Actually it should point at the CENTER of your rear axle, providing your axle is centered. Pinions can be off center, thus throwing it out the window.
There is to reason you can't have it behind. The arm on mine would be plowing dirt and streets like a tractor because I modified my chevy frame to put a ford front end on and the ride height I wanted left me no choice to put it in the front. So there for giving me reason to put it forward. Plus I didn't want it to sit 2 foot in the air to allow it behind the axle.
To properly set the ackerman you run a string from the King pin through the tie rod end and it should end up at the center of the yolk on the rear end. If you have a suicide front end you measure from the center of the front axle to the center of the yolk on the rear end. Take that measurement and place a spot on the ground in front of the car. Run your string from the center of the king pin through the tie rod end and to the spot. If it comes close then your ackerman is close enough.
Tony Ya gotta bend the steering arms. I think if you do a search on ackerman you'll probably find a diagram that gives you good scoop. Normally if you run the tie rod infront of the axle you have to run either really shinny wheels or wheels with all but zero backspace in order to be able to bend the steering arms enough. They get bent away from the centerline of the vehicle.
It's my day off & I just woke up. My eyes are all blurry so I reach for my gl***es. Why? I'm trying to figure out what shiny wheels have to do with ackerman! Pork- that just made my day!
REALLY old thread but some good info. Bct, your pictures are good. Sadly Johnny Fast is not wiht us anymore, he had lots of good info.
Realize this is an old thread. I have some experience with this. I have a 28 Model A that I bought. The previous owner installed the tie rod out front due to clearance issues. With the tie rod out front and the steering arms reversed, The steering arms pointed inwards. This caused the reverse effect when in sharp turns. This made it really bad when turning full lock as the outer tire of the turn would be almost sideways. It was nearly pushing the tire sideways. Being a machinist, I got the bright idea to un-reverse the steering arms. Unfortunately the arms are designed to only index one way so they can only be installed one way and have an anti-rotation edge. I added material to the other side of the index flat, at the base of the arms where they finally set. I machined the flat to the proper dimension. Now I can install my arms with the ends of them facing outwards. But now the tie rod is 3" or so too short so I made a new one. The arm ends came very close to the brake rotor but fit. Bottom line: It reduced the amount the outer tire turns but it's still to much. Not to mention it's the inner tire that needs to turn more, not the outer. Going down the road it drives beautifully. It is what it is. Good enough for local driving and car shows. I like the previous post with all of the pictures of the shortened and bent arms. That would also reduce steering lock to lock.
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