Steering front axle on PCS32 chassis
Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2014 12:07 pmI'm slowly working through the backlog of work... this one was bobbing around in my brain for about a year! The PCS32 chassis is very common and many builders put it under some magnificent bodyshells. Whilst the chassis is good value and very adaptable, I thought that adding steering would make the cars look much better, reflecting the impressive bodyshells. The main issue was that the chassis is used under cars of very different sizes, so as well as retaining the adjustable wheelbase, it also needed adjustable width. And as people use different size wheels, the guide blade would need to be raised or lowered to suit.
Throwing all of those into the part of my brain that works on it while I'm not looking, the idea eventually came forward.
This takes inspiration from my other chassis so many parts are similar, although nothing is identical.
The stub axles are aluminium (yeah, you Americans spell it wrong and say it wrong :mrgreen: ) instead of brass and don't need to be cut to length.
The hubs have different kingpin geometry; the kingpin goes through the line of the stub axle so when the wheel steers it doesn't sweep through a huge arc, interfering with the bodyshell wheelarches.
The main axle part has guide holes so you drill the kingpins to suit the width of bodyshell. Using RS Slotracing wheels means you can get to an overall width of about 40mm. The Volkswagen in the picture is 44mm across the outside edge of the tires.
The guide blade can be adjusted for height using the supplied spacers. No hunting around for washers required.
The parts arrived, here's the maximum width
And here it is, fitted to the chassis and cut to the correct width. It keeps all the features of the standard PCS 32 front in terms of adjustable wheelbase.
The parts list is:
Plastic parts on a sprue
2 off aluminium stub axles
4 off stainless steel kingpins (2 top and 2 bottom, left and right to dodge the stub axles)
2 off stainless steel steering pins
1mm brass bar for the guide
Here's a few more pictures of it being assembled
Spacers included mean you can set the height of the guide, depending on the guide and the tire diameter
Throwing all of those into the part of my brain that works on it while I'm not looking, the idea eventually came forward.
This takes inspiration from my other chassis so many parts are similar, although nothing is identical.
The stub axles are aluminium (yeah, you Americans spell it wrong and say it wrong :mrgreen: ) instead of brass and don't need to be cut to length.
The hubs have different kingpin geometry; the kingpin goes through the line of the stub axle so when the wheel steers it doesn't sweep through a huge arc, interfering with the bodyshell wheelarches.
The main axle part has guide holes so you drill the kingpins to suit the width of bodyshell. Using RS Slotracing wheels means you can get to an overall width of about 40mm. The Volkswagen in the picture is 44mm across the outside edge of the tires.
The guide blade can be adjusted for height using the supplied spacers. No hunting around for washers required.
The parts arrived, here's the maximum width
And here it is, fitted to the chassis and cut to the correct width. It keeps all the features of the standard PCS 32 front in terms of adjustable wheelbase.
The parts list is:
Plastic parts on a sprue
2 off aluminium stub axles
4 off stainless steel kingpins (2 top and 2 bottom, left and right to dodge the stub axles)
2 off stainless steel steering pins
1mm brass bar for the guide
Here's a few more pictures of it being assembled
Spacers included mean you can set the height of the guide, depending on the guide and the tire diameter
