How do gasser type straight axles drive on the street? The steering geometry doesn't look right, or is that because some racers mount them with almost no caster? I like the look but am wondering if a guy can live with it to get the look.
You won't have a very safe ride if you have no caster. My '55 Chevy bracket car built in the '60s had 12 degrees caster and 0 camber. Went straight as an arrow but of course was difficult to turn. With 12 degrees of caster the steering wheel would return to center making a drag car very predictable and safe at speed. The FOGGER
I had a 55 1/2ton Chevy axle in my 48 Coupe. I think the caster was somewhere between 10/12 and camber somewhere around 1/2 to 1 degree. It drove great on the strip or the street although like Fogger said, turn was.......well something of a hassle and making a sharp hard turn was something you wanted to avoid. I loved the look and the car was built in 1968.............drove it for two years on the street before I sold it to my little brother.
My 55 has 4.5 degrees caster and is driven everywhere. Has MAS tube axle kit. Goes down the interstate @75-90mph no problems. Steers wonderfully. See the stance and the car on carcrazycentral.com @last years Heartland Nationals in Des Moines. Its on the videos to watch, the yellow gasser is mine.
Well, just made it from Indianapolis to Vegas, then to Huntington Beach and back to Indianapolis.... streetable??? You bet!!!
'40 Willys, MAS axle in stock frame, 8* POSITIVE caster, 205/65/15 front radials......blown Olds, T400, 9 inch....3800#. Driven daily, including interstates, runs mid 10's @ 126-128. You couldn't give me an IFS/Mustang front end. Biggest bugaboo in my opinion about a straight axle car is the old story of bumpsteer...if you do it right there is none,
I don't think I have seen any finer examples of straight axles than Shaky Puddin' (sp) or blt4speeds. I know blt daily drives his. Here's the go through on the baddest '55 around. I can't claim that he drives Shaky on the street, but here's a tech to drool over. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=225171
Congratulations on making it back home safely! Also, I'd like to Thank You again for signing the Car Kulture Deluxe I had with me. Hopefully you "got your fill" at the Tiki Bar!
Mine is also a MAS straight tube axle ,with stock 49 Chevy car spindals and brakes .Mine has 6 * caster ,but i set the toe with a tape measure and the front tires show no wear at all after nearly 9000 miles since the axle job last summer.Streetable ,oh ya,but it doesnt ride like a new Caddy .I drive mine daily ,since its my only car .It has been drivin in 8 inches of snow with pizza cutters on the front no problem .It steers straight as an arrow at 110 .The trick on the bumpsteer thing is to get the draglink as level as possible in line to tierod end and the pitman arm.Mine has nearly no bumpsteer at all and turns real well.In my worthless opinion it drives ten times better with the tube axle than it did with the factory strut bullshit...
A straight axle is nothing more than a lighter version of the beam axles that were under millions of production cars and trucks. Yes it is streetable. The caster was sometimes increased in race cars, but I don't think people put less caster in????
Yeah, I was thinking backwards on the caster. I just noticed lots of racers at the strip when they turn from the pit road the geometry didn't look right, but from all these great posts I can see that it is just a function of getting the caster right, and I certainly appreciate all the replies.
You need more caster with parellel leafs than with a wishbone, as the deflection in the leafs while braking will twist the axle towards zero caster. There are some hack axle install jobs out there with shitty geometry, and that don't handle at all. There are also mustang 2 and nova subs that suffer the same problem. Its all about the setup.
I use a straight axle (home made using 45mm solid bar) on my consul and i took the geometry settings from the donor vehicles stubs ie if it worked on a standard car/van it'll work on mine
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