Power Steering

[cindy66]

Hi does anyone know how much it would cost to have Automatic Transmission fitted to my Campervan only bought it a couple of weeks ago.

VW 1982 High Top Aircooled Automatic 1970cc engine

I find it very heavy on the steering, I dont know what coversion it is but can supply pictures if needed.
Cindy

[Ian Hulley]

It's not auto transmission you're after it's power steering .... a VERY expensive modification to RHD vans I don't even know if it could be retro-fitted to an Aircooled ... I suspect not.

Ian.

[ermie571]

Cindy - the sterring should not be that heavy (unless your last car was a Micra with power steering)

first things first....have you checked your tyre pressures - flat tyres = heavier steering.

Ok, I have been driving mine years now, but really only find it heavy when trying to pull the wheels round when virtually stationary, as I haven't been left enought room to get out of a parking space Once moving, the steering is firm.

Em
x

[cindy66]

Sorry yes I did mean Power Steering, Tyre Pressure front is 35 rear is 47 thats what it says in the manual, I do find it fine on straight runs and its only very heavy when turning tight corners which we have quite a lot of in north Wales.
Cindy

[Ian Hulley]

Sorry yes I did mean Power Steering, Tyre Pressure front is 35 rear is 47 thats what it says in the manual, I do find it fine on straight runs and its only very heavy when turning tight corners which we have quite a lot of in north Wales.
Cindy

Running standard 185R14C the fronts should be 45 and rears 55 ... look at the plate on the door pillar

Ian.

[HarryMann]

.. and make sure you still have the std. sized steering wheel and use the proper 10 minutes to two position for your hands holding it (if you don't know what that is, then maybe steering technique is the problem)

[cindy66]

Sorry yes I did mean Power Steering, Tyre Pressure front is 35 rear is 47 thats what it says in the manual, I do find it fine on straight runs and its only very heavy when turning tight corners which we have quite a lot of in north Wales.
Cindy

Running standard 185R14C the fronts should be 45 and rears 55 ... look at the plate on the door pillar

Ian.

Thanks for that will check them when out tomorrow cindy

[CovKid]

I've mentioned this before but I have a steering knob on mine like you'd find on a forklift. Not overly useful for parking but wicked around roundabouts where I can out-manouvere hatchbacks. Takes a lot of the strain out of driving, saving my energy for the inevitable wheel-wrenching experience that is parking without power steering. To be honest, the exercise involved in getting the wheel around at slow speeds is altually good for you. With all the new cars on thre road, we'll be developing a new breed of thin-armed people.

I developed a weak elbow in more recent years and the steering knob really helped with that as I'm not having to drive like Stan from 'On The Buses'. Try one! Best mounting place is 2pm on the steering wheel I found. Agree on tyre inflation too. Makes a big difference.

[rainman]

I've mentioned this before but I have a steering knob on mine like you'd find on a forklift.

Are they legal for road vehicles?

[CovKid]

MOT guy always uses it to drive it on to the inspection ramp and its been on there since I've had it including giving a copper a lift once. It probably isn't but in my case its better with than without. I don't think its high on the agenda of motoring offences, particularly if you have a sound reason for having one and never ever been questioned about it.

[rainman]

Ah right, only I have a vague memory of being told I shouldn't have one for road use when I used to drive tractors (steering knob + power steering was very handy, especially if doing a lot of reversing).

[HarryMann]

I wouldn't like to see the effect on steering standards if they were widely adopted - pretty chronic as it is

[CovKid]

Well it has got me out of what would have been a nasty mishap caused by other drivers. Theres no way I could make such a rapid change in direction as I had to on one occasion. To be honest I use it on and off according to conditions. Great for tight turns and being at 2pm on the clock face, it doesn't get in my way at all. It'd be alright if you had the luxury of the steering now fitted to modern cars but these are big wheels to turn in comparison and my elbow has certainly appreciated its fitment. The strict ruling on these is that you should talk to your GP and get supporting evidence that you need one and DVLA should approve it eventually.

[HarryMann]

Can't speak entirely without prejudice - haven't tried one.

At least since being a teenager in a dodgem car (I think)

Talking about dodgems... does this 'picture' create a mental image of anything you've seen?

==Dodgem Dames==

So we seem to have a new driving phenomenon to deal with, one might say a new 'style' developing, first witnessed in the big cities but no doubt now permeating out to the regions - read on.

A Ford Ka - might have been the top of range Ghia, couldn't see or was taken aback too much as it flashed past inches away " zooms right across in front of my driving line through a set of traffic lights. It was coming the other way, turning right across my path, at night, the driver making a snap judgement " no bad thing in itself, but…

the defining snapshot view, a profile in silhouette as it sped away, created one of those great 'Aha!' moments " it's here, honest, the new wave, the new generation, we've suspected it, we've seen it time and time again, but have we all had that same sudden 'awakening' to the mindset behind it?

So - that profile - the 'relaxed laid back driving position', single hand on wheel, mobile glued to right ear… Yes, maybe you've guessed the stereotype. Late 20's or 30 something power-dressing 'nice young woman', in that characteristic Bubble-Ka profile, just needing a long pole sticking straight-up from the rear bumper to complete the picture " she was dodgem driving with her whizzy wee car, no doubt simultaneously driving her love life with that auto-mobile chit-chat too. But playing dodgems with my car and my life, or anyone around not anticipating such a totally disengaged driving style. Dodgems was the image that sprung immediately to mind " perfect, gottit, a Dodgem Danger, reverting instinctively to maybe her first ever driving experience, candy-floss in hand " but at another speed, in a real car, with real hazards just waiting to hurt herself, somebody else, or at best just about to put up all our insurance premiums.

Frequently self-obsessed with their own time-management and bizarrely unaware of dangers all around that veneer-thin steel shell. And whilst maybe finely tuned to their environment in some ways, quite unaware of their level of disengagement with the act of driving " with the limits of the car, the imperfection of the roads and their inability to use that steering wheel meaningfully in a crisis. In a killer machine, sometimes full of children, speed, mass, potential danger, awareness? " Nada " not so much as the faintest appreciation that driving a car is not a sideline, nor a simple means to an end, A to B, deliver the kids, get the flowers, do the shopping, make that date on time. It can be that, but when in it, driving it " that's where the focus should be " driving and all that driving requires to be safe and keep others safe. Maybe women are naturally gifted when it comes to multi-tasking, an innate skill, ability " but is driving at the forefront of their minds - time-sharing with a dozen things a woman needs to do during her journey today is a recipe for a lifetime of danger. Seems like this casual, incidental approach to driving is neither being addressed during instruction or winkled out by testers.

Dodgem Dames…. They're here, watchout, they haven't seen you, haven't seen themselves in their mirror-minds, certainly haven't engaged with a driving ethos of any merit, nor had its hidden dangers instilled from day one…the same sub-species by the way, that also haven't engaged with what double yellow lines near dangerous junctions mean - it's all so much trouble to bother - and uncool - apparently.

They'd all soon be Dead Dames in old Morris Minors with cross-ply tyres on a dark wet night, that's for sure…

Hehe apologies to women drivers, there's probably an equivalent 'Mad Motor Man' article somewhere on t'Internet balancing the score

[CovKid]

Thats just plain bad driving - 'disengaged' about sums it up and each and every one of us encounters it daily, regardless of gender. I'm never in a hurry, have ample distance between me and the vehicle in front. I'm not given to road rage either except on one occasion when I had right of way along a narrow road and a posh BMW coming the other way, refused to budge and kept blaring his horn.

Always the professional, I turned my engine off, walked over and said (very quietly and politely) that it would probably be better if he did the courteous thing and reversed rather than me as I had big thick steel bumpers on the front wheras he only had flimsy plastic trim and I didn't care too much either way.

He reversed pretty sharpish!