[Fot] castor, camber, toe-in and all things mysterious

[brad.kahler at 141.com]

Ok,

The discussion recently on whether I might have a toe-in problem on my
street TR4 raised a few other questions that Ibm guessing can be answered by
the group.

While doing a little research on the subject I found this
interesting comment from Wikipedia, b
Off-road vehicles such as agricultural
tractors generally use positive camber.b
   Somehow this seemed appropriate,
after all we are talking about cars with tractor engines :)

Looking at the
numbers used by Triumph for the various models:

TR4
Caster = 3 deg +
Camber =
2 deg +
Toe-in = 1/8b

Swivel pin = 7 deg

TR4A/250
Caster = 2-3/4 deg +
Camber = 1/2 deg +
Toe-in = 1/16b

Swivel pin = 8-1/2 deg

TR6
Caster = 2-3/4
deg +
Camber = 1/2 deg +
Toe-in = 1/16b

Swivel pin = 9 deg

Ibm not sure
what the Swivel pin reference means.  Ibve not seen that term used before
regarding the front suspension.

>From reading the archives it seems the most
common preference for camber is -1.5 degrees.  Assuming I managed to get the
suspension set to -1.5 degrees camber what kind of tire wear would I expect to
see?  Right now the car does not have a front sway bar, however I do have one
(Addco) to install.  I just need to find replacement bushings.  

If -1.5 is
such a good number why didn't Triumph use that number?

Will adding a sway bar
up front make that much difference for a street use TR4?  Living in Kentucky
there are plenty of roads for me to test the various changes made to the front
suspension!

Coincidentally, while playing with tire pressures the other day I
found that the gauge I had been using (one of those cheap sticks with the rod
that pops out) was reading about 3 psi low.  So when I thought I had 28 psi in
the tires I only had 25.  I didn't realize those sticks were that inaccurate.
Using a digital gauge I've found that 32 psi seems to be a reasonable number.
Thanks,

Brad