| Author |
Message |
Brian (Bigbusguy)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, March 13, 2005 - 1:58 am: | |
I made a hitch and tow bar for my 4905 and 1964 chevy 4X4 it has manual stearing.
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/bigbusguy/detail?.dir=/c933&.dnm=9b95.jpg&.src=ph
I problem I see is if I take a sharp corner fast the trucks front wheels will start to go left to right and keep doing this until I slow down or stop. It will shake the bus so I know it doing it. It dont want to self center. I could check if it has the corect caster or it just was made with what is needed. I used a lower reciver hitch so the tow bar it level with the ground. After the pic was taken.
I have had this problem towing car without motors in them. Normal driving is ok just around some tight turns If I gas on it to hard out of the corner.
The tow bar is 32" long from the bumper to the ball.
So I dont know if its the truck or the tow bar?
I could just go easy around corners but I dont want it to do it at any speed.
Any ideas?
Brian 4905 Klamath Falls Oregon |
t gojenola
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, March 13, 2005 - 2:46 am: | |
Can't remember where I read this, but the subject came up a long time ago. One solution was to tie the steering wheel in center position with one or more bungie cords. You could give that a try, but of course it does not address the cause of the oscillation.
tg |
TWODOGS (Twodogs)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, March 13, 2005 - 6:12 am: | |
check the ball joints on the chev. |
John that newguy
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, March 13, 2005 - 6:56 am: | |
Tow bar's too low on the tow vehicle?
(It'd lift it under power, changing caster)
(just an idle thought) |
John that newguy
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, March 13, 2005 - 6:57 am: | |
*(uhhh -Towed- vehicle, that is)
(coffee - I need coffee) |
Stan
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, March 13, 2005 - 8:11 am: | |
It is one of those mysteries with tow vehicles. I tranferred the towing system from a Toyota Tercel to a new Toyota Tercel and the new one would start the crazy oscillation under certain conditions but usually towed fine. The only thing seemed to be common to start it was coming down a slope (such as out of a parking lot) and making a sharp turn. It would start the wild swing as low as 5 MPH and required a complete stop, and then it would tow OK. |
Edward J. Sommers (Sommersed)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, March 13, 2005 - 10:58 am: | |
Years ago I was the manager of a large U-Haul center. Most of the time when we had a customer complaint of faulty tracking with a tow bar, we found that the majority of the time it was caused by incorrect inflation of tires and/or near bald tread.
R/ Ed_ |
Brian (Bigbusguy)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, March 13, 2005 - 11:13 am: | |
Thanks all good ideas. The ball joints (kingpins) Tie rods all like new.
I dont know if the tow bar lifts the vehicle its level but some turns and drive ways It may be higher at the ball. I can lower it some to have it lower at the ball Sloping down from the truck some. Tires all good psi I could adjust that!
The bungie cords may be a idea .But on turns thay would get all knoted up. I could maybe put them on the tie rod to keep it centered.
I will look to see if I can find a shim to put under the front leaf springs to add more caster. I dont know if one is made for that.
My big problem is I will have 1 day in April to fix this then off to WA with it all fixed or not. I cant do nothing for the next 3 weeks.
Brian 4905 Klamath Falls Oregon |
John that newguy
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, March 13, 2005 - 12:31 pm: | |
Walmart sells a ball mount that you can
flip over to raise or lower the ball height
about 2" or so. It might be worth a try, since
it'll only cost you $20 or so..
Springs/bunjee on the tie rods to help return
to a straight direction wouldn't be bad either.
It's about the same as those "steer straight"
units, at a fraction of the cost.
A wheel alignment for the toad doesn't cost much either....
What choice do you have, but to try 'em all?
Lotsa' luck! |
John that newguy
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, March 13, 2005 - 12:34 pm: | |
Oh-hey... Stupid question:
Could there be excessive drag on the front wheels from the
lockouts not fully retracting or continuing to drag? That dif
would cause the wheels to go from side to side, no? |
TWODOGS (Twodogs)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, March 13, 2005 - 12:37 pm: | |
GOOD IDEA ! ! |
James Maxwell (Jmaxwell)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, March 13, 2005 - 1:21 pm: | |
Can't believe you said you will go "fixed or not"! Jack-knifing the front wheels can lead to very serious consequences, like injury or death to someone else when your truck breaks loose and heads off into traffic on it's own. Towbar should be as near level as possible even if it requires designing new mounts to accomplish it, which you've addressed. If the hubs are not fully unlocking, then you're doing damage to the towed transfer case, but generally they will disengage from centrifical force if they are un-locked.
I believe you have an alignment problem with the towed and it is most likely caster or tow. Do you have wide-track tires on the towed steering? I had a mild problem of this on an '85 Nissan 4x4 I towed for a while, with wide track aggressive tread, and I had to add 1/2 degree of tow-in and slight + caster over specs to stop it. It added to tire wear. At the time, the front end mechanic that did it for me also said that incorrect camber on either tire could give the same effect. |
R. Steve Nichol (N4rsn)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, March 13, 2005 - 3:24 pm: | |
You say it is a 64 Chevie 4x4, there is no dought you have a steering damper on it. If you don't have a steering damper on it, you will need to put on a good after market one, you can install without to much hassle.
Without one, the steering will go from side to side, and never stops.
With the damper, the steering is retarted from going to fast in any one direction, but allows for normal steering.
Happy motoring
Steve N4RSN |
Brian (Bigbusguy)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 14, 2005 - 1:07 am: | |
I thought of a steering damper I may get one Im sure it had one but its not there now. The factory locking hubs are unlocked I checked.
The tires are close to factory size and width.
"Can't believe you said you will go "fixed or not"! Jack-knifing the front wheels can lead to very serious consequences, like injury or death to someone else when your truck breaks loose and heads off into traffic on it's own"
Well it not going to break loose Im using a 2 1/8" ball and hitch for 10,000 lbs and large grade 8 bolts holding it on . My bus will just drag it with the wheels jack knifed. And its only a problem turning sharp 90' corners at slower speeds. hwy speed roads and turns it does fine.
I will check the alignment.
But lack of time and funds will keep me from only doing the easy cheep fix on this trip. Has any saw the price of diesel the $400. to fill it will set me back some.
Once I hit the hwy Il be fine .
It looks like from most of the tips it ether is a alignment problem or I need some thing to keep the wheels stright and a damper. Or all three.
Thanks
Brian 4905 Klamath Falls Oregon |
Syd Pygott (Sydstoy)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 14, 2005 - 1:23 am: | |
Brian,
tie the steering wheel with a rope to the wing window post. This shouldn't cost anything to try.
Also, keep your tow bar higher at the bus end than at the truck end. I used to tow cars all the time and that's what solved the problem.
By the way I installed the steering wheel today on my crown. It looks great, thanks
Syd |
Stephen Fessenden (Sffess)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 14, 2005 - 8:51 pm: | |
Check castor and have it set at maximum allowable. Too little toe in can also alow it to start darting. The suggestion that it may be when the wheels are not heavily loaded that it does it was good. See What happens to the castor and toe in when the truck is jacked up with the tires still touching the ground. |
Joe Franklin (Franklinga)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, March 17, 2005 - 10:00 pm: | |
Been there, done all that. While tow bar and hitch bar geometry are critical, your problem will not be resolved without some type of steering dampening. Think about it. You don't ever hear of that kind of problem with a car that has power steering. Have you ever tried to steer a car with power steering without the engine running? There is a tremendous amount of restriction to overcome! Bungee cords have been used extensively to restrict the steering on older model vehicles, but they definately come with their own set of problems. I had a bungee cord come loose from the steering wheel once and it busted the windsheild on the toad! A mechanical steering dampner is the safest method of controlling steering axle wonder in these older vehicles. |