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Steering Damper
Anyone have a steering damper on their early 90’s XL. I have one that I want to put on but I see nowhere to attach it. My drive axle is not like the drawing on the Tech page. The prevost site shows a power steering cylinder on the pass side going to the a bar on the wheel and a steering damper on the drivers side going to the drivers side wheel. There is no whole in the bar on the drives side like on passenger side and the power steering ram going pass center on the axle so I don’t see how you could put a second bracket on the axle to anchor the damper. If anyone out there has one on their coach I would love to see pictures.
thanks
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14 Replies
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I have both on mine damper on drive side and power steering on passenger side I wll try to take pic of it not right away have show to do maybe next wed
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Thanks
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really interested in how it attaches to the axle and wheel. I see no hole where I wouid assume it would attach to the wheel steering.
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Greg, it appears from the photo that there are mounting adaptors required.
I think an iquiry to Prevost parts will fix you up.
JIM
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Thanks will give them a call.
Greg
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Why do you want a dampner???
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I don’t have the great drive that everyone talks about I work with the steering wheel. I have tried driving far down the road and replaced rubber underneath and I have a steering damper on hand.
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A steering dampener might help, but I found it’s primary purpose is to snuff out the wobble or oscilations after hitting a bump such as a pot hole.
If you are having to work hard to get the bus to track and are confident the obvious issues such as kingpins and tie rod ends are OK, tire pressures are good, and there is no slop in the balance of the steering linkage look long and hard at the caster on the coach along with toe in. Sometimes bad toe in adjustments can be felt by running your hands across the tire tread, but not always. Caster has almost no affect on tire wear, but plays a large role in tracking. Especially on our coaches.
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Greg, even if you completely rebuild your suspension & steering if you drive on used tires you might/probably will have steering/wander issues.
For the condition you described do not look exclusively in the front suspension.
Check your drive and tag components for wear/slop tightness and alignment.
There are large struts with shims (at the axle housing end) for adjustment of the drive axle perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the bus. Look for that point and be sure the (large) bolts are tight.
When loose the axle will move ever so slightly front to back upon acceleration and decelleration therby causing the coach to move ever so slightly from side to side. When out of alignment the drives will be pushing the coach at an angle and causing steering correction.
A steering dampener might help with control in a front tire blow out situation.
MY RULE TO SELF: When purchasing new tires for the price of one additional tire get a three axle alignment.
JIM
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Tires seem to be wearing smoothly, I had it aligned and it came out OK. Caster I remember PeterV thread on changing the caster, but my coach has both the up and lower rods on the same side of the axle, and if I recall then I measured them and they were the same length. In Caster does these mean the wheel center is head or behind the axle? Everything is tight underneath. I may just take it to Henderson (they work on the Marathons in Coberg) in Eugene and get someone who knows more.
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Greg, for best results Google, explanation of front wheel caster with diagrams, then you will have a lot of reading material and pictures.
JIM
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Greg,
The numbers are in the Prevost Service manual for the degrees of caster. Think of it this way….
If you have zero caster no matter which direction you are rolling you better have your hands on the steering wheel at all times because the wheels will go in any direction they want to. Think of a supermarket cart with the pivot directly above the centerline of the wheel.
With the proper caster, which is only a few degrees when the coach is rolling forward the steering wheels will tend to always center themselves and point the coach straight down the road. Again think of the supermarket cart and how pushing forward on the cart tends to make the wheels point straight. Now think of the same cart and wheels, but limit how much they can pivot left to right. You already know going forward they will pull themselves straight. But as soon as you pull the cart backwards they will cock to the left or right and the cart will not go backwards in a straight line. The same thing happens to the bus. Let go of the wheel backing up and it will turn and no matter how far you back up it will not straighten out.
So the right amount of caster keeps you tracking straight, and because there is so little caster when you back up the wheel is not snatched from your hands while the wheels try to turn.left or right.
The amount of caster is very important to tracking. But so is having everything tight and the proper toe in.
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I measured the support arms for the axle, in theory the upper on should be 23 7/8 cc and the lower one 22 7/8 cc. Giving a positive caster or center of wheel vertical line slightlhy tilting back. Mine are all the same length 23.5″ upper and lower. I could be off a little but not a inch and they are all the same lenght.
I wonder what’s up?
Greg
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I think the first step is to get to a shop capable of doing a 3 axle alignment.
My 87 tracked very well. Having said that, my 97 tracked better, and the current 06 better yet. Every single one of them tracked far better than a high end plastic motorhome I drove so you should not be working hard when driving.
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