Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2013 12:36:11 -0800
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: Steering. Re: P 48.14 Measurement "a"
In-Reply-To: <CAB2RwfiF7NZUw89+a5uS+_SkJP_vnFLQ=hArgtBhA8fPN6xorA@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
hi,
looks to me like it would be nice if they pin there stuck through the
hole further ..
When I have that issue 'I think' what I do is loosen that bolt on the
clamp and move that part down over the pins a little further.
Reading what it says in Bentley to me seems to be about if the two sides
arenot equal and parallel ..
( and their solution is shim where the steering collumn is held to the
bottom of the dash ) .
I have never had to do thaton any vanagon.
so ..again ..
what actual problem areyou trying to fix ?
Stiff steering ?
I have almost never seen that in a vanagon ( not talking about heavy
steering due to lack of power steering ) ..
Once in a great while a ball joint will get stiff ..
I worked on one syncro van ..the worst rust bucket in the world almost ..
super stiff steering....the usual approach on that symptom is to undo a
tie rod end or two and see which side is ccausing the stiffness , tho
like I said ..
very rare in a vanagon. On that van there was something very stiff or
wrong in the left front suspension, like a ball joint.
The dics brake splash shield sheet metal part was just 'gone' too
...rusted away until not there any more.
Can you spell 'death trap.' ?
about steering wheel centering with an alignment. There is sometimes
confusion about this.
What is right is to choose a point with the steering wheel to call
center ..and align from there. One guy I know who does alingments full
time says he takes out the key ...turns the wheel until the steering
locks on center ..
positions the steering wheel on the shaft to be centered too ..
then on the suspension ...'center' both sides with the tierods ...
it can all come out exactly right that way.
that locking collar has nothing to do with steering centering as far
as I know.
you can get where one spline on the steering shaft is still a tiny bit
off center ...
then you tweak on the tie rod lengthto get it perfect.
There's nicemental gymnastics involved with that.
Say steering wheel is just off a bit to the right ...
you next measure toe ....say it's not perfect ...like a tiny bit more
toe-ed in than desired ..
you figure out which tie rod to lenthen or shorten ( or if toe is
exactly right ..then it's shorten one, lengthen the other ) ..
but say it's toe-ed in just a smidge more than ideal ..
I exaggerate in my mind ...ok if wheels are way toe-ed ....lengthing
'this' particular tie rod willmove the steering wheel 'this' way . Lots
of fun.
Centering thesteering wheel is part of a real alignement...and I have
also read about cases where the techician told the customer the steering
wheel can't be centered ( like it was before ) due to something like the
crown or tilt in the road ..which is total bull.
So ..what actual problem are you trying to improve on ?
if it's stiff steering ...( assuming non-power steering )
get the front wheels off the ground ..the steering should travel full
left to full rightquite smoothly.
Also ..non-power steering vanagons steer much more lightly with lots of
tread on the front tires, than they do with semi-wornout front tires.
Very noticeable affect to me.
real long here so I wont' talk about a different syncro van I drove on
which the steering had little or no natural self-centering. And if
you're drivin' straight, and you put in say 5 degrees of rudder angle at
the steering wheel, and let go, it should come right back to straight
byitself nicely. We don't even notice this affect usually ..vanagons
are really good about it.
scott
www.turbovans.com
On 1/31/2013 8:08 PM, neil n wrote:
> Well lets be honest. Nothings going to help me. Me with this crazy
> nutty Vanagon Addiction and all. ;^)
>
> Scott: What bugs me is that the locking collar (don't know correct
> term) appears to be close to the end of the shaft. But I see your
> point; if that part were really cockeyed, the steering would be
> stiffer.
>
> A better picture of what I mean. Blue arrow points to end of the
> "locking collar":
>
> https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-gVkK8CVJ9xk/UQro3rJcwwI/AAAAAAAAGuc/efvSeyJiwV4/s720/Upper%253Alower%2520Steering%2520column%2520adjust.jpg
>
> Maybe that's the normal position of that collar?
>
> It steers ok, but every little bit helps.
>
> One thought. Maybe the alignment guy used that locking collar to
> adjust the steering wheel to centre after doing the toe adjustment?
> Highly UNLIKELY and AFAIK that method would be incorrect, but IF he
> did, maybe he allowed the upper column to slip out a bit thus allowing
> for a larger "a" gap?
>
> Like I said though. Highly unlikely.
>
> Neil.
>
>
>
>
