Ok! From time to time I see a pic' of A "Y" Frame and it would seem that there is a great amount of Tow Out of the Rear Wheels. Now common sense would say that that is all wrong and would Scrub Tires badly and very, very quickly into extinction.
I have set the Wheels on Schrodinger with a little Tow In and she seems to run very freely, that is while I can keep them in that alignment. This is probably something that most of you don't have to think about as long as you keep the Center Line of both Axle Stub and Axle the same before Welding.(Straight Axle) "Y" Frame Axle is Getting the Alignment Right before Welding.
In my case there is the problem of not being able to "WELD" Carbon Fiber"[}:)]
. I have had the LAZER Level out and had to set up a rough Wheel Aligning setup on the garage floor and move the Metal Stub and Retainers gently into position before Drilling and Bolting them Once I have all that right then I will Epoxy them into Place perminently. Again another exercise in ingenuity. BUGGER.
Life is full of trade offs, though I still reckon the Carbon Axle is a good way to go.
Ron
I can not see why the y frame design would have abnormal tyre wear. My wheels are set up parallel on a 13% camber and can be readjusted by rotating the legs (don't think you can do this with straight axles). The tyres have survived 3 sailing seasons and about 1/2 worn
Cheers
aus230
Im starting a Y frame class five build and have been thinking of building some sort of adjustable axle stub plate to go on the ends of my aluminum legs. Mostly for toe adjustment but might make camber adjustment also it will add weight to it but I think accurate alignment might be worth it. Once you get them aligned the legs dont rotate and throw the alignment off. your pinch bolts hold that well and you dont disassemble your legs and have to realign ever. If any one has such a set up can you post a picture for me to see. Im consered that a good bump or blow to the axle might rotate the legs and set everything off . also I never seem to accuatly weld anything and Im afraid that when Im done welding it will not be perfect. With adjustable I can dial it in percise.
Ok Lads,
Have a look in my Pic's. Double click my Avatar if you don't already know. You will see how I am dealing with the problem on Carbon Axles. It is still an experimental system though but seems to work on Schrodinger's Cat. Occum's Razor could prove to be difficult.
Ron
The big problem with most 'Y' frame axle adjusters is they almost always adjust more than one thing...It is really hard to adjust toe without adjusting camber. Also once it is set (near zero or toed in slightly) raising or lowering the front changes the toe. Pick up a class 5 in the front and try to walk if you want to see what massive toe out does (happens on a US fed 5 anyway). I haven't taken my NZ Rocket apart to see how the adjusters actually work, but they do.
Blake52
Below is a sketch of an axle setup I havent built one like this yet but I just know it will work!!! [i think]
It is adjustable for both camber and toe in alignment separately and also puts the centre of the wheel in line with the centre of the axle
This should in theory eliminate twisting which affects alignment also
I welcome any comments or criticisms
Hiko,
I agree, that should work well. The inboard part is what I'm guessing is on my Rocket, but the outboard camber adjuster makes it really solve the problem. Nice to be able to vary the camber for different surfaces. I think I have read the British run the wheels almost upright when the sail airport courses.
Like AUS 230 said Y frame boats shouldn't wear tires badly unless they are out of alignment. I switch mine from side to side since the camber does wear the inside more than the outside.
dont forget KISS,
the more weight you add , the more adjustments to go wrong...........
The mini yacht SC with the T frame may well need a small amount of toe in to compensate the bending back of the axle, but a Y frame yacht can balance that toe-out defect by inducing a toe-in defect at the off-set of the axle to the center of the wheel. We always set our wheels dead parallel.
I found a picture of a Seagull that has axle adjustments but Its hard to zoom in to see exactly how it made, but similar to what I have in mind. I do like Hiko's idea it looks staight forward. has anyone see this before or have a similar set up. I know it will add weight but Im not sure how you guys get perfect wheel alignment / camber with just twisting you rear legs. It would seem that just when you got one adjustment right you have thrown the other adjustment off. It seems to me by making seperate adjustments you could easily correct that. Maybe its not that hard I new to these Y frame YOTTs . But I would think that the rear axles would have to be welded up pretty percise to get perfect 10 degree camber and parallel wheels. and account for the drivers weight in the cockpit and the two rear aluminum legs angle down at 15 degress and repeat it exactly on the opposite side. Im not that good of a fabricator i try but when everything is welded and cools something has always twisted. Im going for adjustabilty. I come from Ice boat sailing where runner alignment means everything, maybe on land its not so cridical.
Hiko's look cleaner and Standarts are notorious for breaking axles. Same concept though the ones you see in the picture adjust camber, rotating mostly does toe.
