leaf car questions

[hogracer3d]

old school way to check for bite is to lay a socket on its side on the pad of the floor jack, center the jack on the rear end bump, then jack it up carefully (takes some practice) and you should see the LR tire come off the ground 1st, then continue until you can just barely slip paper under the RR tire. Then measure the gap under the LR.
then make your adjustments and watch how the measurement changes. the more the gap the tighter it'll be, the less the gap the looser.
kind of OKIE, but when you don't have scales, it's better than nuttin, lol

[superstock50]

Are you sure you don't have that backwards? The RR should rise first because the LR has more weight on it (bite).

[Wrenchead84]

^^^ thats what i was thinking??

[hogracer3d]

Are you sure you don't have that backwards? The RR should rise first because the LR has more weight on it (bite).

LOL, I do, My apologies !

[ALF401]

My first time around a race car and we didn't know anything about set ups. A late model guy told us to bring our car to his shop and he would help us. He said we had to start every weekend with a base line and he recommended the Budweiser set up!! Lol he took a bud can and the right front ride height was set at the top ring on the beer can, the left front 1/2" less. Then he did as described above with a jack and a steel bearing, the first step was when the tire on the left rear cleared the ground, you rolled the can under the right rear, it should just clear the tire. If still loose after that then the next week, adjust till you can stand the can up. Made a world of difference in the car. Course the very first thing he did was line the front end up with camber, caster and toe. Our car was a Nova with leaf springs and the right rear shock was critical.

[RCJ]

That guy was very smart.Late models are a lot more complicated that stock cars, maybe I should bust out a 12 pack next time I'm setting up mine.

[Wrenchead84]

i love old school garage stories like that. gives a simple guy like me hope. still trying to figure out how im gonna come up with $1000 for scales after building a brand new car

[Krooser]

You need Ruggles scales...

[ka_jd7and1]

i love old school garage stories like that. gives a simple guy like me hope. still trying to figure out how im gonna come up with $1000 for scales after building a brand new car

You buy someone (like me) some beer and borrow them for a weekend.

You can find decent used ones for $500/600 too.

Are you going to the Bako swap meet in January?

[Wrenchead84]

most likely.. haven't found anything in that price range worth buying..yet id be more than willing to trade beer for scale time... who is this?

[ALF401]

Grain scales that weigh up to a 1000 lbs was at one time cutting edge tech. They still work and if you can find them they are usually cheap. Just use a known weigh and calibrate them. Also make sure the they are level with each other. It's hard to overcome shortage of money, I know. But be smart with what you have and you will be surprised what you can do!

[let-r-eat]

2 pieces of cardboard and a good tire gauge and you can get the weights pretty close without scales. Figure the Square Inches of the contact patch and X by the tire pressure.

[over4T]

Decco hydraulic wheel weight scale, $189.99 from Speedway Motors. Old school and low tech but if you can add/subtract it'll work. Back in the day everyone had one.

[stock car driver]

Scale prices have came way down you can buy good quality wired scales for 800 even less in some cases.

[ALF401]

I went back and looked at you original post and my thoughts are you might help drive off the corner with a 225 rr spring and a 3/3 rr shock. We had a lot of luck with a stiff rr spring and soft shock, especially on a rough track.