Tires TC24DA front tire camber?

[jinman]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I got a reading of 2 degrees positive. I raised the bucket in the air until the rear end felt a little light. I got a reading of 3/4 degrees positive. That is difference of 1 1/4 degrees. )</font>

If your axle is 5' wide, my calculations show that your measured deflection was .65" on each side or a total of 1.3". That is huge! Did you measure both sides? Is it possible your tire pressure in the opposite side tire was lower, allowing the axle to tilt rather than flex? I'm really baffled at your numbers and can't find any fault with your measurement technique except for possible axle tilt under load. I do think that if your front axle is flexing a total of 1.3" under each full bucket load, you will be seeing metal fatigue in the casing before long. I just don't see how the metal stretches that much on the bottom of the casing and compresses that much on the top in a cast casing. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[KYTurkey]

If you're measuring off the center of the wheel mount, perhaps it's the tires that are flexing, not the axle...just a thought.

 

[hazmat]

He needs to measure both hubs - if the load is uneven or the tire pressure is uneven, the tractor will tilt towards the "heavy" side. If the tractor is tilting towards the heavy side, you'd see +camber on one side & -camber on the other.

There could also be a little play in the bearings, but I'd expect that to be less than 1 degree.

 

[Boomerang1]

I did measure both sides and had the same readings. I put 50 lbs. of air in both tires so they would have less flex.
The axle is about 22" on each side measuring from the center pivot. I don't know how to calculate the amount of flex as you did. I would guess the the spindles have trunion bearings and the hubs would have standard wheel bearings. I'm thinking of trying this again without the front wheels. I could make a jig out of heavy angle iron that would bolt onto the wheel studs and act as a pair of jack stands. I have used theese on frame alignment machines so the vehicle could be worked on without the wheels and tires. I would then take before and after measurements from the center of the front axle to the concrete.

 

[Boomerang1]

I spoke with my brother this afternoon. He owns a collision repair shop in the midwest. He told the main reason for positive camber was to put more of the load on the larger inner wheel bearing rather than the smaller outer bearing. When you look at your front axle from the front, the lower trunion bearing is in farther than the upper one. This creates an imaginary vertical line that is tilted out at the top more than it is at the bottom. This will force the weight on the front axle to be transfered the inner wheel bearing and the lower trunion bearing. Also on a road vehicle, the positive camber helps compensate for the crown in the road. He also said that with the top of the tires tilted outward it creates an imaginary arc in the front axle which helps to compensate for some of the load on the axle. Kind of like a crown built into a trailer axle.