74 Comet or Mav with and without power steering. if there is any difference between alignment for power steering 6'ers vs the V8s, I'd need that info as well. right now I'm running a bit extra camber :edit CASTER(auto-steer) from when I was running power steering. power has been off for a year now, my arms are getting bigger, but I think it would be a good idea to do this all right before I spend my cash on tires and rims... :edit = brain fart
you absolutely sure? I'll use those alignment specs, I have no doubts of them, but I had a book at one time, showed different alignment, at the very least different caster, for cars with and without power assist...
When I had my manual steering Mav aligned, they set up "something" slightly different in order to make it steer a little easier, but it was mearly at the discretion of the "aligner"
Those are straight out of a 1974 MOTORS manual. Decreasing caster will make your car easier to steer but caster is what makes the steering wheel snap back to center when you let go of it in a turn. The more - caster, the harder the steering but better tracking. Just think of a motorcycle's forks how they are raked back. This is extreme negitive caster but thats why you can ride with no hands. I'd like to see them try that if they had no caster or + caster.
yea, I know how caster works, I thought that was why I had found different specs for power vs manual... I purposely added more caster last time so it would hug the road if it was banked... I finally figured out why I don't have that book anymore... it belonged to a shop I worked at years ago. I don't know why I typed camber above... for one I haven't been posting car tech in over a year... doh...
Caster will definitely help with tracking, but that's not the primary force which returns your wheel to center. If caster were the only force directing the wheel to a neutral position, whenever you backed up, the wheels would try to swivel the other direction like a shopping cart wheel. Kingpin inclination is what does most of the work. If you were to draw a line through the upper and lower ball joints, you'll see that it is inclined inward and that the spindle is not 90 degrees perpendicular to that line. This line is the pivot that the spindle turns on when you turn the wheel. Because that pivot line is inclined and the spindle is in a different plane, as you turn left or right, the spindle is moved downward in an arc, actually raising the car. It's the weight of the car forcing back down on the spindle that is trying to shove the steering to a neutral position. That's why many cars like early Mustangs, Falcons, and Mavericks actually have negative caster settings and still have the wheels turn back to center. One reason that negative caster was in so many 60's and 70's cars was to promote positive camber gain in a turn to reduce traction and develop more understeer, a condition that was felt to be safer for novice drivers. By dialing in more caster, you are actually doing more to promote negative camber gain in a turn, which in a performance car is often a good thing. The turns feel sharper and the steering feels more precise because of it. Another reason was to reduce steering effort, not necessarily a consideration for us. There are a lot of moving angles, arcs and curves in an IFS suspension, too many to go over in a single post, but the bottom line is, yes, more caster will help make your Maverick handle better.
My '73 Motors Manual lists caster -1/2, camber +1/4 toe in 3/16 specs are for all '70-'73 '78 Chiltons lists caster -1/2 & camber +1/4, for all Toe in anywhere from 1/16 to 3/8 depending on year(these are lumped in with Granada so that may be why the wide range)... Toe is what wears tires (especially combined with camber issues), I generally try to stick to around 1/8 to 1/4... If you are using a P/S steering sector without assist, it will always be stiff as those have a quicker ratio than the non P/S steering boxes...
