Just wondering...could a bent tie rod cause this? I remember that, when my
truck
was on the straight axle suspension, the tie rod that runs under the truck had a
serious kink in it. I always wondered how it got bent so bad and even theorized
that
maybe that is how someone aligned the front end..by bending it. At any rate I
changed the front end so I'm not that familiar with the original straight axles
in
these things.
I do recall something from my days as a remote control racer though...we had
1/10
scale model cars that steered off a servo motor arrangement. The stub axles
were
mounted via kingpins to a straight axle and then they were connected to the
servo
via adjustable threaded rods. The threaded rod was how you adjusted the toe
in/toe
out. One time I mounted my servo too far back and had the tie rods coming in
at too
severe of an angle to the stub axles. The car handling was terrible..erratic and
wild. When you worked the suspension you could actually see the toe in change.
Someone put me onto this bumpsteer thing and I moved the servo farther
up..making
the tie rods more parallel to the front axles...problem solved...the toe in
stayed
consistent through suspension travel and the cars handling could be adjusted
through
shocks and springs as it should be.
I guess what I'm getting at with all this rambling is this...is it possible
that if
the long tie rod under the truck was bent that a similar type of thing could
happen?
Whew..all this typing has wore me out :-)
Max Power wrote:
> >
> > When I hit a bump at an angle (on the freeway or on the street), sometimes
> > the front end will sway dangerously side-to-side. The motion is analogous
> > to a rolling motion.
> > My first impression is that the shocks were bad, but they were new. Then I
> > supected damaged leaf springs.
>
> Tom, sounds suspiciously like "bump steer", which is the dreaded curse of a
>lot
> of hot rodders. It comes from changes in the steering geometry that have
> affected the steering arm radius measurements as well as front end
>modifications
> that do not follow the Ackerman principle. A decent explanation is in Tex
> Smith's book of hot rod building. Suffice it to say that other than an
>overhaul
> of the front end mods, rodders have tried various solutions to get around the
> problem. Sometimes radial tires instead of bias ply will help, as will the
> addition of a sway bar. But sometimes they are just stop-gap measures that
>end
> up masking the problem. Sometimes you get lucky, and sometimes you don't.
>Ping
> me off list if you'd like me to copy the section from Smith's book for you. I
> could snail mail it if you'd like.
>
> Wally / Templeton, MA
> 53 3100
> 72 Malibu
>
> oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
--
Bill Bailey
57 Chevrolet 3100
http://members.tripod.com/~oltruck/
oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
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