TheSamba.com :: View topic

Thu Jun 19, 2014 1:15 pm

I have a nice '58 panel van belonging to a friend that I'm helping him get sorted out and roadworthy.

It has a narrowed and lowered front beam that uses bay window balljoint trailing arms. It would appear all the ball joints, track rod ends, steering pin etc were all renewed at the time of the "upgrade" work and they're still fresh. The back suspension is as standard and even sports some positive camber. All the tyres are new and are stock height radial "commercial" tyres.

I took it out for a short drive this week and I was constantly having to correct and re-correct the steering as I drove along a straight, flat road. He also mentioned that the steering doesn't self-centre after coming out of a bend.

I tied up the steering wheel so it couldn't budge in either direction and jacked up the front end to give everything a wobble to check for wear. There's a bit of movement and a "clunk" in the output shaft of the steering box (the shaft the pitman arm is attached to) as I move the front wheel against the locked-up steering wheel.

However, aside from the slop in the steering box, I suspect that the lowered front axle has caused a loss of caster angle in the front suspension/steering geometry, causing the steering wander and the loss of self-centering capability. I think that if I can restore the factory caster angle I might be able to get away without repairing the steering box, at least for the short term. A new steering box is very expensive from VW Heritage (We're in Ireland BTW) and not even in stock at the moment. Bushing sets aren't available as far as I can see and even if they were, they'd require a special ream that I don't have.

This is my first experience with a split bus, my past experience is bay window buses, beetles and various watercooled VWs.

My questions are:
can the caster be adjusted?
I suspect there's no adjustment provision but can it be "forced" by making the holes in the side plates into slots?
Will I get away with not repairing the steering box?

thanks in advance for any advice. :)

Thu Jun 19, 2014 1:18 pm

steering wheel tied up:

the movement in the steering box:

Thu Jun 19, 2014 1:39 pm

I would look close at the ball joints, my bay was acting somewhat similar after being parked for a while and one of my ball joints was binding ( iassume it had some rust or crud in there). We did the ball joints and it straightened right up.

Thu Jun 19, 2014 2:35 pm

Also, positive camber in the rear can be worse than negative camber. Ideally it should be 0. But a little negative camber might not hurt.

Sat Jun 21, 2014 7:31 am

The twitchy steering ... it might need an alignment. I'd try that first.

After I got new ball joints on my 69 bug the steering wheel did not self center out of a turn. I believe the new ball joints were very tight. The steering was not twitchy though, it steered straight like it was on rails. After a couple hundred miles the centering out of a turn came back.

ymmv

Sun Jun 22, 2014 1:50 am

I found that my Pittman arm was moving vertically as I turned the wheel. The tie rods, center pin, and king pins were all with out play, so I sent the steering box off for a rebuild and it's been steering great ever since. Check every part of the steering and get it all in good shape is my advice

Sun Jun 22, 2014 5:45 am

Tight tie rod ends, centre pin, ball joints can all cause loss of self centering.
However, factory caster is only 0-1 degrees, so there was minimal self centering capability designed into these things; and flipped spindles can lose that small amount in a hurry.

You can over caster the beam by "ovaling" out the mounting holes on the beam and rotating the whole assembly clockwise (when looking from the left side). Judging from your post, you have figured out how to do this.
As mentioned in previous posts, check all components for being too tight, and the alignment, but I find there is increased drivability to having a couple extra degrees of caster on the front regardless.

As far as the steering box slop, that lateral movement will cause the box to leak and a small bit of play, but I would think you can run with that for a good long time with minimal discomfort once the stress of herding the damn bus down the road is sorted out.