Can you figure it out?

Been a LONG... time since I posted here. Anyway, here's the deal. Have a 63 bug w/linkpin front end. New beam, spindle to spindle. Old steering box, damper probably not too good. Lowered 1.5~2 in. by way of adjusters. Gas shocks. Had alignment. Added camber compensators. Tires are decent, good air pressure. Stock rims.

Problem: Thing is road crazy! Twitchy is the best word I can think of. likes to dart left or right, especially when you hit a bump. Above 50 gets worse. What do I replace next? Steering box? Damper?

Thanks, Ben

Reply to
Ben Gulley
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Ben Gulley kirjoitti:

Sounds like the alignment was not done right. Also get a new steering dampener.

Because of the lowering, the caster angle has probably changed too much, and it could be causing your problems. (shopping cart steering) I don't know link pin axles well enough to know how to adjust the caster on them, but balljoints have a cone shaped bushing under the upper ball joint that has an off-center hole... through which I find myself rambling on about irrelevant stuff here so I'll leave it at that.

Jan

Reply to
Jan

Questions for the OP... Rear-end alignment and rear-end "toe" adjustment? Did you do a front-end toe-in adjustment yourself? :) Those dangged shops put in way too much, IME.

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Sorry it's an old-clunky Ford pickup :/ but tell you what... it's towed broke down VWs a lot of miles, a lot of times and in 32 years has never broke down and left me stranded, anywhere, ever. :)

Got the toe-in idea working on my 67 bug tho. ;)

For my pickup, specs are 0 to 1/8" and I like 0 to 1/32". Experiment, find out what you like. :) On my dune buggy I had about 1/8" toe-out.

With a full tank of gas my 67 just plain ol' handled better. Yours too? :)

A little does good a little more does better. ;) I filled the spare tire plumb full of water. :) With that extra weight the toe-in changed.

Bragging on it here on ramva, I was challenged to try this... I took the water filled spare tire back-out, re-adjusted the toe-in and yes... it drove like crap. No kidding.

OP, betcha your rear-end "toe" is all screwed up. ;) Did they even do a rear-end alignment at all?

The guy doing the conversion is fixing to learn all this too. :)

If you throw up your hands and say "I can't!" ...then you're right... you can't. ;)

Alvin in AZ

Reply to
alvinj

The alignment was 4-wheel. The shop has done several VW's for me. Usually a good job done. Unfortunately, there is no good way to set caster on linkpins. Being full of gas does help some. I plan to change the steering box and damper. Figured I might as well, hey I put in a new beam already...

Reply to
Ben Gulley

Sorry, long post follows.

Things to check first:

- Wheel bearings. They might be too lose, permitting the wheel to wobble around, screwing the alignment job.

- Play in steering wheel and steering box straight ahead position.

In order to get a correct alignment from the shop, you must find the steering box straight ahead position, and reinstall your steering wheel to match this straight ahead position. This is because the steering box has minimal play in the straight ahead position, and this play is increased if you turn left or right.

To locate the center on the steering box, try this. Get access to the steering box, and locate the smaller of the two adjusting screws (the one on top). loosen the lock-nut and tighten a bit the adjuster. With the front of the car jacked-up, turn the steering wheel. Somewhere in the middle between left-full-lock and right-full-lock there will be a tight range. If you don't feel it tight, tighten the adjuster a bit more. The center of the tight range of the steering is the straight ahead position. You should feel it almost click in the center position (there is a tiny lose position for the center of the steering range). When you find the center, remove your steering wheel and reinstall it in the new straight ahead position. If the steering box has many alternating tight and lose points, then it needs replacement. You must find with a similar procedure the center in new steering boxes too. After locating the center, loosen the adjuster a bit, so that the steering is not tight in the center range, tighten the lock-nut and you are done. You will probably find that now the car doesn't drive straight when the wheel is in the discovered center position. This means that the alignment needs to be done again.

If the above are ok, then look for other things such as the following.

- Caster angle.

You have lowered the front, and this reduces the caster angle (the angle of the axis of wheel rotation during steering and the vertical, when seen from the side of the car, imagine a chopper bike). Reduced caster makes the steering much lighter on speed, and you lose some feel of the road on the steering wheel. Plus the self-centering effect of the wheels is reduced. To increase the caster, you need to put a set of spacers behind the lower beam.

- Bent rims.

An alignment shop (even when they know what they are doing) can only make a correct alignment if the wheel rims are not bent, and ball-joints/link pins and bushings, and tie-rod ends are under tolerances. I assume you got new tie-rod ends and the link pins and bushings are new. But if the rims are bent, it is not possible to do an alignment with the fancy electronic equipment.

So, check your rims first. Jack up the front and rotate the rims while holding a pencil near the edge of the rim, on the flat surface just behind the lip. Use something to help you keep the pencil steady. Ideally the pencil should mark the entire circumference, but slight run-out is permissible. If the rims are not bent you can go to the alignment shop. If they are bent, then you have to find at least two good rims to put to the front for the alignment.

- Camber and toe-in alignment job.

To the alignment shop, go with your tank full. During the alignment procedure you should be in the car (for weight). At some point you will be asked to turn your steering wheel straight ahead. At this point turn it to the determined straight ahead position and not to the position that the car previously drove straight. It is important to have them set the camber correctly (half degree positive, top of wheel outboard) because you cannot set this accurately by trial and error later. The tow-in setting they give is a good starting point for tweaking it later until you find the adjustment that you like better. But usually the setting from the alignment shop will be quite satisfactory.

Bill, '67 bug.

Reply to
Bill Spiliotopoulos

Yeah. :) Might as well. ;)

"when you don't know what's wrong, make everything right" "somewhere a long the line the trouble will clear up" "figure out what was causing it later when you have time to think"

-Jack Duncan Tucson Signal Maintainer

Too busy "doing" when the trains are stopped. ;)

Alvin in AZ (retired signal ape)

Reply to
alvinj

Too many distracting smiley faces. ;)

Reply to
Randall Post

Oh. :/ I'll try to cut back on that just for you. ;)

Alvin in AZ

Reply to
alvinj

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