Steering on Sand Rail not even trying to return to center

[wildwestrider]

Bought an older Sand Rail about 6 months ago. Its a ball-joint front end.

Work recently completed:

Rebuilt torsion arms with new ball joints
New steering tie rods with new tie rod ends.
New flexible coupler (steering column to steering box)
New steering damper
Cleaned and lubed (greased) steering box,..then with wheels turn slightly, just barely snugged the steering box adjuster
I self-adjusted the toe-in. About 1/2" in front of the tires

Steering feels tight, has no "feel" and doesn't make any attempt to return to center after completing a turn. I have to manually turn the wheel back to the center point

Thought it might be that the adjusting screw on the steering box might be too tight, so backed it out a bit,...no change.

Now wondering if it might be the new steering damper,....but.....it felt about the same before I installed the new damper,...the old damper was not doing anything at all.

Any ideas??

Brian in Cedar Park

[GregR]

Steering damper is a possibility. I also understand that is a symptom of not enough caster (tilt forward or back) in the front end.
Have you lowered it or raised your buggy? May look at adding caster shims.

[wildwestrider]

Haven't raised or lowered buggy since buying it.......I have noticed that the rear axles (IRS) actually slope up hill a little bit to the outside CV joint though and the front axle beam sits about 10.5-11 inches off the garage floor. If I jack the front end up.....the front tires lift off the concrete at about 12" at the bottom of the beam,..so, thinking that the front end is a bit high and the rear end is a little low from spec.

I know that I can adjust camber in a ball joint front end; How do I shim for Caster?

Brian

Steering damper is a possibility. I also understand that is a symptom of not enough caster (tilt forward or back) in the front end.
Have you lowered it or raised your buggy? May look at adding caster shims.

[GregR]

Just by removing the body, the front end comes up some. Most buggies this doesn't seem to bother.
You adjust caster by using readily available shims (check with Doug at Qualitat for example) that install under the beam at the center mounting points. They can go under the bottom tube or top tube and adjusts caster (longer bolts are needed for this mod.)

[KIM-P]

I had the same problem. It turned out to be the ball joints were too tight. Hot VWs did an article on this and it seems that some ball joints come from the factory too large. I took my front end back appart and found three of the four BJs would only move with considerable force. After pressing out the BJs and micing them I found that there was .010 to .016 crush fit. I used a file and coarse emery cloth and sanded them to .003 crush fit and the problem was solved. If you decide to go this route take your time filing and sanding and measure often at differnt angles to keep them as round as posible.

[Jack Duncan]

Wildwestrider, go to "Member's Projects" and then go to the second page, then to "Jack Duncan's White Bandit". Scroll down to the seventh picture. This is a picture of the shims that were mentioned. My front end is extremely low, so I really needed them. I don't think you need them because your front end is much higher than mine. I have to watch where I drive mine, because it is adjusted all the way down. Looks cool ya know.

[wildwestrider]

Wildwestrider, go to "Member's Projects" and then go to the second page, then to "Jack Duncan's White Bandit". Scroll down to the seventh picture. This is a picture of the shims that were mentioned. My front end is extremely low, so I really needed them. I don't think you need them because your front end is much higher than mine. I have to watch where I drive mine, because it is adjusted all the way down. Looks cool ya know.

So, if I want to increase my caster, do I place the shims on the upper or lower beam tube?

[Bryan Porter]

Lower tube.