Steering Issue

Post by **New_Boy_Traveller** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 12:23 pm

Nothing to do with breaking but when travelling along the road the car pulls to the left! What parts am I gonna need and if I brought a new steering rack would it defo sort this out?

Dan

Post by **ColinP** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 12:47 pm

Dan,

I'd suggest that the steering rack is probably the last thing to go wrong...

At the risk of "teaching granny to suck eggs" (now illegal due to salmonella concerns

):-

0 What's the camber like on the road? All moggies will tend to steer "downhill"

1 check all the tyre pressures - a soft tyre can give a strong pull to the side (as I found out as 1 tyre went flat on me)

2 after a short drive, feel all the hubs and tyres - maybe there's a binding brake - it will be HOT (same is true if a tyre is scuffing it will be warmer than the rest)

3 look at the wear pattern on the tyres, are any bald on an edge? - Check out the tracking.

All of those are adjustments - may cost you a new tyre though.

Have a close look to see if anything's bent or looks "odd" maybe there's something "loose" underneath (like a suspension bush, broken leaf spring) or just bent (with apologies, but is the chassis straight and rot-free)?

Have you done your regular greasing? If one of the joints is stiff, this may not help.

WHere are you located? - if there's nothing obvious, then I'd suggest a trip to the nearest workshop - most of the parts are easily obtainable (by post etc), but you may need a professional alignment rig to pinpoint the problem.

Lick,

Colin
ps let us know how it goes

Post by **bigginger** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 12:49 pm

I think you probably meant "Luck", Colin...

Post by **Kevin** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 1:39 pm

I think you probably meant "Luck", Colin...

I hope so as well.

Post by **ColinP** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 1:48 pm

Quote:

I think you probably meant "Luck", Colin...

I hope so as well.

I hope so too

oh, the joys of getting older...

Thanks,

Colin

Post by **bigginger** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 2:58 pm

Post by **bmcecosse** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 7:16 pm

Try swapping tyres one side to the other - but most likely is broken rear spring (rear axle is steering) or something wrong with castor angle - often down to bent front suspension where someone has jacked the car up under a tie-bar. Could also be rotten chassis member ! Highly unlikely to be the steering rack.

Post by **Matt** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 8:14 pm

with apologies, but is the chassis straight and rot-free?

Have you been looking at my old traveller?

Post by **moggyminor16** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 9:14 pm

hi all well i have this problem as well but the tyre wear is on one edge of the pattern this means teh tracking ,also i have noticed that the wheel dont sit right in the passed it has new legs and dampers ,but the top of the wheel sits out more than the bottom it not a little about i would say 2 to 4 cm but the other side is fine any idears on this one .it could help out answering or ilimanating a possable problem for new boy
mm16

Post by **ColinP** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 9:11 am

MM16,

If the top of the wheel is 2-3 cm out of vertical, then you will get the edge of the tyre wearing as if it were tracking....

I know that it's possible to correct the camber of the wheel by a spacer at the eye-bolt (bottom), but that seems a lot of correction!

I'd really suggest taking it to one of the Minor specialists for an inspection - first impressions are that the replacement legs wern't straight, or that something is seriously bent.

I'd assumed that Dan's problems had only just started, rather than being present for ages....

All the best (spellchecker now wroking!)

Colin

Post by **New_Boy_Traveller** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 9:40 am

Its been like that for a long while (student budget) Something else that is weird is the steering wheel is also at a funny angle (as in its not straight) so I have to correct it....this problem doesnt seem to happen all the time, im thinking brakes to be honest!

Post by **ColinP** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 12:05 pm

Dan,

Understood - I've been there

Anyway, there are two possibilities for the steering wheel;
When the tracking is adjusted, it should be done with the wheels straight ahead, and equal amounts adjusted on both sides. Some places only adjust one side, which results in the steering wheel being off-centre.
(and also means the geometry will be different on left/right lock).
The cure is to adjust both sides....

Alternatively, pull of the hirn push, undo the nut, pull off the wheel and re-align it on the splines.

If the pull to one side happens occasionally, it does sound like brakes...
Take an hour out to adjust all of the brakes, try again.

It's possible that you've got a difference in braking on one wheel, maybe more wear/contamination of linings etc etc.

If you're studenting, does the car spend a lot of time standing around unused?

All the best,

Colin

p.s. no-one's spotted the deliberate mistake yet!

Post by **bigginger** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 12:22 pm

Have too - just didn't want to be the one pointing it out, 'cos I was sure it was deliberate

Post by **chrisd87** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 1:56 pm

I've heard of a similar problem to this before and the cause was a collapsed (rusted out) rear spring hanger.

Post by **bmcecosse** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 8:21 pm

You need to decid if it's pulling to the side when braking - or all the time when running. have you had the tracking checked ? To centre the steering - you need to be sure both track rod ends are adjusted equally on the rack - you can try measuring the amount of thread left showing on each track rod - should be same both sides. Then when adjsuting the track - be sure (as already said) to adjust both sides equally. And the lad with the wheel leaning out - get it to a garage asap - sounds very dangerous indeed. How on earth did it get an MOT ?

Post by **Matt** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 8:36 pm

BMC, you never saw my traveller did you....