PhillipM wrote:
You really need to measure it either through all the travel or a few points through it, the bumpsteer curve is generally S-shaped, so only 3 spots could show little bumpsteer, when it's actually got a lot between the points.
You'll never get the toe-change to zero on a beam though, there's always some bumpsteer, it's more about minimising it and making what you do have work for you rather than against you.
WRT the steering wheel getting ripped out of your hands, that's more of an issue with the wrong wheel offset or trail.
PhillipM, you are correct, zero bump steer is not possible with a beam style suspension. What is most important is what kind of bump steer you have or end up with. Any bump steer that results in a tow out situation is
BAD, your car will wonder around and it will beat you up trying to keep it on track. Toe in on the other hand tends to cancel it's self out, right pushes to the left and the left pushes to the right.
As far as getting the steering wheel ripped out of your hand, besides wheel offset, is how far back one leans the top of the beam back towards the rear of the car. The more rake you put in the beam the more you change the king pin angle. The more the king pin leans back the harder it is to steer and the more prone it is to being forced to do what you don't want it to do. What actually happens is when you turn you are lifting one side of the car up slightly.
Adding a steering damper, or two makes the steering harder all the time. That changes a 5 or 6 hour ride into one that feels like a 10 or 12 hour ride.