and if I may.....

check condition of the upper control arm bushings before getting an
alignment. This is not hard to do for the average "wrenching" inlined
owner. Wheel off, 2 hex head bolts. (apply penetrating fluid first).
There should be no play, arm should not drop from a raised position.

I drive a fair amount of dirt/pot hole roads but never the less was
surprised to see how badly worn my passenger side UCA bushings were.
I'd replaced them not THAT many miles ago.

FWIW, a "hot rod" classic car type alignment - suspension shop may
stand a better chance than most in dealing with an aging Vanagon. I
got mine done at a hot rod type shop in Oceanside CA after doing front
springs etc. i can now cruise at higher speeds w/o nearly as much
correction at the wheel. They did a good job and thought outside of
the box in correcting a lack of toe adjustment "room" at a rear wheel.
They removed a little material at the bolt hole in bracket.

Neil.

On 8/1/17, Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@hotmail.com> wrote:

> A vehicles "desire" to travel straight and steer on center is primarily
> determined by the front end geometry. The steering axis inclination angle or
> as adjusted the caster. The caster angle is adjusted by the lower radius
> rods. The lower control arm and radius rod mounts position the lower ball
> joints and have to hold the correct position of all the different loads that
> occur. If you don't remember when the radius rod mounts were last done they
> most likely need to be and if the lower control arm mounts are twisted or
> pulled they need to go also. Polyurethane mounts from T3Technique are the
> way to go here. Be prepared as you may find you need a weld repair. For
> alignment, the procedure is setting up caster, than camber, then toe. If a
> lot of camber adjustment was done check caster again. The closer you get the
> caster to 8 degrees the straighter the van will want to travel but there
> will be more turning resistance and some outer tire wear. Syncros get set
> closer to 4 degrees. Running 215/60-16 tires is a great size. Preferably
> they are XL or reinforced with a load index of 99. If not what is the max
> inflation pressure? If 44 psi I would go with 42-44 rear and 36-38 front. If
> 51 psi than try 48 rear and 38-40 front.
>
> Dennis
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> Doug Toomey
> Sent: Tuesday, August 1, 2017 8:24 AM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: What can go wrong..... (followup and short trip report)

> Any suggestions on how to evaluate the quality and tightness of the
> steering?
>
> For me, going 60 is relatively peaceful compared to 65+.

--
Neil n

Blog: Vanagons, Westfalia, general <http://tubaneil.blogspot.ca>

1988 Westy Images <https://picasaweb.google.com/musomuso/New1988Westy>

1981 Westfalia "Jaco" Images, technical <http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/>

Vanagon-Bus VAG Gas Engine Swap Group <http://tinyurl.com/khalbay>