DIY Caster camber measurements

[@dougtrader8894]

Not my first rodeo, just want to let you know that you do an excellent job of communicating. Concise and informative, well done!

[@DrewGarage]

Hey I really appreciate that very much!

[@kylegoolsbygcl]

I’ll second that, I am very familiar with camber and toe, but always kind of get hung up on caster. Thanks a lot man, super helpful and well explained video!!

[@tnoutlaw73]

I've been reading on how to measure castor. I know what it is but didn't know how to measure it. After 6 hours of reading numerous articles I was just as confused about it if not more so than I was before I started reading it. You told me more in a 4 min video with the clearest visuals than I could ever learn reading. Thank you

[@swooshdave]

I looked at several videos but yours was by far the most concise and informative. Brilliant job!

[@DrewGarage]

Thank you very much! Don’t forget to subscribe! Hoping to dig back into the 50 soon - custom power steering and some other improvements

[@rodrigoflores2905]

Very well explained my friend this is the video I was looking for on how to adjust caster with that magnetic tool every other videos shows the camber adjustment only thank you so much👍🏼

[@Okie-Tom]

Nice video. I just got one of these gauges. I am working on a 29 Model A coupe. At some time I think someone had pulled the car out with a chain by its straight axle. It had some serious bend. I took it all apart and got the axle back flat. Now back on the car, I have different camber on each wheel. I bought this gauge to help me get an accurate bend on the axle. Interesting that these old cars were to have 1 to 2 degrees of positive camber, leaning out at the top of the wheel. Anyway, you take care. Tom

[@DrewGarage]

Hi Tom! Glad you found it useful. I have done to understand the positive camber was to make the car easier to steer, but of course at the cost of high speed stability. Like a shopping cart vs a bicycle Good luck with your project! Hope it goes smoothly and thanks very much for your comment

[@eixr]

Make cheap turn plates using 12'' sq adhesive vinyl floor tile. stick one to the garage floor (for each tire), put a small amount of grease on the top. Place another tile upside down on the greased tile, sticky side up. Pull the front car tires onto the tiles on BOTH sides with wheels straight. Do the measurements as shown in the video.

[@chrisvill54]

I own that little tool and I didn't know it could also do caster. I thought it could only read camber. Nice

[@DrewGarage]

Thank you for the compliment! It has worked out well, and I assume I got it right, because she wears tires pretty evenly… I’m happy with the results! Don’t forget to subscribe :-) at some point in the near future, I will be tearing back into the 1950 pretty deep, and also, will be building a 54 Chevy truck with my wife

[@rossconverse7038]

Thanks, just what I was looking for! Subscribed. Ross

[@DrewGarage]

Thank you so much!

[@RestorationObsession]

Very well explained. Thanks!!

[@DrewGarage]

Thank you! I’ll be checking out your channel for sure!

[@RestorationObsession]

@@DrewGarage Thanks!!

[@codypylatuk8350]

Curious why you picked 20 degrees? Why not more?

[@carlosbah4623]

Thanks for sharing this good video.¡Gracias!

[@DrewGarage]

You are most welcome! Thank you for checking out my channel. Please subscribe :-)

[@sonnyskustoms]

I have a 49 shoebox and im teying to figure out the steering when i go up to higher speeds the steering start to dance around all over the place what pointers can you give out

[@DrewGarage]

Start with tire balance and check for play in the front end. So many issues come down to balance and or a loose front end. Even a proper front end is loose in these cars compared to modern, and radials will magnify that

[@lurice0]

Don't you multiply the gauge reading by 2 or 1.5?

[@DrewGarage]

It’s been a quite a while but what’s in the video was correct based on that research and it’s been driving perfectly since :)

[@richardmurray1655]

If you are using a 40 degree sweep (20 degree out to 20 degrees in) then you multiple the camber change by (180/3.14)/40 which is about 1.43. If you use a 30 degree sweep, you'd multiply by about 1.91. In general terms, you are multiplying the difference in camber measurements by the inverse of the sweep angle converted from degrees to radians. Using the approximations of 1.5 and 2 are certainly reasonable given the limited precision of the camber measuring device.

[@DrewGarage]

@@richardmurray1655 Shoot I wish i could experiment but I put the car away from an extended period of time last week

[@NicholasRiviera-Dr]

@@richardmurray1655thanks for your comment. I’ve been trying to get an answer to that for a while now. Is there some sort of KZbin video that explains what your actually talking about? Looks like triangles (180 deg) and pie are involved (3.14)

[@jieiku]

Thank You!

[@deepredstate4414]

good job!

[@dave99887]

Great video.

[@DrewGarage]

Thank you so much! Subscribe if you like I’ll be doing a lot on this 50 Chevy over the summer (I hope!)

[@maddog5814]

Would this work on modern cars without adjustable caster?

[@DrewGarage]

Most modern cars don’t have caster or camber, but there are bolts available for the strut to knuckle connection that introduce camber. Yes, the measurements would work, but a car that spends most of his time at 70 mph requires a little bit more precision than one that spends most of his time at 50. It’s a pretty dramatic difference… You can definitely do it, but be sure you’ve done it right ;-) lotta forgiveness in these old front ends and tall sidewalls of skinny tires

[@iamMohitMalik]

what if we do the wheels behind the pivot point? just like shopping cart. will it work?

[@DrewGarage]

No, there would be crazy wobble

[@iamMohitMalik]

@@DrewGarage the car i am running has 1 degree caster. I cannot move the top mount, so is there anyway we can make thr caster effect without changing the top mount or wheel position?

[@DrewGarage]

@@iamMohitMalik i’m not exactly sure… It will depend on the vehicle… There are ways to get very creative. For example, on my 1950 Chevy in the video, in theory, I could slice the control arm, adjust the wheels position a small amount, and box weld everything back together. This is of course a death sentence if the welds aren’t good… What kind of car?

[@iamMohitMalik]

@@DrewGarage well i am ready to do anything to get caster. I am running a suzuki ignis 2017. It is built for autocross and gymkhana race events. Rallies for future. According to rule i cannot take the mounting point of shocker towards back. So was thinking to fabricate the coilover mount where it attaches to knuckles. Moving the bottom part towrds the front so that bolting points move little backwards.

[@iamMohitMalik]

@@DrewGarage on instagram - i_am_mohitmalik you can check the vehicle.

[@twitchman7413]

47 plymouth front rt wheel leans way in on top while hanging on the side post lift how do i adjust that

[@DrewGarage]

First thing I would do is check for any play, and unfortunately, I've never worked on a 47 Plymouth, but I'm sure the manual is available online and the info in my video should help you apply that information to the car. Good luck! Please report back and let us know how it goes

[@jakefriesenjake]

Aren't you supposed to multiply that angle number by 1.43 or round up to 1.5?

[@gustavette8487]

Yes, I read the same thing. Also. some multiply it by 1.57. When I asked why, they responded "due to some trigonometry....." ... but I believe it is important to know the answer.

[@contractor9391]

Great video but you never performed it for us. When you turn the the wheel then what???

[@zae95469]

FYI, that isn't totally correct. If you are going to use a camber gauge, then you need to do some multiplication depending on how far your sweep is. The change in camber does not directly give you the caster reading. It will considerable less.

[@joeholland428]

Ok stupid question that I am pretty sure I know the answer too, I have a digital angle finder I bought with a more expensive kit. Reading the angle from front of vehicle is what I want on each side right? To get correct positive or negative for camber and caster. In other words dont read one side from back and one side from front. Their instructions don’t mention this and their customer support kind of is not helpful.

[@DrewGarage]

Never a stupid question, only a bad teacher (RIP Mr. Miagi). I always take my device and measure an extreme example. For camber, you can figure out which way your device goes by pretending your wheel is stick out at the road 20deg (extreme negative camber) and noting how your device reacts... that will tell you how to interpret less extreme readings - does that make sense?

[@joeholland428]

@@DrewGarage 100%, kind of tinkering with that a little, need to fully understand what the readings mean. Changed balljoints and upper camber/caster sleeves. Think their instructions say to start turned in, zero finder then turn out 20 degrees and the is caster. So let’s say factory spec says 4 degrees. Next I set my in/out at four degrees. I see some videos say to do that to find caster then multiply by two to get caster. That confuses me why some say to do that but others don’t. I put factor upper bushings back in and measured those just to be sure and I think one was at 3 degrees

[@DrewGarage]

@@joeholland428 Well, perhaps starting at 0° camber, 0° castor and going from there will help? This is by no means easy, and unfortunately, one of the most potent indicators of some thing wrong is an unevenly worn tire. If that happens to be a $240 wide white wall or nostalgic tire, no fun! What car do you have

[@joeholland428]

@@DrewGarage I am working on a 2011 E-450 motorhome chassis. I bought these adjustable bushings to replace solid on setting ones. I did start at their “zero” then adjusting from there. I am actually zeroing in on it I think as we type. I am about to make an adjustment to account for the difference. Big help was just knowing what was what from positive to positive. I am still wondering why some videos say to multiply what number you get for caster by two to get caster

[@DrewGarage]

@@joeholland428 Wow that is cool! Not what I expected. I am not sure, but the information I gathered to make this video was from the leading supplier of camber/caster gauges for race cars. Expensive units. It was a long time ago, and at this point, I would need my own video as reference to do the job, but back then, I studied quite in-depth how to use their gauges, then bought an inexpensive knock off as Their little gauges cost more than my budget for an engine in my project