How to make a car push easy?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Jun 06, 2004 11:48 am

I've noticed that some cars just push easier than others. What's the trick?
Thanks

learner · Post by **learner** » Sun Jun 06, 2004 6:40 pm

I have noticed that also. Besides the obvious such as weight, etc., i always contributed it to the alignment. If all four tires aren't toed properly they don't roll very easily.

18winZ · Post by **18winZ** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 9:13 pm

Alignment is a critical part of this. I race a dirt modified. The car had an in/out box "so to speak" and pushed really well. At the track one night I decided to make a major change in the setup, and put about 1/2 inch of lead in the left rear. Once the car was unloaded back at the shop, one of the pit guys made the comment that the car felt like it weighed a TON when they pushed it in the shop. I changed the lead back and the car pushed fine again. ??

speedtalk · Post by **speedtalk** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 11:39 pm

Hey 18winZ, thanks for joining the forum.

bill jones · Post by **bill jones** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 8:48 pm

-go get some long strips of carpet remnants about 9 to 10 feet long, align'm and put under each wheel and roll the car across these and see what happens.
-When you have problems and try to roll across a full size carpet it'll wrinkle and wad the carpet up.
-Use a scale made of bungee cords and a tape measure and measure the length the bungees stretch to make the car move and record this after each change you make.
-Take the driveline out and test to see what the u-joints and the transmission parts do to it.
-Take the rear end out, run a tape measure across the top of the tires, make a mark on the tires to the tape, then rotate axle housing 360 degrees while holding the tires still and see how far the tape measurement changes.
-If it moves at all it's too much and that means the housing is NOT straight.

joe · Post by **joe** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 2:51 pm

stiffer suspension will generally make one easier too push , many times you'll notice that your forward pushing motion translates into lifting / lowering the tail end of the car .
jack the tire pressure up !
4 wheel drum brakes set "loose"
All these things will make a car easier too push but may not go faster on the track.

t.0.mangum · Post by **t.0.mangum** » Sat Jan 15, 2005 10:02 pm

You dont say what type of cars you're talking about. We race an asphalt modified and we have over 3 inches of rear stagger and a spool type rear end. Add to that tire pressures as little as 9 lbs. on the left rear,14lbs. right rear and front tire pressures similar, and a very fast NASCAR modified on the track becomes like a truck to push by hand, especially when steering to the right.