[Beyond]

What's an ideal weight distribution, front/rear, cross, etc. on a 10.5 tire at 3450 lbs? What would be considered to be excessive rear weight? 51-52%?? How hard should you work to get rid of the left side weight the driver adds to the car?

 

[Jim Monson]

I moved some weight (battery = 40 lb) to the right rear in my car. I also have 35lb of lead in the right rear. I'm a fat ass (240 lb) so it's hard to make the weight correct on the rear tires in my car. Moving some weight around allowed me to run less preload in the 4-link.

 

[Beyond]

Thanks Jim, from what I've been hearing most people try to minimize left side driver weight effects. Would be nice to hear from a few more people what's working for them on their weight numbers, especially on inital setups. I guess this is one of those things you have to pay to get info on.

 

[Jim Monson]

You want to run the least amount of preload possible and still make the car go straight. My car likes the weights on the rear tires to be equal. If the car is set up that way it goes straight.

A flat of preload on my car adds or subtracts about 20lb of weight. It took moving the battery and some preload to make the weight on the back tires equal.

As far as the front/rear percentage goes. You're kind of stuck with what you have. Guys will tell you that 50%/50% front to rear is perfect. When you start making a lot of power a car that has only 50% on the nose will probably be a wheel stander. Don't worry if it's a little nose heavy. Smack it with some power and it will jump up on the rear tires.

 

[Beyond]

That's the thing I'm a little worried about, it's not nose heavy. It's at 50% and I still have to add 150lbs to make weight plus need to raise the nose up about 1" to get some more clearance which will put more weight on the back. I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up at 51-52% which I'm concerned about being excesssive.

 

[Jim Monson]

Just make it so you can hang weight off the front or rear. A good chassis shop will weigh the car and help you put the weight where it needs to go.