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Date:         Wed, 2 Sep 2009 12:58:32 -0700
Reply-To:     Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Nominations are now open: Top 10 Ugliest Parts to Fail
Comments: To: Jonathan Poole <jfpoolio@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To:  <2cb866ef0909020853g26fb5bd6i13df0fb088fa74c5@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

On Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 8:53 AM, Jonathan Poole <jfpoolio@gmail.com> wrote:

> I've always thought that losing connectivity between the steering wheel and > front wheels could be the "ugliest" failure in many circumstances. For > instance, at speed in traffic on a curvy road. When I first thought on > this > subject my driver was probably a somewhat out of order older vw (splittie > with worn front drum brakes and improper tires, not to mention loose tie > rod > ends etc. etc.) that would pull to one side under hard braking. > > What part failure could cause this diconnect on a Vanagon? I'm guessing > quite a few but I don't know of any single points of failure that are > likely. Fortunately if maintained well at all our front ends don't seem to > be vulnerable to any sort of full-disconnect failure. > > That is my nomination for number 1. Gas lines may be a good number two, > seat belts (when needed) a number 3, etc. I may be on the wrong track > though as ugly makes me think catastrophic! > > Jonathan Poole >

I agree this might be the most ugly possible failure. I once had this very thing happen. Luckily, we'd just started down a wide sandy road after traversing the whole west coast and all of Baja Hwy 1 at high speed. Man, there were some spots where if the timing of that failure had been different we'd have caught some "Big Air" or blasted head-on into a Mexican bus at a closing speed of perhaps 150mph!

I once inherited a Bounder motor home, just a couple of years old, when my Pop died so we decided to take it on our extended winter trip to windsurf in Baja. Had 4 mos. worth of crap crammed in, towing a Nissan pickup, etc etc. Turned off on 'our' side road with about 10kilometers to go after almost 3000 miles in that big ole Mo-Ho. The steering wheel came right off in my hands after a few non-productive rotations on the column..I just clamped some vicegrips onto the steering shaft and steered that way into our property, finding later that a woodruff key had sheared and the nut had unwound. When we got back to the US and picked up our mail there was a 'recall notice' from GM and Bounder saying the vehicle had an 'unsafe condition that could cause death and that we should tow it to the nearest dealer for a free repair" Sheesh~ that was close.. Ya think they could get mounting a steering wheel right.... Don Hanson

Vanagon content: My 84 seem to have a little play in the 'steering column'.. You can move the whole deal a very little...not slop in the steering but the whole inside part moves maybe 1/4" if you get into the van using the wheel or push it towards the windshield...Gotta check that...


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