Remember my old brake problem?

[johanaxelson]

The one where the car would sometimes veer off when braking?

In Switzerland they have a test during the inspection where you accelerate to 50kph, let go of the wheel and hit the brakes and I kept failing that as the car would not always go straight.

They just found this during the renovation work. Oddly enough there were no signs of it, no odd vibrations or anything. Probably explains why I had that veering problem though

 

[30csl]

Christ - is that the steering shaft? Im amazed it cleared everything when rotating.

 

[lloyd]

The one where the car would sometimes veer off when braking?

Probably explains why I had that veering problem though

Glad you discovered this sooner rather than much later!



Curious on many levels. Didn't realize the steering assembly contained a "tiller."

What caused the bend?
Lifting car at its steering column shaft? Previous accident? Someone's homebrew remedy to ensure a self-centering steering wheel? Extra warm temperatures in the paint curing room?

Other parts evidence similar alterations?
If the bend was caused in situ, did it affect integrity of steering box or other related-connected parts? If the bend existed before installation, wow.

Straighten or replace the part? Can't recall, is the shaft solid metal or a tube?

 

[johanaxelson]

Sorry for late reply. Am out traveling with very poor internet.

W&N had the part for 80 euro so better to buy new than try and straighten. The knots/joints were not as tight as they should be so they may need replacing too and probably did manage to absorb the brunt of the vibrations.


no idea how it happened, I have not done anything to cause it that i know of. maybe some mechanic did something bad at some point. am not on site with the car myself so i do not know all details but servo was fine from hat i could gather

 

[Peter Coomaraswamy]

Please let us know if that fixed the brake problem; I do not have a bent shaft but brakes are a little squirly so if you find something else I'd love to read it.

Good luck!

 

[jmackro]

They just found this during the renovation work. Oddly enough there were no signs of it, no odd vibrations or anything. Probably explains why I had that veering problem though

I'm not sure why a bent steering shaft would cause the car to veer under braking. My guess would be a stuck caliper that doesn't apply as much braking force to one wheel as the other. Or obstructed brake flex line, worn pad on one side, oil on pad, incorrect alignment.....

Does the car always veer off in the same direction under braking? Does it veer on a straight, level surface when not braking, but with your hands off the wheel?

Certainly the bent steering shaft is a serious problem that needs fixing. But if the bent shaft didn't cause perceptible problems, I doubt it was the cause of your failing the test.

 

[johanaxelson]

I will keep you posted, will take a few weeks though.

jmackro - i know what you are saying but the problem was still there after replacing disks, restoring calipers, changing bushings etc etc. alignment was checked and doublechecked.
Only veered off when braking, 90% of the the time to the left.

but if you hit the brakes without holding on to the wheel a bent shaft could be just the little thing needed to make the car veer off. We will see.

 

[jmackro]

jmackro - i know what you are saying but the problem was still there after replacing disks, restoring calipers, changing bushings etc etc. alignment was checked and doublechecked. Only veered off when braking, 90% of the the time to the left.

Hmm, that is puzzling. But again, if the bent steering shaft was causing the problem, why would it consistently cause the car to veer left?

Can a weak rear brake cause a car to veer?

 

[Arde]

One theory is that a muscular driver fighting the brake pull with the wheel time and again caused the bent shaft...

The alternate theory would be that when braking the car nose drops putting additional weight in the steering components where the play and asymmetry of the bent shaft favors one side. Asymmetry means that the shaft was bent to one side, not down or up. What does the forensics report say on the position of the shaft?

Both theories are weak. The ultimate test is to do a braking test NOW, with no shaft at all.

 

[Polariscsl]

Bad tracking/ alignment can cause 'veering' but no idea on the bent steering column!

 

[johanaxelson]

Not sure exactly how execute that brake test Arde. I can ask them to try. Just need to ask them to push the car to a perfectly straight and flat bit of road turning the car by manually turning the wheels. Then set them perfectly straight, accelerate to 50 and hit the brakes. Piece of cake


But as for jmackros question my thinking was that if it was bent in a way so that the bend would be at maybe 11 o'clock when going straight hitting the brakes would sort of - maybe make it move left. You wouldn't need much of an imbalance there to have a strong effect when flooring it at 50kph.

I did go through all bushing in the front replacing some and tightening all bolts plus two alignments so that but should have been OK but you never know.

When the car is back on the road I will unfortunately not know what the issue was, assuming the problem is gone, as it is going through a full resto and will get new brake lines etc.


One thing I did not mention is that I have a hydraulic brake servo now as I did a 3.5L conversion and the garage recommended that over the tii brake servo at the time. Think the main brake cylinder is still the original one and it was renovated as part of trying to find the issue.

 

[Arde]

Granted, it may not be easy. At 5:30 AM the turf football fields at our community colleges are empty. It only takes 10 minutes.

It is a fascinating problem though. I had the same problem with a 1970 Open and it was indeed the brake line to one caliper. The only difference was that it also manifested itself at low speeds. The speed dependency may be a clue that it involves steering or somehow oscillation of some kind.

 

[John Buchtenkirch]

It’s a long shot but possibly one of your brake lines is rusted internally and almost closed up so it delays braking to one wheel causing the pulling. In rare instances I’ve even heard of after-market brake hoses (usually 3rd world manufactured) becoming soft & closing up…. baah, I hate :evil::evil::evil: fake (after-market) parts. Both ideas are pretty unlikely but it seems like you’ve covered just about everything else so it might be worth checking. ~ John Buchtenkirch

 

[johanaxelson]

Thanks John, all brake lines are being replaced now. I replaced most(all?) of the brake hoses with the ones from W&N which should be good?

I just hope the problem is gone after all this. If not, I have no idea what to do

Will update in some six weeks when the car is rolling again.

Johan