Electrathon America Forum

Date: Nov 6, 2009

steering wheel vs lever steering

electrathon · administrator

Steering levers are easier to design and build, steering wheels are more conventional and a little easier to learn to drive.

iguy · Member

This is my first year building a car but I am going with a steering wheel. I think it will be easier to control and you wont have to move your arms as much. I think it will be a little more precise too because that is what we are used to for steering. With levers you do have more room in the car for your batteries and whatnot. And as was already said levers are easier to design and build.

Ian

Vic · teacher

We are starting our second car and we use steering wheels on both. Both our cars are front wheel drive so the fork is more of a problem than the wheel or levers.
We have several old go carts that we have appropriated parts from and the system is very simple.
Brakes, Meters and Throttle are all mounted on the wheel. Its very compact.
With the wheel the learning curve is very short for new drivers.

Vic
Brandon H.S.

radigan · Member

Last year we tried rear wheel steering but it proved difficult to learn and dangerous on the track. If you were near another vehicle and tried to steer away, the wheels took the back end into the vehicle before moving away. I was very proud of my team for tackling the problem though. It took alot of work to overcome the problems encountered with the rear steering. We first tried levers but the wheels tended to jackknife. I am sure there is a good reason for this but we scrapped the levers and went with a rack and pinion set up. The car handled great but again, in corners it was scary.

Date: Nov 11, 2009

Hey this is my third year driving electric cars, and I can say that my first year I did use leavers. But when you find yourself going fast, your car starts to get squirmy and it makes controlling your car even more difficult. Levers are good for low speed corners, it allows you to make quick corners, but after an hour you might have sore arms...

I used a steering wheel last year, and liked it so much that I was going to use it this year as well. I like a steering wheel because its more responsive, and I feel like I'm acually driving a car... I don't know if that makes a difference to you. Even though it does take a little long to engineer, I think its well worth your time.

mhodgertt · EA President

Hi this is Mike Hodgert and I have students that swear by both methods. I myself prefer the two handed steering. It is easier to build/design and is much easier to get in and out of the car without a steering column, wheel in the way. I also like the feel of the two handed steering. I feel like I can respond easier/faster and have more power in corners to control the car in an emergency. I have been driving cars for about 13 years and Willamette has made over 200 cars with about half two handled steering and half with some type of steering wheels system.

Zaine Stapleton · Senior Member

The David Douglas car, #55 has an unusual steering system. It consists of a double pulley with a belt attached to the two pulleys. My car, #59 has a small rack and pinion mounted up front above my legs. It works well for me and I like it.

Trevor Cathcart · driver

right now i am building a small prototype of a steering system where you just have one bar where the steering columb would be. you push the bar left to go right and visa versa. kinda like if you were sitting in an old radio flyer wagon and you were steering in while you were sitting in it with the dandle in your lap.. ill post a few pictures when its finished so you can get a better idea.

mhodgertt · EA President

I have heard that type of steering called 'tiller' steering and there are several NW cars that have it. Willamette has never done one but I hear they work well once you get used to them.
Mike

Clay · Member

One of my older cars for an event here in Australia called the eV Challenge (think electrathon but with only 432Wh of batteries allowed = slow :( ) I built using a joystick, I think similar to Trevor's idea. You pushed left to turn left and right to go right, it was a bit more 'natural' in feel to levers and allowed you to get in/out easier than a steering wheel. It's another option.