swb petrol wandering

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rummins

Member
Posts
30
hi all just put my 78 plate swb petrol on the road, just drove for the first time and was thinking do these wander all over the road normally or is there something needs adjusting on mine? it felels like 1 of the wheels are loose but they and bearings are all ok,
also what mpg can i expect around town ?
 
Its most likely your track rod ends are past there sell by date, to check them you'll best have a trained mechanic look at them as the front wheels should be jacked off the gound and a large prybar used to check for play.
 
probably have about 3" play on the steering wheel on mine, adjusting the steering box reduces it but makes it much stiffer, its a balance to keep the MOT man happy
 
lol it's a landy thing, i actually think mine has ADD (attention deficit disorder) because it can only concentrate on going in a straight line for about 10 seconds before it starts to wander:D;)

As for MPG, erm might be more acurate to call it gallons per mile:eek:
we get about 13 mpg around town /short trips, :eek:
 
Bad tyres, or incorrect ones can do this too,seems to make it wonder all over the place, check for ware all the tyres should have even wear all around (good place to start) like the man says ^^^ steering box needs adjusting, check the oil level too. 3 inch of play seems ok,
 
ok all thanks for the reply, track rods should be ok as it only passed an mot last week and the examiner was strict evan down to a cottor pin missing so everything should be ok .
going to have the tracking checked today as the front wheels look like they are kicking in so fingers crossed.
as for free wheel hubs what does that mean as mine hasnt got anything on the front hubs to move ? they look fixed.
 
It's also worth checking swivel pre-load and all the links in the steering from steering wheel to road wheel ... My old series passed an MOT with a loose clamp nut on one of the steering arms, when this was found and tightened the steering became 'reasonable' ... for a Landy ... ;)
 
It can be steering too tight (back to swivel pre load) so that the wander is caused by the driver over correcting.
Even if everything on the vehicle is perfect (I'm sure it can happen on a Series!) if you are used to a modern car you can over correct and cause wander.
 
they do wander a bit - always will.
Check all the joints on the steering link.

Get someone to sit inside moving the wheel left to right a bit, maybe 3 inches each way.
While they are doing this go to each joint in turn and look/feel for any play. Check all the ball joints and all the fixings (top/bottom of relay).
On mine the bottom of the relay was not tight enough, I replaced 3 ball joints as there was slightl play and tightning the steering box slightly helped a lot.
Now it's the best I've ever had it ;-)
 
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