Using casters to demonstrate caster, genius!

@justins462 It's connected to the flywheel which is connected to the crankshaft. So as the engine rotates, the torque converter rotates, forcing the liquid inside to circulate, and finally spin the transmission shaft.

Life saver. I’m finishing my auto body technician ticket here in Canada and part of the last year of schooling is suspension and alignment cause we have to understand how that stuff works. Yet i have almost never had an experience with suspension or adjustment so you are saving my life for this test !

Great explanation, thanks for this! I've struggled to understand this for a while, you made it easy to understand :)

@DarkStyler94 Yeah, I try to incorporate them when I have the means to, glad it helps!

That chair is JDM AF!!

@engineeringjtc Yes, I understand what you're asking. It does not matter which direction you turn. If you understand the diagram to the bottom left, and simply mirror it, this is what occurs when you turn the tire the other direction.

Yes, perfect example!

this is the best video on the internet, HANDS DOWN!

Even though I knew about some aspects (camber, toe-in/out) I had no idea so much went into the steering. I'm building my first race car and I'm trying to learn as much as I can about suspension and adjustment. Thanks for the videos.

Your awesome dude, just one litle advice, i noticed that you started giving real exemples, keep doin that ;)

Well explained and great demonstration. Thank you!

One big advantage is camber gain when turning. The higher the caster the more the tyres lean into the turn, usually resulting in better cornering grip. Best case scenario: You can lower static camber to increase straight line grip and increase caster to maintain cornering grip. More caster increases jacking though, which can affect corner weighting, and partially diminishes the effect of steering lock, so it's not without downsides. It also makes steering much heavier.

All of your videos are so easy to understand. Thank you

Excellent. Everywhere else only explains what it is not how it works exactly. Just what I was looking for. Thank you!

Really appreciate your explanation for self aligning moment . Thanks a lot!! 谢谢

If you aren't sick of me typing yet, you might be after this post! :) You've covered one important aspect of Caster angle and how it relates to a car's suspension but you've left out what I consider Caster's most important feature. Caster turns to camber when you turn the wheel. Caster and Kingpin angle (See your Steering Axis Video) tend to fight each other in this regard but on most production cars you will get negative camber gain on the outside tire and positive camber on the inside tire. This has a profound impact on keeping a tire flat to the pavement. This is far more important than the self centering effect of caster. Cars during the 60's have generally very low caster angles and poor kingpin inclination and the result of turning a corner quickly in a car made in the 60's will show huge amounts of positive camber on the outside wheel as a result. By upping the caster angle and tweaking control arm angles you get a much flatter contact patch and much more front end grip! :)

Genius idea on the chair!

Changed my caster 2.5 degrees. Went from unsafe to perfectly normal. 8.5 caster to 6. On Jeeps they call it "Death Wobble", any vehicle w a rigid front axle is susceptible to this extreme shimmy. Turns out this alignment parameter is the most important to cure it. Thanks for the video :)

I agree with you, but it's a nice way of showing how if the contact point is behind the axis of rotation, the wheel will follow the direction of travel.

@EngineeringExplained Yes, I was a little confused at what you were getting at, right up until you showed us your chair and then it all fell into place. Thanks!

Great video!

Very good explanation. Clears up confusion massively!

Was rlly confused. Thanks for the office chair example!!!

Thank you for the nice explaination and the simple but very understandable and interesting example. You can explain everything much better than my lecturer. I'd rather watch all your videos than sit 1,5 hours in the lecture.

You're a great teacher.

Ahhh, all is now clear. Thank you very much! :)

Thanx , a smart simple explanation .

Thank you! This settles a disagreement on the meanings of caster & camber (Turns out I was wrong). We are big fans of 1/10th scale hobby-grade racing and C+C+Toe are incredibly important on such a small scale. Luckily, dirt tracks are a bit forgiving, however. Now I can go out to my shop and apply names to the adjustments I need to make, and to make those adjustments with a better understanding of what's happening. Thank you, again!

Great and simple Thank man

@engineeringexplained i want to ask that what is the caster angle of this chair is it having a zero caster as there is no angle between both the axis and the both the axis are parallel to each other?

excellent visual...I've been teaching caster for 8 years as theroy and never considered that simple example. well done. consider it stolen. ...and thanks.

Man you are my idol. I watched this 10 days back and I was easily able to recall this during my yesterday’s exam.

I'm adding some 1/2" pads above my rear springs to raise my rear end and fix reverse rake (MK7 GTI). Do you know if anything other than camber will be affected and whether or not I should get an alignment after the install? Thanks

Excellent explanation

@oldskoolcooper You pretty much always want positive, at the worst neutral. Since Formula cars are going at much greater speeds, it wouldn't surprise me if the caster angle they used was much smaller than on everyday cars.

I really enjoy watching your videos and have learned a lot from. I don't know how old you are but your look young and still you know all these things. I'm only 18 and problably don't know 1/4 the things you do but I am learning quit a bit. Thanks man

@Carrera911Fan Uhh I believe those cars are just lowered.

Thank you. Hot damn you're good at this!

Ahah! This diagram in the top left actually helped me to understand the steering axis-inclination a bit better! Very nice video. One question on steering axis inclination though: I can see how the inclination would pull the tire straight if turning one direction, but if the tire is turned in the opposite direction, would the inclination not push it up instead of down thus making the pull to straighten the tire only effective when turning one direction? I hope that made a little bit of sense....

your r the best one in explanation

Thank you so much!

Hi Jason, I have a question, During the designing of the front suspension, does the axis of the Macpherson strut should pass through the center of the lower ball joint?

thanks a lot .. for the lecture..

Very nice 👍 👍👍 👍👍 👍👍 👍 thank you

excellent explanation thumbs up thumbs up

Does a change in wheel diameter affect caster? I'm guessing that there would be more caster from larger wheels because the intersection point between the vertical axis and the rotational axis is lifted higher from the ground. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Also, if you increase the caster in a car, would it become more difficult to steer because it just wants to remain true?

It’s kinda weird watching one of his videos when he’s serious w/ out the energetic enthusiasm

hey !!! sir thanks for ur help for all topics u explained can u please explain WHEEL ALIGNMENT and WHEEL BALANCING

That's a clean carpet.

Explaining is good and all, but some visual aid like at the end of this video would be nice for the other videos, as well. I only watched the video abotu camber and steering axis inclination, from the Suspensions playlist.

Your the freakin MAN!!!!

great vid man! can i ask you a question? this dont relate to the topic of this video but iv been wondering this for quite some time. a while back you did a video on automatic and manual transmissions and you explained what a torque converter is and how they work, but can you explain why they work? i guess what im getting at is how do they creat the pumping action?

You are my new Hero

A simple way to understand what it does, it changes the camber at different steering angles. So if you run a lot of negative camber with positive caster, your leading tire has a better contact patch at sharp steering angles. Hence why drift cars have a lot of negative camber in the front to allow more front end grip.

@nerdypielover It's fantastic, finally my handwriting is legible. Well, sorta.

I hope I can get a reply to this one. I was wondering if there were any issues (if at all) with having a double wishbone setup with positive caster but having a coil over mounted to the lower arm, in a slightly negative angle. i.e. the caster and the angle of the coil over forms a "V".

Thanks!

@TheSaikou96 Mechanical, I think that's what you're asking.

Nice video, but the example of the chair is not correct. This is called "trail" and is yet another variable amidst camber, castor and toe. Actually, the castor of the chair and shopping trolley is ZERO (its a vertical line), but it has x mm trail.

why does uneven caster cause pulling to one side? Do the wheel center slightly to one side? I understand that with camber the increased rolling resistance causes a pull but i dont get what forces causes the pull with uneven caster

What effect does extending my control arms have on the caster? Will the Caster become more negative or more positive with increasing length of control arms?

Please explain the concept of torque action on tyres due to caster

Caster is measured from the kpi plane of inclination or as projection line that connects upper and lower wishbone?

Nice

Sir, my car i20 front struts shockers are aligned perfect 90 degree with respect to ground when steering wheel is at normal or 0 degree position. However, the left shocker slanted bit about 30 degree approx with respect to its original vertical position when the steering is full turned to left. The same is for the right shocker when fully turned right. Is this change in vertical alignment normal??? Thanks.

hey there, please help me!! my passenger side wheel moved back so when I turn left or right the wheel hits the fender.. I need your help and I prefer fixing it at home:) tell me what the problem I have.. thanks from KSA

since I changed my tyres, i have felt that the steering has gone too light(eveb though the new tyres are much wider) i.e. it is too easy to turn the wheel even when not moving. And while driving the car seems to sway aimlessly and the tyre would not straighten themselves. What could be the problem?

Outstanding! When I drive in reverse at higher speeds is the steering more sensitive and some what hard to control because of the negative caster? I figure that if I am driving forward it is postive caster but if I am driving backwards it will automatically be a negative castor because I am sterring in the opposite direction. Is that right?

hi, how to find out the max load a rigid caster can support?

Thanks J.P.

The contact patch does change as you explain but that's not what is returning the steering wheel. Pressure on the spindle due to caster angle causes stability and wheel return.

@blackeyebully Yep, search my channel I have videos on both.

Hi, I am from Mexico, right now I am designing a mini buggy just one seat. I am planning to use a double wishbone suspension in the rear axis, but I am no sure if it´s necessary to set Caster here. Could you give me an advise about it?, I am goint to appreciate your comments, Thanks

Thanks for videos. I have a doubt. What's the difference between kingpin angle and caster??

My mum had a 2013 Mercedes-Benz C180. When the wheels were turned at full lock and you looked at the car front on, it was like there was a lot more negative camber on them. Does this mean there was a lot of negative caster?

can you calculate castor wth the use of inclinometer and angle plates. goedendag

@EngineeringExplained Ok, thank you very much. I misunderstood the rotational axis. Pretty stupid of me, but thank you for answering

Dose caster effect the spring up and down?

consider my car has positive caster (BMW e46). When I am moving backward (R gear), the steering wheel still can still center itself. It there another mechanism governing this behavior? Wouldn't a car with positive caster becomes negative caster when moving backward?

When getting an alignment is it possible to have even tire wear and drive straight but Caster be off? If so, how would you know?

Does caster change with application or is it somewhat standardized?

Geez, I really could have used all these videos back in 1999. When I used to play Gran Turismo 1, I had no idea what any of this meant. I just had all my suspension settings directly in the center of the bar. ----------l-----------

How does the office chair not have a caster angle of 0? The wheel is rotating about a vertical line right? I see no diagonal line for the steering axis

So what the use of it in terms of performance?

Good write-up

Correct me if I'm wrong (since I'm not a kart racer), but isn't caster adjustment in karting largely a jacking issue? I've been given to understand that due to the spooled rear axle you need to unload the inside rear wheel if you want to get the kart to turn properly, which can be achieved with the jacking effect of caster. Too little = not enough jacking, too much rear grip, too much = too much jacking, not enough rear grip?

What if when it straightens it doesnt come exactly in the middle. but just a bit to the left. How can that be addjusted?

Do a video on bump steer, please.

The effect your describing is trail, caster induced trail but trail none the less.

Is not negative caster on the wheel of the chair? Isn't Caster angle the KPI related with vertical line that pass thought the center of the wheel in the side view?

hi, please help me how castor helps in steerability

so what is the advantage of having caster angle in circuit racing /

Awesome video!!! I like the way you explain things, it's just so easy to understand although the thing itself is so complicated. I'm crystal clear right now about what is caster and what the meaning of setting positive caster. But I am a little bit confused about the last part of your explanation, I kind of understand what you said about the positive caster in the normal office chair, but what is negative caster in this chair? What will it look like?

Question, if my upper and lower balljoint studs are inline with each other, can I assume that's zero caster? And if so, would moving the lower balljoint stud "forward" increase or decrease caster? And lastly is the direction of positive caster angle different if the steering arm on the spindles is on the front or back of the spindle arm?

can u explain skid steering

Still can't get the definition of a caster, all we see is a symetrical wheel soo how can i mesure the caster or even know if it's positive or negative

He didn't mention cross caster, about 0.25* to 0.5* difference between the two front wheels. If your car is wandering towards the gutter, you don't have enough cross caster. Cross camber applies too.

dammit...i coudnt get what caster was till you explained..thanks mate.

You are good Soo forget that idiots on coments. Always usefull