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Date:         Wed, 12 May 1999 10:24:11 +0200
Reply-To:     Duclos Darie <Darie.Duclos@UNIFR.CH>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Duclos Darie <Darie.Duclos@UNIFR.CH>
Subject:      86 swaying like a boat
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

( I sent this yesterday but I don't think it made it. Sorry if
you received it twice.)


Hi all,


I have a 1986 Vanagon Westfalia which I brought over to Europe
when I moved here a few years ago.


I had a scary thing happen a while ago on a crowded highway. The
tail of the bus started to sway left and right almost uncontrollably.
I managed to pull over onto the shoulder and calm my heartrate but
I refused to drive the vehicle after this. My friend says he doesn't
find it *that* bad but I've driven this bus for 4 years now and it
was never like this. We did some tests in a parking lot and it feels
to me like the whole bus is balancing on a pivot. It feels much like
a boat rolling over side waves.


I changed the rear shocks 2 years ago. At that time I remember that
the bus was easily subject to sidewind and I had to be careful driving
around curves, but it didn't feel this 'loose'. Admittedly, since
then, I got a Peugeot 106 and may have gotten use to a different
kind of suspension..


I found in the archives that tires could be responsible for this,
but my tires haven't been changed recently. I saw postings about
sway-bars but since there isn't supposed to be one in the back, I
guess it couldn't be responsible for the sudden instability of the
tail. I'll see if the shocks are gone again. What would defective
springs feel like?


Any ideas?


Thanks in advance for your help (and thanks to those who responded
about the fridge. It's a long weekend coming up and we'll hopefully
get all this working for the next long weekend).


Darie
'86 Pop-top




===============================================================
Darie Duclos
Systems Manager                      "All my life I've wanted
Institut d'Informatique               to be somebody, it's
Universite de Fribourg                only now I see I should
Darie.Duclos@unifr.ch                 have been more specific."
tel: +41 26 300 83 42
fax: +41 26 300 96 42                           -- Lily Tomlin
===============================================================
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