I've just collected my new camper! I was a bit worried about driving it but I soon got used to the LHD. I only slammed my hand against the drivers door once, and a few times grabbing thin air with my right hand looking for the gear stick! The only problem is, it veers all over the road when I get up to around 40 mph. It veers one way, so I steer the other way and it veers the other way. It was a bit scary for my first drive - I don't think my girlfriend took her hands from in front of her eyes all the way! The guy in the garage said it needs full 4 wheel geometry carried out, but he doesn't have the equipment to do it. Should it be easy to find a garage that can do this? Is it expensive?
sounds like tracking mine was the same i had the wheels facing out / causing to kill the tyres in 250 miles cost about 30-50 quid for a adjustment
Also check the condition of the ball joints on the steering. get the garage to check these before they carry out any tracking. If any of the ball joints are duff it will be a waste of money having it tracked. They should tell you this though.
May well be in need of the steering box adjusting to reduce play. Think I'd check for that first before any adjustments to the geometry.
A Bay shouldn't veer all over the road. Likely to be the steering box needing adjustment, but you need to check other areas for play: main ball joints, centre swivel pin, track rod ball joints, rubber steering coupling, then front camber and tracking. Also check the front tyres. Once the steering's been properly sorted, they're very well behaved, even in a crosswind.
If you have new ball joints on the trailing arms then camber and tracking will need resetting. Lee at FCM Bristol knows T2's well and charges about £40.
Thanks guys. I've actually just noticed on the MOT certificate, the advisory is "Front track rod end ball joint has slight play". Sounds like this could be what's causing it?
check the crappy tyres... my american ones were cheap nasty, put bridgestone van tyres on and it's a different ride.
You should check the rod ends, ball joints, and steering idler pin... replace anything that is slack/loose, then get the tracking and camber done!! Also as already mentioned, old/cheap tires are a big no no!! Tires really only have a road life of 5 years... some less than that!!
My two-penneth from setting lots of vans up (once you've replaced any worn joints), Your probs are caused by the camber and tracking being wrong and if that doesn't sort it, it's the tyres. They might look ok and evenly worn but that means nowt. If the steering box is worn it should still go in a straight line all on it's own. If the wind catches it, it'll be steering box or more likely under-inflated or under-spec tyres. If it understeers, same. Gut feeling is camber as it's happening at such a slow speed.
check it has the steering damper on it ....Sound like the ball in the middle of your beam might be coming away from the axle ,it is fun driving with it off ,get it checked before driving it...again..
Mine passed an MOT one year no probs at our local garage and by the next year , it was veering all over the place - about half a motorway lane in a Force 10 crosswind. On several occasions I turned off the motorway onto country roads where the lower speed made it easier to hold on-line but still very stressful. This year it went to a MOT tester who does all the VW's sent by SGS Aircooled, and they reported that the steering drag link was about to fall off. When that was replaced, suddenly the bus was able to go 'hands-free' for short distances. Before that there was nothing visible to my inexperienced eyes in the suspension, and every time I poked around underneath, the drag link managed to jam itself on so it did not wobble around.
