Electrathon America Forum

Functional Artist · Functional Artist

A few years ago, I designed & built a Steering Rack with a Chain Drive system, for a mini-Slingshot that I was building It geared kinda low ...so, it functions more like a real car's steering ...& has very little "Bump Steer" Steering Rack Demo [video=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B...

ElectricStreamliner · ElectricStreamliner

Please consider the picture I have attached you will see how heim joints are used in this vehicle in bending. Does this work in electrathon? 60 mile per hour hitting a pot hole and pop goes the heim joint? Any issues? Binding? Bending?

Archer321 · Archer321

So I am toying with a leaner car idea and I ran across this 7yr old video of a race in the Tampa area. There's a leaner car on the track and I'm wondering if anyone knows anything about it. Who's it was, how it ran, shortcomings, overall impressions that sort of thing. I recognized a couple of people in the v...

Nitoragro · Nitoragro

On my 3 wheel steer car I also want to have front suspension and for the past 2 weeks or so I have been trying out different designs. I had 2 major goals for this, the first was to have a high pivot on the suspension so whenever the suspension is compressed the wheels actually move slightly outward from the...

Nitoragro · Nitoragro

Recently I have been thinking about building a new car and I want to do something a little weird/different. I want to do 3 wheel steerings because I think that it would be nice because it could reduce tire scrub thereby making the car more efficient (and more importantly save money on tires) in turns....

Archer321 · Archer321

I got tired of struggling to hold straightedges against my wheels while setting toe so I built a couple of tools. With the counterweight on the bottom, it stays level when the wheels are turned to the sides or if the car is rolled. The uprights allow me to measure toe without the body interfering. Seems...

Archer321 · Archer321

My car started life as a Blue Sky Aerocoupe which I have heavily modified. It's pretty much unrecognizable now I think. I did keep the dual lever steering and the front spindle setup however. I have always thought the steering seemed heavy and requires a lot of effort. I measured the angle of the spind...

Nitoragro · Nitoragro

I was reading how to incorporate an ankerman angle on my spindles, right now it is a little off. The spindles we have are from blue sky and have 15 degrees of a kingpin angle and zero camber. Since the kingpin is tilted and the ankerman is measured off of it where do I measure from the kingpin?

Nitoragro · Nitoragro

My team is about to start building a new car, right now we have a cycle car but we are thinking about making a tricycle because of there being zero tire scrub I was reading here that the kingpin has to be pointing directly to where the tire hits the ground but it didn't say what the rake had to be. What should t...

Nitoragro · Nitoragro

I know on tricycles the angle of the kingpin is vital but what about cycle cars. Down here in Tampa I've been looking at the cars and a lot of the cars do not account for the kingpin angle, I've only noticed about 2 cars that have it, one being a kit car. So how much does this help with the steering? Thanks for y...

Tinyauto · Tinyauto

Watching Youtube videos, I noticed that Hale-Ray HS out of CT built a rear steer car and raced at Lime Rock 2014. Was that considered a success? Will we see the car again? Thanks. Kevin Golden Harrisonville, MO

stardiff · stardiff

I have noticed different cars using many designs for rear forks. However i do like the Thurston schools idea in which you move the motor in slots. I was wondering if anybody had any ideas on to which approach this design with. All I have is pictures to go off of so if anybody has blue prints or plans please l...

ProEV · ProEV

Ryan ask for details on our steering system. We are running the most recent Blue Sky Design spindles which come with disc brakes and the ride height set for 16" wheels on our Blue Sky Design chassis. We have extensively modified the vehicle. One of our design goals was to narrow the body work to re...

Nitoragro · Nitoragro

My school is building our second car, out first one uses a rack and pinion. But I want to use a dual lever system, my only problem is I can't find the spindle axle, mainly since instead of connecting to one steering rod it connects to two, does anyone know where I can find one?

Zahrack · Zahrack

I have made a few drawings for the mechanical parts where all the steering and handling magic happens. After a long time of consideration I am seriously thinking about using a bunch of rubber bands for shocks. Potential benefits: If they are put into the right place and right quantity they can make f...

electrathon · Anonymous

Our class is building a new car this year and I am wanting to get new spindles. Our first car had harbor freight spindle. They seemed to have a lot of slop in them which messed with the toe and camber. Additionally, my wheels had a 20 mm hub and the spindle was a 3/4 (19.05 mm) so this added to the slop issue...

walrusstooth · walrusstooth

I need a rack and pinion that has a large gear ratio. We need to minimize the steering wheel turn, but at the same time maximize the wheel turn. Can anyone point me in the right direction? I have a budget around 500 dollars.

8pitcher · 8pitcher

:wave: hey i am new to this forum but not to forums in general i am also on Jeepforum.com . alright i am a student at olathe northwest highschool and i am running lead on the chassis design and i had some questions about suspension. are there any advantages to suspension? and does camber really effect an...

Kalie_CHS · Kalie_CHS

Sam and I wanted to try this simply because we observed some of the top cars doing it, and we had some ideas of why it would be superior. Unfortunately, this last year, we had a lot of other bugs in our car with our batteries and gearing to really be able to assess the front-wheel drive system. I heard that an...

Clay · Robert Hilden

I've heard a lot of different views on both kinds of the steering systems, does anyone know pros and cons of the two and which one I should use?

bycoo222 · bycoo222

Can some one help me im trying to find what the benifits would be for a raack and pinion steering systerm over just a normal mechanical steering system with 2 tie rods connected to the steering shaft that pulls the spindles

Trevor Cathcart · Trevor Cathcart

As of this year i have acquired a former students car, mike mcmurry (Centennial High School, car #50). He had a strange steering set up when i got it. It was designed to tilt the car in the direction of the turn. it didnt work out and tended to break alot. So this year i tore the steering off of the car afte...

Vic556 · Vic556

We are building our first cycle car. We have two trikes. We are using a cyclone body and are looking at a wheel base of about 6.5 to 7 ft. with some or all of the batteries in front of the front wheels for weight distribution. We plan to have a wheel track of about 36"-40". We are using 20"...

Zaine Stapleton · Zaine Stapleton

What does camber do in a car? I know the car that took third in the Northwest, car #110 from Willamette had lots of camber built in. What's the difference between positive and negative camber, and what is the advantage with using camber instead of no camber? (wheels straight up and down)

Vic · Vic

We have a front fork on our current car. The motor sits fairly high. We are finishing the body on our second car and need a design that has the motor lower to the ground for a better center of gravity and better visability. Any ideas/pix would be appreciated. Vic Brandon High School Brandon, Fla. george...

Alex Escobedo · Alex Escobedo

This is my first year building an electric car and i whant to know wich is the best way to steer your car, with a steering wheel or with a lever?

Zaine Stapleton · Wendell

Which would be better foot pedals or start buttons to accelerate your car?

Topic		Started By	Replies	Views	Last Post
	Chain Drive Steering Rack (Preview) A few years ago, I designed & built a Steering Rack with a Chain Drive system, for a mini-Slingshot that I was building It geared kinda low ...so, it functions more like a real car's steering ...& has very little "Bump Steer" Steering Rack Demo [video=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B...	Functional Artist	1	245	Oct 20, 2023 by Archer321
	Do heim joints work in Electrathon? (Preview) Please consider the picture I have attached you will see how heim joints are used in this vehicle in bending. Does this work in electrathon? 60 mile per hour hitting a pot hole and pop goes the heim joint? Any issues? Binding? Bending?	ElectricStreamliner	2	366	Nov 28, 2022 by bd64
	Help me identify this leaner car (Preview) So I am toying with a leaner car idea and I ran across this 7yr old video of a race in the Tampa area. There's a leaner car on the track and I'm wondering if anyone knows anything about it. Who's it was, how it ran, shortcomings, overall impressions that sort of thing. I recognized a couple of people in the v...	Archer321	4	1227	Jan 1, 2021 by ProEV
	Front Suspension (Preview) On my 3 wheel steer car I also want to have front suspension and for the past 2 weeks or so I have been trying out different designs. I had 2 major goals for this, the first was to have a high pivot on the suspension so whenever the suspension is compressed the wheels actually move slightly outward from the...	Nitoragro	15	1321	Apr 23, 2019 by Nitoragro
	3 wheel steering? (Preview) Recently I have been thinking about building a new car and I want to do something a little weird/different. I want to do 3 wheel steerings because I think that it would be nice because it could reduce tire scrub thereby making the car more efficient (and more importantly save money on tires) in turns....	Nitoragro	9	1474	Feb 16, 2019 by Nitoragro
	Toe setting tools (Preview) I got tired of struggling to hold straightedges against my wheels while setting toe so I built a couple of tools. With the counterweight on the bottom, it stays level when the wheels are turned to the sides or if the car is rolled. The uprights allow me to measure toe without the body interfering. Seems...	Archer321	4	2155	Mar 9, 2017 by Archer321
	Caster angle (Preview) My car started life as a Blue Sky Aerocoupe which I have heavily modified. It's pretty much unrecognizable now I think. I did keep the dual lever steering and the front spindle setup however. I have always thought the steering seemed heavy and requires a lot of effort. I measured the angle of the spind...	Archer321	3	1758	Jan 5, 2017 by Ron
	Ankerman angle (Preview) I was reading how to incorporate an ankerman angle on my spindles, right now it is a little off. The spindles we have are from blue sky and have 15 degrees of a kingpin angle and zero camber. Since the kingpin is tilted and the ankerman is measured off of it where do I measure from the kingpin?	Nitoragro	3	2075	Nov 2, 2016 by Zaine Stapleton
	Trike Rake Angle (Preview) My team is about to start building a new car, right now we have a cycle car but we are thinking about making a tricycle because of there being zero tire scrub I was reading here that the kingpin has to be pointing directly to where the tire hits the ground but it didn't say what the rake had to be. What should t...	Nitoragro	5	1791	Feb 1, 2016 by Ron
	Kingpin angle (Preview) I know on tricycles the angle of the kingpin is vital but what about cycle cars. Down here in Tampa I've been looking at the cars and a lot of the cars do not account for the kingpin angle, I've only noticed about 2 cars that have it, one being a kit car. So how much does this help with the steering? Thanks for y...	Nitoragro	6	2530	Sep 7, 2015 by Nitoragro
	Rear steer (Preview) Watching Youtube videos, I noticed that Hale-Ray HS out of CT built a rear steer car and raced at Lime Rock 2014. Was that considered a success? Will we see the car again? Thanks. Kevin Golden Harrisonville, MO	Tinyauto	3	2074	Sep 2, 2015 by meangreen
	Rear Fork (Preview) I have noticed different cars using many designs for rear forks. However i do like the Thurston schools idea in which you move the motor in slots. I was wondering if anybody had any ideas on to which approach this design with. All I have is pictures to go off of so if anybody has blue prints or plans please l...	stardiff	5	1729	Jan 27, 2015 by stardiff
	ProEV steering (Preview) Ryan ask for details on our steering system. We are running the most recent Blue Sky Design spindles which come with disc brakes and the ride height set for 16" wheels on our Blue Sky Design chassis. We have extensively modified the vehicle. One of our design goals was to narrow the body work to re...	ProEV	2	2025	Jan 27, 2015 by ProEV
	Dual Lever steering (Preview) My school is building our second car, out first one uses a rack and pinion. But I want to use a dual lever system, my only problem is I can't find the spindle axle, mainly since instead of connecting to one steering rod it connects to two, does anyone know where I can find one?	Nitoragro	2	2328	Jan 4, 2015 by mhodgertt
	Suspension With Rubberbands. (Preview) I have made a few drawings for the mechanical parts where all the steering and handling magic happens. After a long time of consideration I am seriously thinking about using a bunch of rubber bands for shocks. Potential benefits: If they are put into the right place and right quantity they can make f...	Zahrack	4	3085	Aug 19, 2014 by Ron
	spindles (Preview) Our class is building a new car this year and I am wanting to get new spindles. Our first car had harbor freight spindle. They seemed to have a lot of slop in them which messed with the toe and camber. Additionally, my wheels had a 20 mm hub and the spindle was a 3/4 (19.05 mm) so this added to the slop issue...	Anonymous	11	5346	Sep 25, 2013 by electrathon
	Rack and pinion question (Preview) I need a rack and pinion that has a large gear ratio. We need to minimize the steering wheel turn, but at the same time maximize the wheel turn. Can anyone point me in the right direction? I have a budget around 500 dollars.	walrusstooth	3	2429	Aug 26, 2013 by dmorgan
	suspension (Preview) :wave: hey i am new to this forum but not to forums in general i am also on Jeepforum.com . alright i am a student at olathe northwest highschool and i am running lead on the chassis design and i had some questions about suspension. are there any advantages to suspension? and does camber really effect an...	8pitcher	1	1915	Nov 4, 2012 by electrathon
	Input on a single wheel, front wheel drive system? (Preview) Sam and I wanted to try this simply because we observed some of the top cars doing it, and we had some ideas of why it would be superior. Unfortunately, this last year, we had a lot of other bugs in our car with our batteries and gearing to really be able to assess the front-wheel drive system. I heard that an...	Kalie_CHS	3	3197	Sep 28, 2012 by ShannonCloud
	steering wheel vs lever steering (Preview) I've heard a lot of different views on both kinds of the steering systems, does anyone know pros and cons of the two and which one I should use?	Robert Hilden	10	7949	Jun 7, 2012 by Clay
	Rack and pinion (Preview) Can some one help me im trying to find what the benifits would be for a raack and pinion steering systerm over just a normal mechanical steering system with 2 tie rods connected to the steering shaft that pulls the spindles	bycoo222	2	2382	Apr 2, 2012 by electrathon
	over all steering design (Preview) As of this year i have acquired a former students car, mike mcmurry (Centennial High School, car #50). He had a strange steering set up when i got it. It was designed to tilt the car in the direction of the turn. it didnt work out and tended to break alot. So this year i tore the steering off of the car afte...	Trevor Cathcart	27	7740	Mar 12, 2011 by Trevor Cathcart
	Steering Camber (Preview) We are building our first cycle car. We have two trikes. We are using a cyclone body and are looking at a wheel base of about 6.5 to 7 ft. with some or all of the batteries in front of the front wheels for weight distribution. We plan to have a wheel track of about 36"-40". We are using 20"...	Vic556	7	3534	Feb 28, 2011 by electrathon
	Steering Geometry, Camber angles (Preview) What does camber do in a car? I know the car that took third in the Northwest, car #110 from Willamette had lots of camber built in. What's the difference between positive and negative camber, and what is the advantage with using camber instead of no camber? (wheels straight up and down)	Zaine Stapleton	4	4613	Jan 7, 2011 by meangreen
	Front Fork Design (Preview) We have a front fork on our current car. The motor sits fairly high. We are finishing the body on our second car and need a design that has the motor lower to the ground for a better center of gravity and better visability. Any ideas/pix would be appreciated. Vic Brandon High School Brandon, Fla. george...	Vic	9	3511	May 3, 2010 by Cent-ECAR-man
	Steering wheel vs. Lever (Preview) This is my first year building an electric car and i whant to know wich is the best way to steer your car, with a steering wheel or with a lever?	Alex Escobedo	1	2632	Nov 14, 2009 by radigan
	Foot pedals or start button? (Preview) Which would be better foot pedals or start buttons to accelerate your car?	Wendell	7	4058	Nov 13, 2009 by Zaine Stapleton
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