For all you guye that are running a arms I was just wondering what your caster angle is set at?

 

I don't have them, don't need them, but I talked to a lot of guys that have them, and also talked to the manufacturers of them, and the general consensus is between 7 and 9 degrees. Factory caster is 5 degrees.

I assume this changes through the suspension travel, but never really looked into it in detail. I don't know exactly how you want to measure the caster angle - with you on the seat(like toe), or off?? if you know, or find out, let me know![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Lonestar

I used the Lonestar website that JeffNRivercity posted a while back somewhere. You just need an angle finder and a straight edge for the job and a second person. Someone needs to sit on the bike to check all the angles. Everything changes when you are on your bike vs. off the bike. I went with the desert setup and it has worked great. Only had a few days on it. It's too hot here in southern California.

Dustin

 

So what is the angle of you wheels? I know about the angle finder and have one I am just looking for a set up to compare to. With 4-5 degrees it seems that the tires are angles quite a bit in.

 

I went with 4 deg. Top out on mine. Anymore than that just looked like way to much. It must be right because mine handles excelently. :-)

 

so yours are out at the top compaired to the bottom? I was told that you wanted negative camber whick is top angled in. like this / \ not like this \ / . Which does yours look like?

 

I went with 6* on the caster. They lean out quite a bit, but I like the way the bike handles a lot with this setup. I do notice it takes a little more input to steer but now wherever I point the front of the bike, that's where it goes. When you hit the gas, the bike doesn't have a mind of its own anymore. I definitely don't feel any need for a steering stabilizer anymore. Everyone has their 5 cents on this. Some think just the uppers are fine, others think stock is fine, but with the 6* on the caster and 4* on the camber, I really like this setup. It's just difficult to turn when going really slow, but then, we own the DS to haul ***! Who needs to go slow??? That's the only way I could see needing less on the caster and camber, but then this is the only bike I've had adjustable a arms on and I haven't tried different settings. But the steering is definitely much heavier feeling at slow speeds.

You want negative camber, in at the top!!

 

before you do any adjustments on the steering/caster/camber, etc... i would recommend setting up your suspension. like ride heights and sag. what a difference it did for me. it also made the quad wheelie alot better or easier. ask hightower, i did his set-up and i went from regretting tradeing my raptor for a ds to.....well, happy.

 

It just look funny with all that negative camber but I still have to ride it to see if I like the setup. I was just checking to see if there was any one else that had the same setup. Thanks!

 

I actually use 4 deg Pos caster. My reasoning is this.
The way the ds's suspension works it will cause the top of the tire to tip in as the suspension is doing it's job. So if I was to have neg caster to start with i would actually lose tire grip because i would be on the inside part of the tire all the time rather then the center.
Now If I was to be on smooth terrian then I would go with slight neg caster for the corners.
Anyway it seems to work. My tread wear is down the center of the tire.
Just as a side note. The ds that won the baja 2000 used -1 deg caster.