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Date:         Wed, 5 Sep 2007 08:56:49 -0700
Reply-To:     Mark Keller <kelphoto@TELUS.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Mark Keller <kelphoto@TELUS.NET>
Subject:      Road stabiliy issues or swaying in the wind
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

Hi Gang,

While this discussion on wind sensitivity isn't new, nor are my comments, I think they should be considered. As a somewhat qualified marine tech, the issue of stability is often addressed with vessels.

The issue is primarily of weight distribution. High up =bad and in the ends of the vessel = bad. And of course out of trim laterally as well as for and aft= bad. All possible high density items stored should be as low as possible, and centered, as a general approach, exceptions do exist. Given the above, think of your van as "floating", ie without the aid of 4 tires to keep it upright. If your still with me, the "righting moment" is what now governs your vessels ability to maintain trim in a seaway. A vessel with gravity centers high and or fore or aft, with have very long recovery from wind and wave stimulas.

I'll bet savvy westyites put the fluffy stuff up top, including the cabinets, and put the dense stuff on bottom, and they move every dense thing possible to the passenger side low, and avoid putting heavy things in the aft.

While its not possible in a short missive to cover trim, moments, and stability issues, the above comments will useful in thinking of stabilizing your van.

Another issue is fore/ aft weight bias, much has been said about our vans being in the 50/50. While this is a contradiction to what I said above, the fore /aft weight bias, for stability is better biased to the front. So if you can move as much weight forward, stability will benefit. A good demo is to take a shopping cart for a spin. Try loading with bias front and rear and central. Use milk and such. Notice how easy steering is with the bias aft and central, and difficult with the bias forward. Stability because of forward weight bias, like all car and truck designs except ours, occurs because the polar moment, or spin axis, is forward of the center of the vehicle!

Lastly is caster adjustment on the front end alignment, more caster, equals more stability. Have it checked or even tweaked by a good alignment shop as well as the camber and toe in. A good front-end tech will be able improve your setup for optimum stability.

Mark Keller


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