👍
Thanks brother! I will keep trying my best, at the very least a 👍 and a ❤. If people go to the trouble of making a comment, its the least I can do. I will always answer questions as best I can though. I feel its just common decency🙂
I love this stuff.
Thank you.
Also always love seeing the peripheral stuff like Mammie, kiddos, grand Kiddos and Wayne and Dirk.
Your channel id as close to real life as anyone could possibly hope for.
I also wonder how many people have a clue just how many hours a 30 minute video takes to create
Thanks again.
Jip, most people have no clue hey!
A real treat as always Div. You always explain things in easy terms.👍🔥
Yes man, I appreciate you Divieeee for always sharing your wealth of knowledge with us all. I love understanding the why’s and how’s of things. And today we learn also that your father was very instrumental in much of these learnings you share. Thanks Goodness for him as well, and, what a delightful visit from Wifeieeee and Grandson. Very good video buddy. Enjoy those Oatmeal cookies. My personal favorite 👍🏻✌🏻
Thanks my brother!
Hey Div,
I am always delighted to find one of your videos.
This one is no exception.
The first employment I found after serving three years in the U.S. Army was at a front end alignment shop.
I knew some of the basics of alignment, but I learned a lot in that shop.
Especially about straight axles which is basically what a VW front beam is.
A proper straight axle caster alignment is done by inserting wedges between the axle and the spring or springs that it is attached to.
Something like you did with the shim you installed between the beam and it's mounting point to the pan.
Very basic geometry ?
Stay Safe, Be Well
Yes, pretty much the same approach. Completely different story with wishbones and McPherson struts
your diagram was spot on. i lowered a 67 Bug with a slight rack to the front and i put shims in just like u did, not because i thought of it, my grandfather brought it up. this was back in the early 90s when my grandfather who was in WW2 was still alive. imagine the guys that narrow the front end as well as not shimming the front end. brother they do it all the time... lol. then they wonder why their Bug darts around.
I lowered my 67 bug with 2-1/2" dropped spindles with ball joints. Slight rake with a taller tire. It does dart around a bit Im for sure going to look at this.
@@foamermetal yes my 67 had ball joints as well. i ran 135x15s in the front and 165x15s in the back.
Narrowing the front end won't have any affect on caster angle
@@ratrodsafrica wasn't saying it does, but to narrow the beam does effect handling, bring the two front wheels closer together, i have friend who done it. the front-end darts around more
Hi Div & Folks,
And I would even say more, the camber variation will also be a determining criterion for the pivot angle and the caster angle, these two values influence the camber take-up when steering.Have a good one!
As altyd is jy n goie onderwyser. As always you are a great teacher my brother 😊😊
Thank you so much for the lesson. I learned something new today - something that I should have know years ago.
Thanks for the lesson Duff. Great information on the front end . 😊
You are amazing! Your common sense and technical knowledge is second to none. I learn alot with every video, thanks for sharing! Can't wait for the next installment
Thanks man!
Great clarification of Caster, thanks for sharing, all the best to you and your loved ones
Great explanation again Dif. There are many myths on the internet and I’m surprised the some builders don’t figure it out, they blindly follow. Another reason for caster is it assists self centring of the steering wheel after a turn but I’m gathering you already know that. Keep up the good lessons mate👍😁
Thanks! Yes, I did mention self centering
Your shorter wheelbase pan might tend to be a little "squirrely"...so adding caster angle would calm it down.
A good real-time demonstration of caster angle can be done with an empty 2-wheel hand truck.
When you roll it forward in the vertical position, it turns quick and wild. The more you lay it back (positive caster)
the more stable it is, but takes more room to turn. Bikes and dragsters have a lot of caster, the wheels lay right over.
In simple terms..it forces the steering wheel straight..😅...
Great explanation from brother diff..another great episode from rat rods for Africa
Nicely done... Enjoyed the forest CAD session... You make it so clear and understandable...
Thanks. Glad you enjoyed it
Love the CAD office explanation. Have a lekka one Div
I had a 1939 Chevy coupe that I drag raced back in the 50’s. It had a Chrysler hemi in it and up around 100 mph the front end would start shaking. I made 10 degree wedges to fit Between the axle and springs. It was fine after that.
Yes, lots of caster for a drag car!
Excellent explanation of the caster angle. You are pretty darn good with the training aids. You have done tons of research. Well done Dif.
Thanks!
I'm currently building a rod and it has over 3 degrees of rake. In such a case it's important to understand that the caster angle has to be measured off level ground, not the frame. Great to see this nicely explained and illustrated with CAD. Keep up the good work Div!
Thanks mate. Yes, can't use frame as reference. Measured off the line perpendicular to ground level. I'm sure that's what you meant 🙂
Of course. I should have said "measured in reference to the ground, not the frame"
In trade school, front end alignment theory really caught my interest, so it's nice to see these things explained and illustrated well, like you do 👍
@Karkmotuning thanks man. Yes, suspension geometry is very interesting, I'm fascinated with it as well 😄
Really great explanation with a super visual demonstration!!! You definitely eliminated a bunch of mysteries concerning the steering of a bug!! Thank you for this!!!
Glad it was helpful!
The noise of your gantry sliding across the workshop reminds me of my old garage where I had a similar setup. The neighbours were curious when I built the I beam into the roof frame, they found it was a way of letting them know I was at something at night again!
😁👍
Good Teaching Div It’s looking good with the body on the CHASSIS
Great model, I really enjoy your teaching and the forest CAD system. I spent much of my career on a drawing board and eventually mainframe CAD (computer) systems. Making a model that you can hold in your hand and play with is far more satisfying.
I also spent time on drawing boards and I have to agree with you😀
thanks great explanation
Nice to see the Boss check in. Two Thumbs up .
Thanks 👍
Thanks for all that good info Div, the RenoBug is coming along nicely, and "Wifey" is impressed, so happy life eh!
I did a castor correction on a platform only Sand buggy by cutting a small wedge out of the frame head just at the front of the firewall mounting, (Napoleon's Hat), crippling and re welding around the top, (some rougher, none faster😂), but only for off road use. We had the back suspension raised to the max, big tyres/rims and lowered/softened front beam it made it driveable at least.
Yes, that will be another cool way to do it!
Great way to explaing the whole thing ! It's better than when I was in Tech School 40 years ago. I think that the cad you used shows it best of all !
Thank you!
Great video. This Renobug is being finely engineered.
Another great video! Thanks for the CAD lesson it helps to visualize everything, easy to understand that way too
Dif ,Your explanation in one word "BINGO"! MIKE.
Thanks brother!
Thank you Div for another excellent episode and the education my brother 👍
My pleasure!
Caster is used for self-centering of the wheel. It does this because as you turn the wheel you are actually trying to lift the car a very small amount. So, the weight of the car is forcing the wheel back to the straight ahead position. Best way to see this effect in action is on a go-kart.
Thanks Molly!🍺🦘
Thanks Div. REALLY enjoy your videos. I have no talent, but you inspire me.
Remember, 95% persistence and 5% talent!
Critical thinking - the foundation of the good education. And good educator you are!
Thanks!
Awesome afternoon brother and everyone from another country another awesome adventure with plenty of usable information say hi to everyone for me thanks for another awesome adventure as always brother
there's a good visitor top right at 12:38 :D
Great explanation of caster! Thanks for sharing. You probably just helped numerous people. Love the content!
Thanks!
Ok ok...here we go! Excellent explanation Diff and great practical demo. BUT...
The factory stock VW beetle was designed to be stable on Adolph's new autobahns and cruise comfortably at speed.
While the front beam contains little caster relative to the frame and floorpan, take a look at the stance of a stock Beetle. It sits nose-up like a speedboat and THIS is how the German engineers got the castor and stability!
From personal experience, I hated the "speedboat" look and wanted my Beetle to sit level. I accomplished this by a static cut and turn on the torsion leaf anchors achieving a 1.5 inch drop in the nose, with the car sitting level on wide 7 inch rims. As a result, the car would weave around the road and get twitchy at speeds of 80kph or more.
A pair of 5mm castor shims fixed the problem and now the car will cruise at 120kph (sorry officer, I meant 100kph) and I can take my hands off the wheel with confidence.
I've never really noticed a nose up stance, but it makes perfect sense! Would be a way to get some positive caster and ties in perfectly to the whole discussion! 🙂
@@ratrodsafrica In any event, your little model with the pivots is the best graphic explanation of the VW suspension geometry I've seen, And I cringe at the thought of some misguided soul putting shims on the top beam only of their raised bug, so good job on correcting that myth!
@@martinharris5017 there are actually UA-cam videos that advise to shim the upper beam for Baja Bugs!🙈
thanks Div for the front end lesson ...ooh look out the boss, the missus, SWMBO was down for an inspection with your grandson....She seems impressed more suppers and cookies for you...hahaha
Yes, I earned it!😁
Another great video Div. your a great advocate for the vw people. Definitely learning stuff cheers.
Thanks 👍
Dear Dif.
👍👌👏 Extremely well done, Sir (video and work). Thanks for going through all the effort to fabricate the African bush shop CAD 1:1 size model. This and your explanations have been very enlightening. You're simply an allround genius and that's a fact! I will definitely share these great informations. 2) I'm happy to see that your wife is pleased by the way the Renobug build has progressed. Congratulations! 🎉 It looks/sounds as if many more good meals are in the coming for you.
As always: Thanks a lot for making teaching explaining recording editing uploading and sharing.
Best regards luck and especially health to all involved people.
Post Scriptum: Do you remember what I wrote about the necessity of longer handles in general respectively especially longer broom sticks in order to not bend your spine always? You became amused and answered that it's like a book. Now you yourself proved how important it is to explain something completely (and with the correct facts). The castor angle can be a good example for not bending your back wrong and over a long period of time. But instead of using up the tires only on one side/spot, bending over will grind away your shims between the vertrebal bones of your spine. Just like the unsafe wear of rubber tires, it's not good for motion. 😁 ;-) 😋😜👅😇😘
Thanks 👍
really always enjoy your informative videos! learn so much from you! Thank you for what your doing for all us!
My pleasure! I enjoy exploring these things 🙂
Brilliant! Having done the research for exactly what you just went thru, I'd have to say that you nailed it. i will be using this technology on the REO when I get started, as it will have a straight axle front suspension.
A straight axle will require a different mechanical approach, but the concepts remain the same. My straight axle rat rod currently has 7 degree caster and I'm happy with it
Wow, you really did do your homework! Nice and a great explanation. Thank for taking the time!
My pleasure! I enjoyed the process
Thanks Dif very interesting.
Thanks for sharing. Your work is inspiring.
Thanks Div!🍺
Thanks Diff
Thanks Div!
Excellent job Dif!
Thank you!
great explanation again Dif. i think we call "castor" in the Netherlands "askanteling" or "naspoor" back in the days when not everything was English
and "camber" we call wielvlucht.
but Dif , now You shortened your floorpan , how is Your Ackermann principe doeing? 😉
The Ackerman will be a little out because of the shortened wheelbase, yes. But back in the day we built many short wheelbase buggies and never found it to be too much of a problem. One could bend the steering arms a little to correct it, but I've never heard of anyone bothering with that on pans that's been shortened a little.
Excellent video. School is out. Well explained. 🇨🇦
Thank you!
Looks great, thanks for the schooling
Yes sir I believe u have something here but good job my brother and I'm glad it's warming a lil for u as well
Thanks Eddie
I had a '72 VW bug and it had good castor. You could go down the highway and let go of the wheel and it would track straight.
....u've done well bro, the caster angle is probably a good thing.... and yeah, you can decrease it as you build or drive the ride....back in the day, we chose 3-4 deg for lowered rides and the same if we were raising the ride height.... good job dif.....
Thanks
Good show Div.
Div
That was a really informative session.
Your CAD model showed perfectly the impact.
The other way of determining the angle is to use math( trigonometry) and the old triangular calculation as you know the centre dimension of the two beams.
Lets say 100 mm is the measurement.
The top does not change but the bottom moves out 9.0 mm to create an hypotenuse of the triangle the and the adjacent side becomes slightly shorter than 100 mm.
The opposite side of the angle of caster is the 9.0 mm you moved the lower beam out.
Given Inverse of the Sin result 9/100 = 0.9 = Sin(angle) then angle is 5.16 degrees.
You can compare that to your Cad model and the protractor.
but I reckon you have it as per your desired result.
Yes, of course we could have constructed a tech drawing with maths, but that would have confused most people. I feel the visual model was more effective and, like I said in the video, accurate enough for the purpose of the video🙂
Fully agree the cardboard model covers it extremely well. The math would just confirm your angle. If you wanted a specific angle of caster it could then tell you what thickness your caster shim needed to be.
Love your show, brother. Keep up the great work
Thanks, will do!
Thank you Brother !!!
Shout out to your brave little friend seen at 12:40 of the video lol
i always learn from you thanks
I don't know if you're familiar with the fact that swing axle cars (with the possible exception of low pivot swing axles on vintage Mercedes cars like 300 SL's) really need some negative rear camber to combat the excessive oversteer that early Beetles and 356 Porsches are notorious for. This lowers the rear roll center thus putting more cornering force on the inside rear tire in a turn and taking some of the load off the outside tire, and you add roll stiffness to the front to make the outside take more of the cornering load. Also sometimes a transverse rear spring leaf was added pivoted in the center (called a camber compensator) that had no roll stiffness. Another version was Z bars on some Fv's that accomplished the same thing. Remember the F1 cars with all tires the same size and a third spring in the rear (one came loose and almost killed Barricello) with very low roll stiffness. They used to lift the inside front wheel in the turns. I used to race a Myers Manx with the Z bar and other mods. The handling was neutral.
Esses carros foram clássicos da época aqui no Brasil.
Fiquem com Deus.
Frank de caraguatatuba litoral Norte de São Paulo Brasil.