Adding toe-in on the right side might help center up the steering wheel on highly crowned roads, but will also increase tire scrub while not little if anything to reduce compensatory steering effort.

FWIW, my last two dualies (both GM) came from the factory with additional caster and, for some odd reason, positive camber on the right front, which chewed up tires rather quickly. Corrected that issue on both with symetrical realignment.

 

Hi All

I'm bringing this subject up again as I have finally got hold of the alignment equipment! And no, I haven't had a chance to do any other checks yet

However, before I even begin to use any of it, I notice that the equipment measures toe angles in degrees (which is the logical way in my mind!). So, my simple question: Can anyone tell me the toe in setting for my 78 in degrees, not the usual 1/16th inch measurment?

Thanks!

 

On 27" diameter tires, each 1/32" inch of toe equals ~.07*. So, 1/16" total toe in = ~1.4* total toe in.

 

Just to throw a wrench in the whole thing.... Do you know your alignment is out?

A bad tire can also cause a car to pull to one side.
Before changing anything I would check your tire pressures to ensure they re up to spec and the same side to side Then switch the tires side to side...if the pull changes it's the tire... if it doesn't you can check your alignment.

Start with the cheap/easy potential solutions first.

 

Thanks guys!

Woobs - Yep, been there! No real signs of anything actually wrong yet, just the slight pull to the right. As I say, we owned the car for 14 years in the UK, then came over here to France. We have high crowns here in France and drive on the other side to the UK of course, so I've noticed it for a few years and just "dealt with it"! And after 20k miles of that there’s' no abnormal tyre wear, so it can't be anything too major!

But as I have the alignment equipment, that's an easy check first. But I also need to just look at the P/S valve thing, to be sure that's OK.

 

Hi all

To bring this thread up to date, I had a day checking alignment on the car today.

As I knew, one side needed a little less negative camber, but caster was about right after that on both sides. And, more interestingly, the camber adjustment obviously "brought in" the alignment, as that went from having a little toe-out to being pretty much spot on, without any adjustment!

However, before we did anything we had checked the P/S cylinder and, for raflac, we did that by disconnecting the ram shaft from the frame and running the engine. It didn’t move in or out of it’s own accord , but was relatively easy to push in or pull out. That, according to my manual, is about how it should be, so we fitted some new rubber bushes etc and re-connected and did the alignment.

A brief run down the road confirmed that the car feels a whole lot better! And, a ¼ mile stint driving on the “wrong” side of the road (I love France – smooth straight roads with no traffic!) showed that the crown does have an effect, but nothing to bother me compared to how the car was before!

Thanks to everyone for their advice, all of which was good!

The only downside – I see a new P/S valve on the distant horizon – there is a little bit of evidence of a leak there!

 

The P/S hoses are the most likely sources of leakage. Clean the hoses and control valve well, first. Then look for point of initiation for leakage.

If you find that the leak is actually from the control valve, I would highly recommend that you replace both hoses, anyway, and rebuild the control valve yourself. The rebuilt units are very 'suspect' and prone to failures...as it seems they must not be functionally tested when rebuilt by aftermarket sources. The rebuild is quite easy and also very inexpensive. Rebuild kits are readily available for less than $20 US. And, if your control valve has operated properly in the past, a carefully done and proper rebuild can be expected to produce very good results.

 

71 is correct, I did mine, many many years ago,

and it was fine.....but I still went to a rack conversion about 11 years ago....main gig being the faster steering, which with updated wheels/tires becomes a mandatory thing....

 

Thanks. When we bought the car it was leaking plenty of fluid! I eventually changed all the hoses and it has remained perfectly dry for years. I did a few odds and ends a little while ago and it recieved new hoses from pump to valve and both are in good shape and dry. I've looked at the valve to ram hoses and they seem OK, but I do have a new set here. I'll need to have a good clean before we next take the car out and have another thorough look!

Thanks for the info on re-building. There seems to be some mixed veiws on that as some freinds over in the Uk have had problems when re-building. I'll look into what's involved