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Lets talk Ackerman

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CorradoPsi

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ok, i know what it is, how it works, and my buggy has 3 positions to adjust it. but which one does what? how does the setting closest to the shock tower differentiate from the one furthest from it? and when should i adjust it?
 
If you are talking about your Swift and you have the original, standard steering plate then forget it, the geometry of this steering plate is such that none of the three possible positions have any discernible effect on the Ackerman angle.

The new steering plate designed for the Swift Pro-kit is reputedly much improved in this respect, although not having seen or used this yet I couldn't comment any further.

If your front end is pushing in tight corners and you have tried all possible combinations of damper/spring/sway bar/tyre then in theory increasing the Ackerman angle should help, but in practice increasing the toe-out of the front wheels would be more effective on the standard Swift.

In a utopian dream-world, you would run with toe-in for high-speed straight line stability and then the Ackerman effect would kick in and give you extreme toe out on full steering lock for tight corners.

In the real world of course, the toe in/out setting is a compromise that best suits the track that you are running on.
 
in general. moving toward the rear hole will slow the steering response and to the front will speed it up. its basically just a way to increase/decrease the leverage the servo has. back is more leverage, forward is less and will therefore put more stress on the servo, but at the same time it will produce more movement to the wheels.
 
they said on the kyosho.. moving it to the rear hole.. is more aggressive steering.. i dont know bout ackerman stuff.. what does what.. but i think niggle is pretty close..
 
niggle said:
If you are talking about your Swift and you have the original, standard steering plate then forget it, the geometry of this steering plate is such that none of the three possible positions have any discernible effect on the Ackerman angle.

The new steering plate designed for the Swift Pro-kit is reputedly much improved in this respect, although not having seen or used this yet I couldn't comment any further.

If your front end is pushing in tight corners and you have tried all possible combinations of damper/spring/sway bar/tyre then in theory increasing the Ackerman angle should help, but in practice increasing the toe-out of the front wheels would be more effective on the standard Swift.

In a utopian dream-world, you would run with toe-in for high-speed straight line stability and then the Ackerman effect would kick in and give you extreme toe out on full steering lock for tight corners.

In the real world of course, the toe in/out setting is a compromise that best suits the track that you are running on.
Click to expand...

yeah niggle, I'm talkin about the swift. but a friend of mine just picked up a GS Storm and it has adjustable ackerman as well. we both know what its used for. but nowhere have we found out which setting does what. what is different about the original swift ackerman plate and the new one? there are a few of the pro parts I'm going to pick up as soon as they hit the stores here, and if its worthwhile ill pick that one up as well.
 
CorradoPsi said:
yeah niggle, I'm talkin about the swift. but a friend of mine just picked up a GS Storm and it has adjustable ackerman as well. we both know what its used for. but nowhere have we found out which setting does what. what is different about the original swift ackerman plate and the new one? there are a few of the pro parts I'm going to pick up as soon as they hit the stores here, and if its worthwhile ill pick that one up as well.
Click to expand...

OK. As you already know, the Ackerman effect is a dynamic increase in toe-out with respect to steering angle.

With the front wheels on full steering lock, place the steering arms in the various positions on the steering plate and look for the position that appears to give you the maximum toe-out effect.

The new Swift steering plate has the three holes in different positions to the old plate.

I suspect that the increased Ackerman provided by the new plate will only be slight and that Ackerman would be better improved by replacing the top arms with the new Pro-kit items or those off a Mugen MBX-4. This is because the Ackerman effect is masked by the castor angle. The pro-kit and MBX-4 top arms reduce the castor angle by moving the top steering knuckle joint forward.
 
FastEddy said:
Lets talk Ackerman.
By the title I thought there was a new diet on the market.
Click to expand...


you havent heard of mcdonalds new Ackerman burger? its supposed to blow burger kings Angus away! 3x the saturated fats, yummy.

niggle ill have to try the different positions to see for myself then. MBX-4 arms are already on order. and I'm switching the throttle linkage to that off of the mayhem, its a lot easier to adjust, same concept just better execution. just picked up the linkage tonite for $10
 
CorradoPsi said:
you havent heard of mcdonalds new Ackerman burger? its supposed to blow burger kings Angus away! 3x the saturated fats, yummy.

niggle ill have to try the different positions to see for myself then. MBX-4 arms are already on order. and I'm switching the throttle linkage to that off of the mayhem, its a lot easier to adjust, same concept just better execution. just picked up the linkage tonite for $10
Click to expand...

The Mayhem throttle linkage sounds interesting. Can you give me a little more detail about this?
 
well instead of the servo horm being threaded it has balls on the ends of the brake arms and ballcups on the linkage. the linkage then slides through the horn freely and has the adjustment knobs on the outside of it. you adjust the brakes by threading the arm like a turnbuckle into or out of the ball cup. both of the linkages are adjustable in the same way, but i find the swift linkage hard to adjust if you can even get your fingers in there to do so. the mayhem linkage puts the adjustment knobs on the outside of the servo arms and makes them easier to adjust.
 

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