On Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 8:53 AM, Jonathan Poole <jfpoolio@gmail.com> wrote:

> I've always thought that losing connectivity between the steering wheel and
> front wheels could be the "ugliest" failure in many circumstances.  For
> instance, at speed in traffic on a curvy road.  When I first thought on
> this
> subject my driver was probably a somewhat out of order older vw (splittie
> with worn front drum brakes and improper tires, not to mention loose tie
> rod
> ends etc. etc.) that would pull to one side under hard braking.
>
> What part failure could cause this diconnect on a Vanagon?  I'm guessing
> quite a few but I don't know of any single points of failure that are
> likely.  Fortunately if maintained well at all our front ends don't seem to
> be vulnerable to any sort of full-disconnect failure.
>
> That is my nomination for number 1.  Gas lines may be a good number two,
> seat belts (when needed) a number 3, etc.  I may be on the wrong track
> though as ugly makes me think catastrophic!
>
> Jonathan Poole
>

  I agree this might be the most ugly possible failure.  I once had this
very thing happen.  Luckily, we'd just started down a wide sandy road after
traversing the whole west coast and all of Baja Hwy 1 at high speed.  Man,
there were some spots where if the timing of that failure had been different
we'd have caught some "Big Air" or blasted head-on into a Mexican bus at a
closing speed of perhaps 150mph!

  I once inherited a Bounder motor home,  just a couple of years old, when
my Pop died so we decided to take it on our extended winter trip to windsurf
in Baja.  Had 4 mos. worth of crap crammed in, towing a Nissan pickup, etc
etc.  Turned off on 'our' side road with about 10kilometers to go after
almost 3000 miles in that big ole Mo-Ho.  The steering wheel came right off
in my hands after a few non-productive rotations on the column..I just
clamped some vicegrips onto the steering shaft and steered that way into our
property, finding later that a woodruff key had sheared and the nut had
unwound.  When we got back to the US and picked up our mail there was a
'recall notice' from GM and Bounder saying the vehicle had an 'unsafe
condition that could cause death and that we should tow it to the nearest
dealer for a free repair"  Sheesh~ that was close..
  Ya think they could get mounting a steering wheel right....
  Don Hanson

Vanagon content: My 84 seem to have a little play in the 'steering column'..
You can move the whole deal a very little...not slop in the steering but the
whole inside part moves maybe 1/4" if you get into the van using the wheel
or push it towards the windshield...Gotta check that...