Steering
VA steering box Following adjustment and continued leaking
My suggestion is to use Penrite's steering box lube. It is almost a jelly-like lubricant and won't leak out of all those tricky places. I use it in the SA and all leaking has stopped.
Malcolm Robertson
Front axle adjustments:
Steering knuckle angle (Camber) 10 degrees positive
Caster angle 4,5 degrees (including adjustment by taper packing in between springs and axle of 1,5 degrees)
King Pin Angle (KPI) 8 degrees
Toe in 1/8 inch (3,175 mm)
Toe out when cornering: no data given.
Roughly both stub axle steering arms should direct to the approximate centre of the rear axle, giving a toe out of the front wheels when cornering. If one of the arms is bent the VA will not properly steer around a corner.
Explanation of these adjustments:
Toe in = The difference in distance in between the front and rear of the front wheels.Is created to overcome a certain play in the steering knuckles. Once at speed the toe inn is absorbed by the play and the wheels will move straight ahead. Can be adjusted by screwing both the track rod ball joints in or out.
Caster = has the same effect as the front fork of a bicycle or caster wheels. Through the caster effect the weight of the car lies behind the centre of the king pins, forcing the wheels in a forward position. Insufficient castor leads to constant change of direction and more change of wheel wobble. Caster is often effected by sagged front springs, reducing caster and easily resolved by resetting or replacing the springs. (correct spring data can be found in the Blower manual) Temporary adjustments can be made by altering the taper packing.
Camber = positive camber makes the wheels closer to each other at the bottom than the top, thereby forcing the tyres in a conical rather then cylindrical shape. Through that the inside half of the tyre has a bigger diameter forcing the wheels to go forward and outside, acting against the toe inn. Encourages forward direction. Wrong camber reading are caused by a bent front axle or a bent stub axle.
King Pin Inclination = This creates that the centre of the king pin meets approximately with the camber centre line, thus creating "centre point steering" which makes it much more easy to steer the VA without much use of power. Wrong KPI reading usually caused by a bent front axle.
Finally: measure the distance in between front and rear axle centres left and right. They should be equal.
WARNING !!!!! All adjustments to the front axle, specially those required bending of the axle must be left to experienced and authorised experts.
BdV
My suggestion is to use Penrite's steering box lube. It is almost a jelly-like lubricant and won't leak out of all those tricky places. I use it in the SA and all leaking has stopped.
Malcolm Robertson
Front axle adjustments:
Steering knuckle angle (Camber) 10 degrees positive
Caster angle 4,5 degrees (including adjustment by taper packing in between springs and axle of 1,5 degrees)
King Pin Angle (KPI) 8 degrees
Toe in 1/8 inch (3,175 mm)
Toe out when cornering: no data given.
Roughly both stub axle steering arms should direct to the approximate centre of the rear axle, giving a toe out of the front wheels when cornering. If one of the arms is bent the VA will not properly steer around a corner.
Explanation of these adjustments:
Toe in = The difference in distance in between the front and rear of the front wheels.Is created to overcome a certain play in the steering knuckles. Once at speed the toe inn is absorbed by the play and the wheels will move straight ahead. Can be adjusted by screwing both the track rod ball joints in or out.
Caster = has the same effect as the front fork of a bicycle or caster wheels. Through the caster effect the weight of the car lies behind the centre of the king pins, forcing the wheels in a forward position. Insufficient castor leads to constant change of direction and more change of wheel wobble. Caster is often effected by sagged front springs, reducing caster and easily resolved by resetting or replacing the springs. (correct spring data can be found in the Blower manual) Temporary adjustments can be made by altering the taper packing.
Camber = positive camber makes the wheels closer to each other at the bottom than the top, thereby forcing the tyres in a conical rather then cylindrical shape. Through that the inside half of the tyre has a bigger diameter forcing the wheels to go forward and outside, acting against the toe inn. Encourages forward direction. Wrong camber reading are caused by a bent front axle or a bent stub axle.
King Pin Inclination = This creates that the centre of the king pin meets approximately with the camber centre line, thus creating "centre point steering" which makes it much more easy to steer the VA without much use of power. Wrong KPI reading usually caused by a bent front axle.
Finally: measure the distance in between front and rear axle centres left and right. They should be equal.
WARNING !!!!! All adjustments to the front axle, specially those required bending of the axle must be left to experienced and authorised experts.
BdV