Wheel Alignment and Steering System

Caster
• When we turn the steering wheel, the
front wheels respond by turning on a pivot
attached to the suspension system.
• Caster is the angle of this steering pivot,
measured in degrees, when viewed from
the side of the vehicle.
• Caster is the angle of the steering axis of
a wheel from true vertical, and has little
effect on tire wear
Cont..
• Positive caster tilts the tops of the steering knuckles toward the rear of
the vehicle
• Negative caster tilts the tops of the steering knuckles toward the front of
the vehicle
The primary function of caster is
 Improve steering wheel return ability
 Improve directional stability
Positive Caster
Improves straight line tracking
because the caster line (the line
drawn through the steering pivot
when viewed from the side)
intersects the ground ahead of the
contact patch of the tire.
Most common problem affecting caster is
 Worn strut rod and
 Control arm bushings
Camber
• Camber is the angle represented by the tilt of the wheels inward or
outward from the center-line
• Positive camber has the top of the wheel tilted inward, when viewed
from the front
• Negative camber has the top of the wheel tilted out when viewed from
the front

Tilts Out
Cont…
• The importance of the camber angle has to do with how stable
it makes the vehicle on the road, particularly when making
turns around corners.
• The general consensus is that a positive camber is good for
keeping a recreational vehicle stable,
• while a negative camber is better for allowing high-
performance vehicles to turn corners faster and more accurately.
Cont…
• Camber is affected by
 Worn or loose ball joints,
 Loose or worn-out of control arm bushings, and
 Loose or worn wheel bearings
• Camber affects whether the whole tire tread or just the edges of
the tread wears
• Camber design to compensate for road speeds, passenger
weight and vehicle weight
Neutral Camber
• The benefit of Positive Camber on these vehicles is that you
don’t need to use much effort when steering them.
• Also, if you’re normally driving on uneven roads or surfaces,
then you will want the added stability that positive cambers
provide.
• The benefit of Negative Camber is for making turns around
corners because the bottoms of the tires are also making less
contact with the ground and there is less pressure put on them.
This allows the turns to happen much more smoothly.
Toe
• It is distance comparison between the leading edge and trailing
edge of the front wheel
 Toe is critical to tire wear
• Like camber, toe will change depending on vehicle speed.
 Cont..
Toe-in
 Is if the leading edge distance is less than
the trailing edge distance
Toe-out
 Is if leading the leading edge distance is
greater than the trailing edge distance
Rear-wheel-drive Vehicles are often adjusted
to have toe-in,
Front-wheel-drive Vehicles are adjusted to
have a slight toe-out
Steering Axis Inclination (SAI)
• Steering Axis Inclination (SAI) is the angle between true vertical and the
line through the upper and lower pivot points viewed from the front of
the vehicle
• SAI helps the vehicle steering system return to straight ahead after a
turn.
• SAI can be used in structural measurements to diagnose:
 Strut lower misalignment
 Shifted engine cradle or cross member
 Control arm mounting location damage
 Misalignment frame or body structure
 Included Angle and Scrub Radius
Included angle is the angle formed between the SAI
and the camber.
• Included angle is not directly measurable. To
determine the included angle, you add the SAI to the
camber.
• If the camber is negative, then the included angle
will be less than the SAI, if the camber is positive, it
will be greater.
Scrub radius is the distance between where the SAI
intersects the ground and the center of the tire.
 This distance must be exactly the same from side to
side or the vehicle
Set-back
• Set-back is when one wheel is moved back
– May be caused by an impact to a front wheel assembly that moves a lower
control arm, engine cradle, or radius rod backwards
– May be designed into some suspension systems
– Set back is when one front wheel is set further back than the other wheel.
– any setback will cause an uncentered steering wheel. Any good 4-wheel aligner
will reference the rear wheels when setting toe in order to eliminate this problem.
 Thrust Angle
• Thrust angle is the direction that the rear wheels are pointing in relation to
the center line of the vehicle.
• Positive thrust angle results if the thrust line projects to the right of the
center-line
• Negative thrust angle results if the thrust line projects to the left of the
center-line
Cont…
• Tracking is the parallel alignment of the rear wheels
• Rear-wheel tracks should be an equal distance from the front-wheel
tracks
• Geometric center line of the vehicle should parallel the road direction
Wheelbase
• It is the measurement between the center of the front and rear
wheel hubs.
• Wheelbase is measured to determine the forward and rearward
position of each wheel
Turning Radius
• Turning radius allows the inside wheel to turn a few degrees more than
the outside wheel
• When you steer a car through a turn, the outside front wheel has to
navigate a wider arc then the inside wheel.
• For this reason, the inside front wheel must steer at a sharper angle than
the outside wheel.
Kinematic Steering
• Consider a front-wheel-steering 4WS vehicle that is turning to the
left. When the vehicle is moving very slowly, there is a kinematic
condition between the inner and outer wheels that allows them to
turn slip-free.
• The condition is called the Ackerman condition and
expressed by
𝑤
𝑐𝑜𝑡𝛿𝑜 − 𝑐𝑜𝑡𝛿𝑖 =
𝑙
 Cont..
• The mass center of a steered
vehicle will turn on a circle
with radius R,
𝑅= 𝑎22 + 𝑙 2 𝑐𝑜𝑡 2 𝛿

𝑐𝑜𝑡𝛿𝑜 + 𝑐𝑜𝑡𝛿𝑖
𝑐𝑜𝑡𝛿 =
2
Examples
1. A motor car has a wheel-base of 2.743 m and pivot Centre of 1.065 m.
The front and rear wheel track is 1.217 m. Calculate the correct angle of
outside lock and turning circle radius of the outer front and inner rear
wheels when the angle of inside lock is 40°.
2. A track has pivot pins 1.37 m apart, the length of each track arm is 0.18 m
and the track rod is behind front axle and 1.27 m long. Determine the
wheel base which will give true rolling for all wheels when the car is
turning so that the inner wheel stub axle is 60° to the Centre line of the car.
Introduction
• Both the steering and suspension systems work closely together and
even share some of the same parts.
• The steering system controls your car's left and right motions (improve
Handling Characteristics)
• the suspension controls the up and down motions of your vehicle.
improve Riding Characteristics)
• In the past fifty years, car steering systems haven't changed much. But
in the next decade, we'll see advances in car steering that will result in
more efficient cars and a more comfortable ride.
Introduction
• The steered wheels are usually the front wheels due to stability reasons.
• Rear wheel steering will have better maneuverability at low speeds, but an
unstable situation will arise at high speeds.
• Forklifts are a typical example of a rear wheel steered vehicle.
Cont…
• 4-wheel steering is also available in some production cars.
• It increases maneuverability by offering a very tight turning circle at
the cost of additional complexity and weight.
Main tasks of the steering
• The main tasks of steering system are
 To turn the steered wheels in the desire direction.
 To allow different steering angles of the steered wheels during
cornering.
 To amplify the torque generated manually by an adequate amount.
Requirements for Steering Systems
• Maximum damping of impact from surface irregularities, but no loss of
contact with the road surface.
• Direct steering response to even minor steering movements, due to a very
rigid system.
• The steering systems layout must satisfy the Ackermann conditions: when
the wheels are turned, the elongations of the axes of rotation of the front
left and right wheels must intersect with an elongation of the rear axle
(correct steering principle).
• When the steering wheel is released, the wheels must return to the centre
position and remain stable in that position. (proper wheel alignments:
camber caster, and toe)
Types of steering
• There are 3 types of steering
 Fifth wheel steering
 Articulated body steering:
 Differential (Skid) steering:
 King-pin steering (double-pivot steering)
• Fifth wheel steering
– pivot at the center so the axle
– commonly used on towed
vehicles, such as semi-trailers
pulled by tractor-trucks.
– It permits large steered angles
and facilitates maneuvering.
Cont…
• Articulated body steering:
 Vehicle body is hinged at the mid-section about a vertical axis.
 The wheels are fixed on the body, The front half can be rotated with respect to
the rear half by hydraulic cylinders.
 Used in wheeled off-the-road vehicles (e.g. loaders with large diameter tires).
Cont…
• Differential (Skid) steering:
 This system introduces of a velocity differential across the two sides of the
vehicle.
 Differential steering is mostly used in track laying vehicles and on some
special purpose (combat) vehicles
 Cont…
• King-pin (Ackerman) steering
 Pivoting only the wheels and their stub axles
around the kingpins.
 The front axle itself remains fixed.
 With this arrangement, the axle is held at a right
angle to the vehicle frame and cannot pivot.
 Ackerman principle
• Condition for True Rolling
– True rolling occurs only when the direction motion is perpendicular to the wheel
axis
– A force acting parallel to the wheel axis will produce purely a scrub action

When the direction of rotation is neither

parallel nor perpendicular to the axis of
rotation, the movement will be the
compound of true rolling and lateral
distortion
The Main parts of steering
• All the parts necessary to make the front wheels turn in the
direction we wish to go.

• These parts include

 Steering Wheel,
 Gearbox, And
 Steering Linkages And
 Levers
Steering Linkage Arrangement
• To make a turn some sort of mechanical linkages has to be incorporated b/n the front
steered road wheels and the driver’s steering wheel.
• This mechanism must operate effectively under all normal conditions without
interfering
 with the propelling road-wheel traction or
 with the suspension movement which copes with road surface irregularities and
roll during cornering.
Steering Linkage Arrangement
• The layout of any steering arrangement used depends largely on the type
of suspension system used for front wheel
– A rigid-axle-beam front suspension Independent front suspension
Steering Linkage Arrangement
• Axle-Beam suspension steering system
• Consists of
√ Steering wheel
√ Steering box
√ Drop (pitman)-arm
√ Drag-link arm
√ Stub-axle
√ Track-rod-arm
√ Track-rod
Axle-Beam Suspension Steering System

Front View
Axle-Beam Suspension Steering System
– Steering box
• Provides a gear reduction so that with only a small effort, a much larger force can
be applied to the steering linkage
• The degree of stub axle movement will be reduced for a give angular movement of
the steering wheel
– Drop-arm (Pitman-arm)
• Its sawing action imparts a circular-arc movement to the drag-link
– Drag-link
• Tubular rod converts the circular movement of the drop-arm into a linear push or
pull motion of the drag-link arm
• An alternative transverse drag-link lay out may preferred for cross country vehicles
Axle-beam Suspension Steering System
– Drag-link arm
• Provide the leverage to convert the linear drag-link movement to an angular movement about
the stub-axle king-pin

– Stub-axle
• Each steered road-wheel is mounted on a short axle-shaft commonly known as a stub-axle

– Track-rod arm
• Bolted approximately right angles to the wheel axis in the horizontal plane
• Provides the leverage to rotate the stub-axle about the king-pin the rotary movement being
transferred to the other stub-axle by means of the track-rod

– Track-rod
• To enable the two stub-axles to pivot together, transfer the motion from one stub-axle to the
other
Steering Linkage Arrangement
• Independent-suspension steering system
– The difficulty of the changing distance between track-rod-arm ball-
joint centers can be overcome by using
• a 3 piece track-rod (relay-rod and idler )
• Form a rack-shaft
Split track-rod with relay-rod
idler steering linkage lay out
Used for large private cars
Independent-suspension steering system
Steering Gear
• The steering gear has the task of converting the rotating movement of the
steering wheel into a pivoting movement of the wheels.
• Requirements if it is to function efficiently:
– No play when traveling straight ahead,
– High efficiency,
– High rigidity,
– Scope for adjustment.
• Types of steering gear
 Recirculation-ball-and-nut steering
 Rack-and-pinion steering
Steering Gear
Rack-and-pinion steering assembly

• Principle of Operation
The transfer of motion from the
pinion to the rack is achieved by
the pinion teeth along the circular
pitch of the pinion should equal
the linear pitch of the rack
Steering Gear
• Recirculating ball rack and sector steering
gear box
– This steering gear box is basically a manual
screw-nut-type steering device, which reduce the
screwing friction which would be generated b/n
the engaging threads
Power-Steering
• The purpose of power steering is
– to reduce driver's effort at the steering wheel.
• To improve driving comfort, most modern automobiles have wide low
pressure tires which increase the tire to road contact area. As a result of
this, more steering efforts is required.
Power-assisted Steering

• Two design arrangement

 Conventional
 Hydraulic Power is used to assisted the driver
 Electronically
 an electric motor and electronic control unit is used to
provide the assistance
• Components of Hydraulic Power Steering System
– The power steering system includes
• a control valve assembly and
• a power cylinder.
– In addition, the system has
• Fluid Reservoir,
• Hydraulic Pump,
• Control Hoses.
• A Filter
• Fluid Cooler.