Car wanders

bettlesr

bettlesr

Senior Member
Lately I have been having the front end wander as if in a strong side wind. I have checked the toe-in, camber, tire pressure and snugged up the adjustment on the steering box to no avail. I just put a combination square against the front axle. It showed a 1° tilt back at the top which should be 1°positive caster. Any ideas how to get it back to 5° as it belongs. To shim it down in the back would require the ball to be dropped over 2 to 2.5".
Thanks
Dick
 
did the car belong to Dion?


you might try rotating the rear tires with the front for starters........
 
You might have a twisted axle. Get a angle finder and check both sides. I had the same problem with my car and found that my axle was straight but twisted. The right side showed 5 degree' positive while the left side showed 1 degree positive. I heated and bent the left side wishbone to 5 degree'. No more wandering. BTW, it did not take much of a bend to achieve the 5 degree'.

John
 
ronn said:
you might try rotating the rear tires with the front for starters........
Click to expand...

Yes, please try this cheap fix first. I was tearing my hair out about the problem and about to spend a lot of money fixing it, when a Model A friend said: "Before you spend any money, just swap the tyres around". Believe it or not, it worked!
 
Jerk the front wheels back and forth and watch the steering arms bolted to the spindle for play. If they are the least bit loose the front end will wonder.
 
Ronn
It just seems to wander around, around, .....

Already changed front and back tires.

I think it got worse when I changed the holder for the rear of the radius rods from the rubber ball type to the stock type. The upper holder is thicker on the rubber ball type.
Might just add enough caster to help.
 
Caster must be 5 degrees tilted to the back. If tilted forward it is dangerous to drive. I use the angle finder on my iPhone to check the angle. Do what you must to correct the caster including taking the axle out of the car and putting it on a jig to fix any twist. The instruction manuals have instructions.
 
bettlesr said:
Lately I have been having the front end wander as if in a strong side wind. I have checked the toe-in, camber, tire pressure and snugged up the adjustment on the steering box to no avail. I just put a combination square against the front axle. It showed a 1° tilt back at the top which should be 1°positive caster. Any ideas how to get it back to 5° as it belongs. To shim it down in the back would require the ball to be dropped over 2 to 2.5".
Thanks
Dick
Click to expand...

The Coupe used to wander also.

I did all the things you mentioned above and still wandered.

Turns out that the two bolts that hold the steering gear to the frame were slightly loose.

See photo:

https://modelastore.com/index.php?r...uct_id=3294&search=bolts&category_id=0&page=2

These are special hardened bolts with shoulders which work better than standard soft bolts with no shoulders.

Also the sides of the BAD bolts had grooves worn in the sides of them which allowed even more movement.

Also it is possible that the holes in the frame are worn oblong.

Steering wheel play went from 3 inches to 3/4 inch.
 
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What steering box do you have ? If its a 2 tooth then try and go thru the 4 adjustments. You can do the first 3 quite easily in the car, the 4th rarely needs to be done. Go thru them a second time also, they need to be done in order.

I doubt your problem is caster. It should be 3º-4º [ 5º is a lot] but as long there is at least a couple degrees it should be OK.

The problem to me sounds more like something loose or improper toe.

Let us know what you find.
 
Chased this wandering for several years. Changed and checked and fixed a ton of stuff. In the end it was the spring perch nuts. Driver's side took 1.5 turns and passenger's side took 3/4 of a turn. In my case problem solved. The axle was "walking" in the bosses.
 
I have a F1 box and before that I had a 2 tooth box. Both of them wandered. There was less than 3/4 inch play in either box.
 
Well, if you checked and tightened all your loose front end bolts and nuts it has to be
caster angle, especially if you have 1 degree on one side and 5 on the other, or just
1 degree on both sides. I have the F100 box, and 5 degree' on my car as I mentioned in post #3 above, and it goes straight
 
It's between 0° and 1° on both sides.I get the same readings on the center of the axle and just behind the king pins. Possibly the radius arms are bent?
 
At least it is the same on both sides. At this point I am just throwing out ideas. It is possible, as you said, that the radius arms are bent? Can you sight along them or put a straight edge on them to find out? I don't know what the specification is on the angle of the bolts that fasten the radius arm to the axle, but can these be measure and compared to a car that has the correct caster? Are the bolts worn or not tight? The sine of 4 degrees (5-1) is 0.0698 and assuming the radius arms ball is 36 inches from the front axle, the ball would have to come down 2.5 inches to get 5 degrees caster. Could the engine be raised up 2.5 inches? Could the frame be bent due to some old accident? Could the rear engine mounts be installed incorrectly? Could the front spring be wrong, raising the front of the car up 2.5 inches? Is there something weird in the rear end that would raise the car up there?
 
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Well, it could use more caster than 1º. I would also recommend taking it to a good local alignment shop. An old truck repair shop may be the best choice. They can give you all the numbers.

I like 3.5-4º which I think is plenty for such a car and that helps with steering wheel return. If the axle is going to be bent I like to cut back on the camber.
 
Patrick L. said:
Well, it could use more caster than 1º. I would also recommend taking it to a good local alignment shop. An old truck repair shop may be the best choice. They can give you all the numbers.

I like 3.5-4º which I think is plenty for such a car and that helps with steering wheel return. If the axle is going to be bent I like to cut back on the camber.
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If you are going to bend the axles, the radius arms will have to be bent also,
so why not just bend the radius arms close up to the axles as I did and be done with it?
 
jayvee34 said:
If you are going to bend the axles, the radius arms will have to be bent also,
so why not just bend the radius arms close up to the axles as I did and be done with it?
Click to expand...




How would you bend the radius arms to change the camber ? :D
Just kidding.
 
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