Steering stops

JJ Autosleeper

Active Member
I have a problem with my near side front tyre touching the l/h inner cill when reversing when the van is loaded. When jacked up and freely rotating it’s got lots of clearance. The off side does not hit the r/h cill when reversing the other way.

I checked the l/h r/h steering wheel turn to full lock both ways. To the left it’s 1 and 3/4 turns. To the right it’s 1 and 5/8. So I am getting an 1/8th more turn to the left than the right. Which may explain the tyre hitting the cill.

Can the stopping point be adjusted or does the steering gear need centralising? I can see you can adjust the left/right readjusting the rear track rods equally left and right - but it can you do it via the front connecting arm?

Any advice appreciated. Thanks.
 
Have a crawl underneath and you'll see there are adjustable steering stops on the front face of the cross member, where the relay lever pokes through, if I remember correctly, see if they are still in place and adjust.
 
I will check. I can’t recall seeing any. I wonder if they were deleted on the later models. Mine is 1970. The manual notes 30 & 3/4 degree turns left/right. I have no way of checking that.
 
As long as the tyres clear the wheel arch when you adjust them then I wouldn't worry too much. Mines a '71 and the stops are fitted.
 
Just checked no steering stops. But there are what look like two threaded 1/4 inch holes either side. So presumably not fitted to mine anymore. If I adjust the intermediate link rod in the picture and shorten it, from what I see this will reduce the l/h turn and increase the r/h turn. So I may give this a go later to see if I can get both l/h and r/h turn to miss the cill. I may need to readjust the steering wheel position though.IMG_9364.jpeg
 
I had a case of false memory syndrome :rolleyes: Harvey the '71 Auto-Sleeper is the same as yours, holes but no stops. Bonnie the '69 Jennings does have them but they don't seem to be doing much.

V3K4DBr.jpg
 
I had a case of false memory syndrome :rolleyes: Harvey the '71 Auto-Sleeper is the same as yours, holes but no stops. Bonnie the '69 Jennings does have them but they don't seem to be doing much.

V3K4DBr.jpg
I've just learned something new.. Best check mine. I may be able to fit the other wheels without too much hassle
 
That is odd. Bonnie just seems to have a cover plate over the screw holes. I had expected to see a small right angled bracket with something like a rubber bump stop screwed into it. Can’t see anything in the parts manual I have.
 
It's a bit difficult to see with all the road dirt but the plates are shaped with a tag pointing downwards over the ends of the slot in the cross member so as to be able to act as a stop on the relay lever.

Zoomed in a bit

1YgTJBE.jpg


Still a bit awkward to see so I've outline of stop highlighted in red

E4GMMhr.jpg


A1vRpuP.jpg
 
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So I have a shortened the front cross rod by two full turns today. That moved the wheels to the off side slightly. It made about 1/16 of a wheel turn difference to the steering wheel with the wheels straight ahead. See picture.

A test drive with a couple of 360s both ways and some reversing on full lock and did not get any tyre cill snagging. So have centred the steering wheel. Will see what happens on longer trip fully loaded.

Would be easier with steering stops. Will see if I can check the wheel turning degrees on a ramp sometime. I’d guess it’s less than the 30 degrees in the manual.
 

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Update: After a long trip with a passenger I did get some rubbing on full lock reverse ful l/h lock. I’m not going to shorten the cross rod anymore, so I will need to make or find some steering stops. Job for the winter.
 
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