Has any body out there ever had torque steer on a KA you only have to accelerate and the car lurches to the middle of the road take your foot off the accelerator and it pulls back weird or what, have had the suspension checked ok was told that it could be the final drive in the gear box so we have changed it STILL THE SAME any ideas you lot contact at snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com if you have any ideas many Thanks
I'm no familiar with the British and/or European Fords.. at the same time, many things are, indeed, universal.
Years ago, torque steer was a by-product of unequal front driving axles (half shafts, to some). With the differential offset to one side or the other, the long axle would have a different "moment of inertia" than the short one. This would almost always have the car pull to the side with the short axle since the smaller mass would accelerate quicker than the larger mass of the long axle.
In North American vehicles, torque steer has become a thing of the past.
Now... for your instance (again, I know nothing of the KA)... I would expect that European technology would at least be equal to (if not batter than ) North American technology.... Meaning that the "traditional" view of torque steer should be a nonentity.
I have seen, however, a trend to overlook the condition of front suspension bushings. Lower control arm and radius arm bushings can wear enough to affect a caster and/or camber change during acceleration or braking maneuvers... this would give the effect of a "torque steer" condition. Sadly, worn bushings are vastly overlooked when some techs inspect suspension components.
HTH
hiya,
Final drive? nah. There should probably be a weight on the shorter driveshaft to make it equal the mass of the longer driveshaft. More likely is the lower control arm bushes, quite a common fault on front wheel drive Fords. Quick (but not conclusive) check, put the handbrake firmly on and get somebody to watch the front wheel for movement in relation to the body, then in 1st gear raise the clutch to load up the suspension but not enough to move the car, then do the same in reverse. Then check the other side, do they move a lot and by different amounts? If 'yes' then there's something loose.
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