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
In-Reply-To: <2cb866ef0909020853g26fb5bd6i13df0fb088fa74c5@mail.gmail.com>
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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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