Date: Sun, 27 Sep 2009 17:39:58 -0700
Reply-To: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Science of Washboarding
In-Reply-To: <4ABF9B86.5040709@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Go fast! More smoother feeling inside. I know from over 20 trips to the
tip of Baja that washboard roads are best driven at speed. If you have 150
miles of washboard to drive...you won't want to do it at 3mph...You take a
look at how the locals drive and emulate them...Yes, it is tough on
suspension. And in a bus or a vanagon or a regular van...you can hear
everything rattling around inside...Pick up trucks are better...you don't
have to hear all the stuff breaking and spilling...you just open the camper
at the end of the day and jump back quickly in case the fridge or the porto
potty has come unglued...
Real high performance shock have remote reservoirs to keep the hydraulics
working properly no matter how hard they are driven..You can certainly feel
the difference. Mexican shocks are usually 'toast' in Baja...One thing that
helps with washboard is a good supply of Pacifico Ballenas....Liter bottles
of cold excellent brew...not that anyone should drink beer and drive in
Baja...(remember the locals...)
Don Hanson
On Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 10:06 AM, Rocket J Squirrel <
camping.elliott@gmail.com> wrote:
> During yesterday's exploration of local campgrounds I encountered a couple
> unpaved roads that were heavily washboarded,* some causing such bad
> juddering that I had to slow down and creep along so the van would not
> shake itself apart.
>
> On the return trip I tried going sufficiently fast (40 mph or so) that the
> tires and suspension could float a little. The ride was nearly smooth.
>
> Okay, this has Vanagon content because I don't want to damage the van with
> that technique. While it felt miles better in the driver's seat when I was
> going fast, I wonder if I wasn't putting a lot of stress on the tires or
> suspension.
>
> Thoughts? Or even better, knowledge?
>
>
> ====================
> * I recall reading someplace how cars create washboard in the road due to
> bouncing off some existing bump and mashing a second bump into the road,
> which bounces the next car, creating a third, &c., until you got them
> washboards. However, yesterday I came across a device parked on a side
> road in the forest that appears to have been specifically designed to
> imprint the corrugations into the road surface. It consisted of two large
> drums, each about 6' wide and 4' high, roughly, mounted side-by-side on an
> axle. The circumferential surface of the two drums had steel corrugations
> spaced about a foot apart all around the drum. I bet any tyro FBI
> fingerprint student could match up with the grooves in the road. The
> device had a trailer tongue that the front so it could be towed behind a
> tractor or something. To make the roads into washboard roads.
>
> --
> Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
> 84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
> 74 Westrailia: (Ladybug Trailer company, San Juan Capistrano, Calif.)
> Bend, OR
> KG6RCR
>
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