Club 80-90 Forums

Hi

My Westy pulls to the left considerably when I let go of the sterring wheel. I have new shocks and springs. I have the wheel alignment checked by merityre aswell as tyre pressures but to no avail.

I noticed the steering rack is not a power rack as it is supoposed to be. Could this be the porblem?

Please help

Pulling in one direction can be caused by a variety of other things, a slight camber on the road, steering geometry, castor angle, binding caliper, worn bushes, the result of a front end shunt in the past, bent structures and tie rods. If it's none of the obvious suspects then I would book it in and get a thorough inspection but someone may be able to point to a particular fault that afflicts the T25.

I checked mine by driving on the right hand side of the road on a one way street - it then pulled to the right - it was the road camber.
Quick and easy check!

Did it do it before the new springs?
Any change in ride height will alter camber which will need setting again.
The wrong wheel camber will also exagerate any road camber.

I had the camber adjusted at the same time as the tracking but is worse than before. It was doing it before the suspension was changed. It isn't the camber in the road.

Thanks

Does anyone know where I could take it too in S. London or Surrey?

The first and simplest check is to swap the front wheels left to right.
Are the front tyres a matched pair?
You had the goemetry checked? but was it adjusted? and adjusted properly?
Martin

This is what it was adjusted too. Which are within the peramiters of what Merityre recommend.

front left
camber 0°23'
Toe 0°09'

front right
camber -0°28'
toe 0°10'

front
cross camber 0°51'
total toe 0°19'

I'll swop the wheels later and see if that makes a difference.

Now thats just lazy.....Checking and adjusting is all about bringing the settings back to ideals (as close to spot on) not just within tolerance as yours is! Nearly on the limit of tolerance with plus 23minutes on the left and on the limit with minus 28 minutes on the right with a near one full degree between the two! if you are checking and adjusting with a customer telling you he has a problem then you damn well get those settings back to zero or near as (tracking would also need adjusting after Camber as one upsets the other) this is just shoddy and LAZY workmanship and MONEY FOR OLD ROPE.

VW specifications:
Toe in 2mm±3.5mm or 0°20'±30'
Camber 0°Â±30'
Camber tolerance left to right. 1°
Castor 7°15'±15'
Castor tolerance left to right 1°
Toe out on turns @ 20° 1°10'±20'

Martin

Hi

Thanks for the response. Do you think that the adjustments is far out enough to cause this? Is it still worth me swapping the wheels?

Thanks

If I read this right you have positive camber on left and neg camber on right.
So if you were to look from the rear they slightly both lean to the left, which will cause them both to want to steer left.
I know we are talking small amounts, but in that set up they will both combine to an amount of left steer, if they were both either pos or neg they would cancel out. I don't have a lot of experience of setting these buses up but near enough was not good enough for mine, it didn't feel right until it was bob on.
Oversize wheels may also contribute to the effect if you have them.
Try swapping the wheels its is a simple test to rule out that problem.

ninja.turtle007 wrote:Hi

Thanks for the response. Do you think that the adjustments is far out enough to cause this? Is it still worth me swapping the wheels?

Thanks

The first thing you should of done is swap the front wheels over, especially if the tyres are unevenly worn... you will be shocked how much difference it makes.. Always go for the simple fix first

All vehicles have a tendancy to wander to the left due to the negative camber designed on all roads to take away rain to drainage points. Your less than correct geometry setting are just exaggerating this effect.
Swap the front wheels left to right
Have the alignment centre properly setup your van.
Martin

I swopped the wheels this morning but there is no difference. The tyre on the right hand side is wearing much more on the inside edge. This is probably because the camber on that wheel was miles out.

I also tried driving on the opposite side of the road but it still pulled to the left, only not as much.

Having looked at the print out I received from the garage it appears they didn't check or adjust the castor angle. I know it's crude but I got out my tape measure and measured the distance between the edge of the tyre and the wheel arch. The front right hand wheel is about 12mm further forward than the left. Would this cause the pulling to the left?

On the print out I got it only has readings for the front wheels. Surley if I paid £65 for four wheel alignment then there should be measurements for all four wheels? And they should have checked castor?

Cheers guys