| Max Welton |
Mon Nov 17, 2008 10:28 pm |
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This one was kind of fun ... in a terrifying sort of way. Thought I'd pass it along.
The car in question is a 1968 type-3. Rear drums are adjusted equally. I replaced the ball-joints, tie-rod ends and rear spring plate bushings a little over a year ago. They are all still OK.
The symptoms:
Car pulled to the left under braking. Goes straight otherwise.
The horn would occasionally sound when braking and turning right (like into my driveway) but at only one position of the steering wheel. No braking, no horn. Also, the steering column felt stiff under braking.
Tonight on the way home I figured out what would account for all these.
The steering box was just loose enough to rotate a little on the beam. I couldn't move it by hand, but under braking, the tie-rods push inward and, because of the angles involved, upward on the pitman arm. And the steering box was moving a little on the beam. The little safety tabs that are supposed to keep the bolts from loosening were in place. Go figure.
Because the left tie rod is at a more acute angle than the right, the change in tow was more pronounced at the left wheel and the car pulled to the left under braking.
The rotation of the steering box allowed part of the steering coupler to make contact with the bottom of the fuel tank, sounding the horn. This also put tension on the bearing up in the steering column, making it feel stiff. This may also have damaged the turn-signal switch.
So tonight I emptied and removed the tank and got everything straightened out and tightened up. Things feel much better now.
I do need to recheck tow-in now since that would be impacted by the rotating steering box.
Now ... wasn't that fun? :shock:
Max |
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| spoon |
Tue Nov 18, 2008 10:13 am |
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Max Welton wrote: Car pulled to the left under braking. Goes straight otherwise.
Could be a bad right front caliper (leaky piston seal maybe), soaked/deteriorated front brake pads on right caliper, or even air in the system at the right front caliper. Have you been losing brake fluid at all?
Do our T3's have proportioning valves? If so, there might be dirt in there. Or you might just have a bad ball joint or something. |
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| Max Welton |
Tue Nov 18, 2008 11:23 am |
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Tightening up the bolts holding the steering box in place cured the problem.
Just sharing the experience in case someone else has similar symptoms.
Max |
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| spoon |
Tue Nov 18, 2008 2:05 pm |
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| Gotcha! Great info... and for some reason I completely missed the fact that you had the issue cured. :cry: |
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| Max Welton |
Tue Nov 18, 2008 8:29 pm |
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No problem. 8)
Tonight I reset the toe.
Using a tape measure is kind of a pain working alone.
So I made a tool to help me measure that using two washers, a screw, some tape and a stick.
Hook the washer in a tread groove on one tire and mark that same groove on the other tire. Do this on the front and back tread, then compare.
See the marks on the tape? I was toed-in a bit. Much better now. 8)
Max |
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