Racing mower steering issues.

The list is forever...lets start small, with the most obvious annoyances.
I- The front end seems to "hop" rapidly when the steering is turns more than 30 degrees either direction on ashalpt.
II- The front tires dont grip the road at all, my turn raduis is around 12 feet.
III- The steering is VERY touchy, turning it the slightest, the whole thing jerks at higher speeds, and even lower.

Are you using the stock steering? Might want to upgrade to direct steering.

Doug Fackler wrote:

Are you using the stock steering? Might want to upgrade to direct steering.

Its already direct

Murray modder wrote:

Doug Fackler wrote:

Are you using the stock steering? Might want to upgrade to direct steering.

Its already direct

Are you using tie rod ends? Are your linkages tight? Is the arm off the steering column the correct length/ correct degree?

It uses 2 rods, one to each side...and yea, everything is TIGHT

Murray modder wrote:

The list is forever...lets start small, with the most obvious annoyances.
I- The front end seems to "hop" rapidly when the steering is turns more than 30 degrees either direction on ashalpt.
II- The front tires dont grip the road at all, my turn raduis is around 12 feet.
III- The steering is VERY touchy, turning it the slightest, the whole thing jerks at higher speeds, and even lower.

The most immediate thing I can see is that you toe in/out is wrong, that will cause the hop, and wide turning radius, as the tire angles fight each other in the turns.

Does it have ackerman built in?

Chopperhed wrote:

Murray modder wrote:

The list is forever...lets start small, with the most obvious annoyances.
I- The front end seems to "hop" rapidly when the steering is turns more than 30 degrees either direction on ashalpt.
II- The front tires dont grip the road at all, my turn raduis is around 12 feet.
III- The steering is VERY touchy, turning it the slightest, the whole thing jerks at higher speeds, and even lower.

The most immediate thing I can see is that you toe in/out is wrong, that will cause the hop, and wide turning radius, as the tire angles fight each other in the turns.

Does it have ackerman built in?

Define Ackerman?

Its hard to explain, best bet is to search Ackermann Steering geometry.

basically its the abilty of the inside tire to turn sharper than the outside tire when going around a curve.

Its set in the angles of the spindle arms, and space between the tierods at the steering wheel.

The other things to consider are caster, and camber,

Increased caster allows for more stability at speed, while makeing it less jumpy while going slow.

Camber will help the tires lean into a turn.

Chopperhed wrote:

Its hard to explain, best bet is to search Ackermann Steering geometry.

basically its the abilty of the inside tire to turn sharper than the outside tire when going around a curve.

Its set in the angles of the spindle arms, and space between the tierods at the steering wheel.

The other things to consider are caster, and camber,

Increased caster allows for more stability at speed, while makeing it less jumpy while going slow.

Camber will help the tires lean into a turn.

I think I just need to find somebody to do A custom steering for me...I dont think a front stoc lawn mower axle will cut going 55....Nor the turns I want AT those speeds.

Murray modder wrote:

Chopperhed wrote:

Its hard to explain, best bet is to search Ackermann Steering geometry.

basically its the abilty of the inside tire to turn sharper than the outside tire when going around a curve.

Its set in the angles of the spindle arms, and space between the tierods at the steering wheel.

The other things to consider are caster, and camber,

Increased caster allows for more stability at speed, while makeing it less jumpy while going slow.

Camber will help the tires lean into a turn.

I think I just need to find somebody to do A custom steering for me...I dont think a front stoc lawn mower axle will cut going 55....Nor the turns I want AT those speeds.

Is it locked? If its not youll have lots of problems.

You need a custom front end, or to modify the stock one. Camber is all wrong on most stock mowers for speeds over 20mph.

Look up caster, camber, toe. Plenty of pics to see. 5 to 10 caster, 0 camber, 0 or slightly toe in.

the front and geometry of a steering system can get very tricky. I redid the steering on my racing go kart twice. You need to factor in the proper amount of camber, caster, toe and Ackerman. the castor will help counter act the camber while steering. for instance, when my go kart is steering straight the wheels are set and a half degree camber. When I turn to full lock, it has about 8 to 9 degrees of camber... the camber will actually change because of the caster.
Ackerman is kind of separate, that is the effect of your front wheels going around a circle. Basically meaning that if you're taking a left hand turn, your left wheel will turn in a little more than your right wheel.
my toe is set at 0, or is close to 0 as I could get it.