Oversteer

Strange one this ..Ived owned this motor 4 years and from day one when I go round a right hand bend it oversteers badly..Ive checked all I can think of and cannot find anything amiss..It has however totaled two hubs in its time whether its related I dont know as its done one each side ..I use grease in the hubs not oil..Its a 1990 Classic manual.It does get some stick off road .TIA

If it's over-steering one way and under or normal steering the other, first place I'd look would be the parrallelism of the axles, and their perpendicularity to the chassis, 'cos all this takes is measuring skills ... Then check things like trailing arms, radius arms, hubs, all suspension bushes.

Could also be something stupid like too much turn on the steering box one way and not the other or the steering rods/levers mounted wrongly or incorrectly adjusted.

How come it's been like it 4 years .. is it purely off-road or is it MOT'd etc?

Where are you, maybe someone with some experience might have a look for you too ..

My guess is a bent front axle casing.

tired said:

It does get some stick off road.

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Front wheels in the air when cresting a hill?

Paul D said:

If it's over-steering one way and under or normal steering the other, first place I'd look would be the parrallelism of the axles, and their perpendicularity to the chassis, 'cos all this takes is measuring skills ... Then check things like trailing arms, radius arms, hubs, all suspension bushes.

Could also be something stupid like too much turn on the steering box one way and not the other or the steering rods/levers mounted wrongly or incorrectly adjusted.

How come it's been like it 4 years .. is it purely off-road or is it MOT'd etc?

Where are you, maybe someone with some experience might have a look for you too ..

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Its MOTed and has passed all its MOTs without any work..Ive tried all the bushes for play and it hasnt got any play or wear ..It was poly bushed just before I got it .

Also it wears its tyres out evenly

From what you describe you definately have movement somewhere around the axles, it may be that the polybushes (or just one) hasnt been fitted right, perhaps the tube that the bolt goes through hasnt been inserted. The best way to tell would be to drop the panhard rods one side at a time just to check, it wont cost anything but time to do. Also, are the rear radius arms bent at all, if you off road these are liable to get damaged.

Axles out of parallel will not necessarily cause uneven tyre wear on a live axled vehicle but boy do they cause some stange handling.

Park it next to a long straight kerb and check if the gap front wheel to kerb is the same back wheel to kerb, do it facing both ways, ie nearside to kerb then offside or vice versa.

tired said:

Its MOTed and has passed all its MOTs without any work..Ive tried all the bushes for play and it hasnt got any play or wear ..It was poly bushed just before I got it .

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Fine ... they don't check that the axles are square to the chassis or parallel to each other.

It's a quick and easy check ... tape measure, end on nearside front axle case somewhere that you can reproduce identically opposite, then measure diagonally to somewhere on the offside of the rear axle that also is absolutely symmetrical on that axle. Take the meaurement, then compare it to the same measurement, offside front to nearside rear .. then nearside front to rear and offside front to rear, comparing results. I'd draw them out so it's easy to note down ..

Perpendicularity is a little more 'awkward' but a quick check can be same places measured to opposite chassis rail diagonally and at 90 degrees, plot the measurements out and repeat opposite then use Trigonometry to check distances ...

All this will do is show you that the axles and chassis are square and symmetrical about the chassis.

tired said:

Strange one this ..Ived owned this motor 4 years and from day one when I go round a right hand bend it oversteers badly..Ive checked all I can think of and cannot find anything amiss..It has however totaled two hubs in its time whether its related I dont know as its done one each side ..I use grease in the hubs not oil..Its a 1990 Classic manual.It does get some stick off road .TIA

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Get someone to check Ackerman angles for you. Also measure wheel base each side they should be identical. You could do a drop check on chassis and axles to make sure everything is lined up.

Just going through my ancient posts ..The problem was sorted when the steering box developed a leak.Stuck a second hand one on and it cured the over steer

tired said:

Just going through my ancient posts ..The problem was sorted when the steering box developed a leak.Stuck a second hand one on and it cured the over steer

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Thanks for the update albeit 3 1/2 years later