road and workshop by Handyman
Page 60
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Details to save down-time (23)
1 driver may be able to save workshop staff lot of time if when reporting steering rouble, he remembers, for instance, that front wheel dropped into a drain-hole 0 MUCH has to be spent on workshop quipment in order to cope with changes in iesign, brake testing, electrical, and even crew threads and nut sizes, that there may be danger that certain items that are necessary o give quick and complete answers to steerag and tyre problems, for instance, will .ppear as a luxury. Sometimes the manager vill prefer to stick to his old rod-type tracking ;auge, for the time being that is, until more Fbviously urgent tool replacements are made. However, we are constantly on the lookput for the cheaper but reliable answer to odd sr severe tyre wear, steering wobble, shudder Lt speed, etc, and much time and expense an be avoided if the job can be done on the ite just as quickly as it is found in trouble. For example, there are several forms of dd behaviour set up when the original amber setting is upset. The driver can be a ,reat help if, when he reports steering mischaviour, he will add anything that apperied — such as that he accidentally Iropped his front wheel into a roadside [rain. A loaded front axle dropping solidly or 9in. can shock both the swivel assembly md the axle beam, and the camber at that ide can be well out. Also, since no other ill :fleets are experienced right away, it can be ome days before odd behaviour or tyre year is reported.
The ideal tool is, of course, one of the iptical track and alignment instruments available, but they are expensive. One answer to this is the very compact Kismet three-way gauge. No long rods, frames or mirrors are involved; instead this device quickly attaches to the front spindle nut, and there is an adaptor for the heavy commercial vehicle.
At the most, there is a hub cap to remove to expose the nut, the clamp locks on, and all the necessary readings of camber, castor and kingpin angle are taken from the face of the wheel bearing. This cuts out the problem of the slightly buckled wheel rim which can throw out when the trammel or alignment gauge pointers are offered to it.
Accuracy in axle alignment with the extendable trammel, or frame gauge needing pointers to register on the wheel rim is often made more difficult by the fact that wheel rims are not as a rule machined and may not be exactly true; rust, bruises and pitting also create problems for the pointerequipped gauge. However, to make sure that your instrument has a chance to give a true reading, mark a set place on the rim for the first measurement, give the vuheel half a turn to bring the same mark to the rear position and any variation will show up and can be allowed for.
To return to down-time in the workshop, I have just seen an example of the results of down-time, arising from a lack of thought or experience. In this instance it was during the removal of a steering drop arm from a Burman-type steering box, and the damage arose because there was no extractor available at the time, and the young mechanic set to with a heavy hammer from behind the arm.
Split outer track
When the arm was eventually removed, it was found that the heavy shock had been transmitted to the steering-box-shaft ball race, and the hardened bearing outer track was split. Therefore, never attempt this kind of hammering. However, since the drop arm is to be removed it usually follows that some work is to be done in the box itself, therefore if no extractor is available, the answer is to leave the arm on the shaft until the box is removed. Then remove the opposite side cover, and by supporting the box on the cover plate face, the shaft can be either pressed out of the arm, or driven through with a copper hammier.
The real danger would arise had the hammer blows eventually brought the arm off, without the cracked bearing coming to light. For instance, had there been just a shaft oil seal to change, the cracked bearing track could have remained in that condition unseen, only to break up at a critical time on the road, and be the possible cause of steering lock-up and an accident.