Date: Fri, 16 Nov 2007 11:42:37 -0800
Reply-To: Mark Drillock <mdrillock@COX.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Mark Drillock <mdrillock@COX.NET>
Subject: Re: Turning Circles in your mind. ;)
In-Reply-To: <010701c82879$930ebe70$81589904@gpa207joel>
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Interesting. Now I wonder if the 85 with PS isn't in fact quite
different from all the rest. The steering knuckles for that year are one
of a kind or nearly so, and thus a good candidate for an anomaly in the
turning radius. My parts CD shows the 85 PS knuckle set as NLA while the
earlier manual and later year both types are available.
Only a few later 84 and many 85 combined PS with the smaller type front
caliper mounting. A larger diameter outer axle end was implemented at
the same time and this required a different outer wheel bearing. 86+
kept the newer axle diameter and bearing but the knuckle was changed to
accommodate the more powerful brakes.
Mark
joel walker wrote:
>
> in the 1985 vanagon brochure from VW, it sez:
>
> "Turning circle: 35.1 feet (37.7 feet with power steering)"
> same thing in the 1986 brochure.
>
> in the 1980 camper brochure,it sez:
> "turning circle,curb to curb: 34.5 feet /10.5 m."
> same in the 1983 brochure.
>
>
> in the 1988 brochure, it sez only:
> "turning circle 35.8 feet"
> no mention of power steering.
> same in the 1989 brochure.
> and in the 1991 brochure.
>
> so it looks like vw just put whatever number they felt like would sell
> the bus. which usually is the lower/smaller one.
>
> i know that my 1986 bus WITH power steering did NOT turn as sharply as
> my 1980 bus WITHOUT power steering. it seemed more like 3 feet
> difference to me ... the 1980 bus could whip around on a two lane road
> without getting too far off the pavement on either side, but the 1986
> bus would get off into the grass on the side of the road. :(
>
> now, there's also one other factor to consider:
> the size of the steering wheel.
> with NON-power steering, the wheel is bigger, and you can put a bit more
> force/torque and haul that sucker around quicker. in my opinion.
> with the smaller WITH-power steering wheel, the wheel is smaller and you
> kinda have to grab at it more times to get completely locked to one side.
>
> or it's a combination of the two: the power steering difference in
> geometry somewhere down under there, and the size of the steering wheel.
>
> anybody even run power steering with the non-power-steering steering
> wheel? wonder if it would make the steering too twitchy?
>
> interestingly enough, in the 1997 eurovan camper brochure (the winnebago
> one), it doesn't even list the turning circle. anybody know how the
> eurovan compares to the vanagon in turning circle?
>
> joel
>
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