Tie rod location

[Cement Legs]

Is there any reason why you would not want your tie rod to connect to your front upright in the horizontal plane passing through the center of rotation of your front tire?

ie horizontally in front of or behind your spindle.

[Cement Legs]

Is there any reason why you would not want your tie rod to connect to your front upright in the horizontal plane passing through the center of rotation of your front tire?

ie horizontally in front of or behind your spindle.

[Denny Trimble]

No problem there, you can even get a longer steering arm length, but it's rare that an FSAE car can fit a steering rack at that vertical location, the driver's legs are usually in the way. Also, you will have to adjust toe every time you adjust camber, unlike a top-steer setup with a shimmed steering arm for camber adjustment. Not a big deal really, camber and toe stiffness and the rest of the system packaging are probably more important.

[Travis Garrison]

At least one FSAE team that I know of has used a linkage in order to keep their rack where they want it and move the steering arm to the center of the upright like you are talking about...

Probably excessive weight, and more room for compliance but you might be able to play with Ackerman more easily...not to mention all kinds of bump steer if you get it wrong http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

Travis Garrison
UW FSAE

[Frank]

we do it to make things stiffer both front and rear

yes, it makes setting toe a hassle, but i guess it depends how many adjustments you make to camber

last year, we had lasers that we could mount to the hub centre (dont need a string to set toe just a convienient wall)

one laser each wheel and a method to square the chassis to the wall (either another laser, or string)

http://www.uq.edu.au/fsae/upright.jpg

[Paul V.]

I would imagine setting toe was an issue, as well as the fact that if you are slightly off center any bump steer you might have from rack placement would be magnified greatly.

Paul Vaughan
UAH FSAE

[Infinity]

I have a problem here. To minimaize the bump steer I placed the rack at the level of the top mounting point of suspension(Double A-arm Wishbone). But later i found out a problem that i could not solve. While manufacturing i noticed that the rack cannot be placed there. So now i am in a dilemma- where to place the rack mounting above the desired position or below? I couldnot lower it cause it will not be ergonomically feasuble but moving it up causese the steering rack to go out of the car? Please help