1957 Ford Country Sedan mocha silver V8 4dr wagon

[Ford Blue blood]

Me too.  1* positive will allow the outside tire in a turn to "roll under" giving a bunch of under steer (push) which will have a bunch of negative impact on handling, especially at higher speeds.

If it were me, 1* negative is perfect!

[hiball3985]

OOOPS, just saw the carb comment about fuel level. The Holley you have has an external adjustment for the fuel level, no need to remove the bowl..

[Ecode70D]

     Like Jim and Ford Blue Blood stated, you have to have minus on the casters.   What the minus does is to allow the car to go in a straight line and it allows the steering wheel to return when making a turn. 

     Did you ever happen to notice how much negative  caster a  dragster has?   They want it  to straight down the track. 

[djfordmanjack]

Boys, now you got me interested. As I mentioned the car is riding nicely and straight ahead as is. I had been used to slight neg camber from other cars, so when I first set the camber on the 57 CS to 1 deg neg, I didn't even question what I was doing. Also it looks normal on the car ( is visible). BUT, the og Ford shop manual and specs book and also Chiltons call for 1/2 to 1-1/2degrees POSITVE camber, as to top of wheels further out as on the ground. I have had plenty of straight axle cars with built in positive camber and I know of their shortcomings, but I was just rereading the 57 specs and was thinking I should get closer to factory specs. Dunno...?!?
I remember from Rich's thread where he was talking about his caster problems because of the rake on his car and that a 57 Ford has very little built in caster. camber and caster they go together, so I was thinking that with little factory caster it would be calling for pos camber maybe You guys tell me please. I know the basic rules of front end alignment very well, but I have absolutely no experience with the 57. ( other than having had great alignment in the SD Courier and it ran perfectly straight, so I never disturbed anything on the front wheel alignment. when I lowered it, I drew a 1:1 sketch of the  suspension arms and calculated the thickness of shims according to the amount it got dropped. The car rode as well as before and never wore out tires. of course I did adjust toe in).
now that I have this nice camber-caster gauge, I'll be ready to change it in a minute. Do I change it at all ?
I noticed, when going through tight corners the outer tire still lightly squeals. I have slightly less than 1/8 toe in.

[hiball3985]

I guess it's a personal decision on what to use. If the factory specs work for you thats good. I like mine at -1 camber & +2 caster, the car just seems more stable at speed. Maybe the difference is radial tires vs bias ply?

[djfordmanjack]

Don't get me wrong Jim. Are you saying that you are driving your Ranchero with 1degree neg camber (bottom of wheels further out) and are having no tire wear trouble ?!
My car sits at exactly 1 degree negative camber right now as well ( because it felt only natural to me when setting them up) and am totally pleased with. But I will be doing a 700Miles roundtrip in 2 weeks from now and would hate to wear out the nearly new whitewalls because of an incorrect setup. Only when re-reading the specs and manual I saw that Ford wanted positive camber.

[hiball3985]

No wear problems so far. I just changed tires around the first of the year but not for wear problems, just Chinese to BF Goodrich. The Chinese were on for 6,000 miles and the new ones have about 2500 now. Yes I am running -1 camber, I don't now why the Ford spec is + but I never liked that.

Did the tires you bought have a build date?

[gasman826]

Bias tires have different recommendations than radial tires.  Wide tires have different recommendations than narrow tires.  1950 specs are different than 2017 specs.  Auto cross specs are different than car show specs.  Caster and camber have little wear impact on narrow, radial tires as long as the specs are similar side to side.  Typical manufacturer's recommendations for radials is a little negative camber with 1/8 +/- degree side to side difference.  1/4-3/8 degree negative camber should optimize cornering with 2 or more positive degrees of caster.  Most '57s don't have that much adjustability built into them.  So if you have radials, get a little negative camber with as much positive caster as available.  If you are using those 7.75-14 Uniroyals, closer to 0 camber and with no power steering not so much positive caster for easier steering.  Toe-in is critical as always for tire wear.  All adjustments can be interpreted for personal driving characteristics.  Just as long as you know why you are doing.  My two cents is that one degree positive or negative camber are extreme.  But tire wear shouldn't be an issue if tires are replaced every 5-6k miles.  If I was doing Auto Cross with wide, soft, sticky tires, I'd set camber one or more degrees negative.  With the same tire and doing Power Tour, I'd set them much closer to 0.

[djfordmanjack]

Thank you very much Jim and Gary. Great info and sharing your experience. I think from what I heard I might set up the car to about zero camber this week and see what happens. I think I want to keep the caster as is, as it goes straight nicely. I will take utmost care to properly set toe in. Hope to get it done this week.
I also have another set of radial tires for the 57.
I need to check the US Royals' date but they are not that old. maybe 5 to 10 years. I know they car they came off.
G.

[hiball3985]

G, 5-10 years old is pretty old by todays standards, I run mine a max of about 7. Just curious but looking at your camber gauge it only ranges from -1 to +3, I don't know what cars would use that much + camber ?

[gasman826]

Near 50 years ago, I did alignments in a shop that had magnetic gauges attached to the hub very much like yours.  The gauges worked fine but were quickly becoming obsolete with the release of OEM styled wheels, 4x4s, and front wheel drives.  They are still available today usually marketed for racing to make adjustments trackside where extreme adjustments may be used for performance handling setups.

Now all you need is a set of 'turn tables'.  Camber settings are fairly straight forward.  But, the caster readings process requires turning the front wheels 20 degrees, zeroing the gauge, turning the front end to opposite 20 degrees to take the reading.  This is difficult to do without turning plates...NOT impossible but difficult.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Redline-Alignment-Four-4-Post-Lift-Turn-Table-Rotate-Plates-Pair-/252403259180?hash=item3ac468172c:g:h4sAAOSwR5dXRw7W

[Ford Blue blood]

My Shelby GT500 is running -1.25 degree camber with no pronounced tire wear.  I average 3 - 4K miles a year with trips and "play" time.

[Ecode70D]

Now all you need is a set of 'turn tables'.  Camber settings are fairly straight forward.  But, the caster readings process requires turning the front wheels 20 degrees, zeroing the gauge, turning the front end to opposite 20 degrees to take the reading.  This is difficult to do without turning plates...NOT impossible but difficult.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Redline-Alignment-Four-4-Post-Lift-Turn-Table-Rotate-Plates-Pair-/252403259180?hash=item3ac468172c:g:h4sAAOSwR5dXRw7W

Günter
   When you get a few minutes, click on the link that Gary posted.   That's what I was talking about in my email to you this morning. Jay


   

[John Palmer]

If I were building race cars and running a chassis fab shop I would love to have a set of quality turn tables like Gary listed.

But........we are Hot Rodder's!   And as Hot Rodder's, we build "crazy things",  "late at night", to "loud music", with the "minimal amount" of tools!  Right?

So try this, four square 12" pieces of thick plywood,........contact glue four smooth 12" square vinyl tiles to the plywood,.......add a nice thin layer of grease to the tiles and place the greased sides together,........set them on the floor,........place the cars front wheels/tires on the "home made" plywood turn tables.  Adjust away! 

Note the turn tables need to not only turn, but easily slide "in and out" in order to set toe, at ride height.

[billd5string]

So try this, four square 12" pieces of thick plywood,........contact glue four smooth 12" square vinyl tiles to the plywood,.......add a nice thin layer of grease to the tiles and place the greased sides together,........set them on the floor,........place the cars front wheels/tires on the "home made" plywood turn tables.  Adjust away!

Have you actually tried that? It sounds plausible... maybe just would need the addition of pins to hold the pieces together while the car was moved into place. I've thought about making turntables by getting some 1/8th thick steel and put grease between them, but it's not like I have a bunch of that lying around already. But plywood... that I'm sure I've got some lying around.