Help I am in the design phase of my first ladder car? What is the best weight type to use 1/4 tungsten cubes or 2.1 or 2.3 oz tungsten bars for behind the rear axle? And bars or cubes in front of the rear axle?? Please help?
1/4 tungsten cubes vs 2.1 or 2.3 oz tungsten bar
- Thread starter blkhunter01
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I haven’t seen a speed increase or decrease from the 2.1 or 2.3 oz bar. I would definitely use one of the bars for behind the rear axle though. I would then use the 1/4 tungsten cubes for in front of the rear axle.
Agree with T-Bone about neither having speed advantage. IMHO it’s not a matter of speed advantage but a matter of personal building preference. And also accomplishing the same weight placement behind the axle but with less hassle.
Ok so next question I see some of the rear weights centered on the axles and some favoring the dfw side of the car. So much so, that the dfw side rail has been completely cut out on the dfw side. Is this of any benefit?
If you are running on 3 wheels, the car wants to pull that elevated wheel down. There tends to be a consensus that rear weight distribution should be evened out between the rear wheels as best as possible. In order to balance the car between the rear wheels, weight has to be shifted to the side that has both front and rear wheels touching. Cutting the rear weight pocket so it is shifted toward that side helps in trying to achieve that balance from the onset. That's the intended reasoning for offsetting that rear pocket.
How do you achieve balence between the rear wheels with the rear weights behind the axle offset to the dfw? I am guess I got with the cubes in the pocket in front of the rear axle.
Before I had three scales, I just used one, and had a piece of wood that was level to the scales. If I was doing a rear wheel, I’d put the wheel on the scale, the other on the wood, and the DFW would rest on another piece of wood that is the same height as the scale and the other piece of wood. Then I’d just move the wood and scales around until I knew what needed adjustments. The three scales is the easy way to do it, but this is a good way if you don’t have them.
Here is my present inventory of bars for behind the axle- Some builders even order a specific weight in grams which I will attempt to do for everyone and I will let you know if that inventory is gone and what the closest might be.
SH is super heavy.
GP is ground and polished.
SH is super heavy.
GP is ground and polished.
Evening the weight out on each rear wheel is SLOWER. Centering your weight in a triangular manner is what is fastest for me.
Well- we might be still looking at the same thing. After you fine tune where you put the cubes in front of the axle, and you now have max speed, if you measure the weight on each back wheel, I might suggest 3 possible ranges.
A Balanced ( 0 to 5 grams difference between back wheels)
B slightly heavier on NDFW side (5 to 10 grams difference)
C. No attempt to fine tune for speed ( over 10 grams difference)
Now the actual center of gravity location between A and B is about a fat line from a sharpie in distance.
So below is an example of the weights behind the axle NOT shifted, but after tuning for max speed and shifting some weights in front of the axle, this car ends up pretty well balanced.
And here is the same car where no fine tuning with weights takes place. So which distribution more close resembles your preferred stacking?
A Balanced ( 0 to 5 grams difference between back wheels)
B slightly heavier on NDFW side (5 to 10 grams difference)
C. No attempt to fine tune for speed ( over 10 grams difference)
Now the actual center of gravity location between A and B is about a fat line from a sharpie in distance.
So below is an example of the weights behind the axle NOT shifted, but after tuning for max speed and shifting some weights in front of the axle, this car ends up pretty well balanced.
And here is the same car where no fine tuning with weights takes place. So which distribution more close resembles your preferred stacking?
Maybe a dumb question, but wouldn't the three scale method reflect more weight on the rear wheel on the non-dominant side because there is no weight being put on the front, raised wheel?
You are correct. The picture above shows the right rear as 71.58 verses 56.95 on the left. Left front is the dfw.
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I also did my first ladder body this year. I did cubes last year and these tungsten bars in the picture from TX Chemist this year. I thought the big bar behind the axle and the long bar directly in front of the rear axle worked really well. They were cleaner and easier to work with than the little cubes. I also used the little cubes and tungsten putty to get the weight just right.
I also want to give props to TX Chemist. I emailed him some questions that I had about building a ladder body, steer, weight distribution, etc. He gave me some great advice and got back to me right away.
I also want to give props to TX Chemist. I emailed him some questions that I had about building a ladder body, steer, weight distribution, etc. He gave me some great advice and got back to me right away.
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