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Steering pulling to left


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My TR2 pulls to the left while driving, pulls up straight when braking, and virtually every moving part has been replaced ,Poly bushes, new dampers and springs all round, new trunnions and ball joints. Any suggestions where to look for the likely culprit? Must add, it does'nt seem as pronounced at higher speeds on the Motorway.

Thanks

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1st thought is tyre pressures.

2nd is that the arms which are bolted to the inside of the vertical link, & then to the track rod ends - if one is bent that can cause the natural self centering to be offset.

I had this once on my old Scimitar (TR suspension) cure was to add washers between this arm, & either front fixing, or rear fixing to link to correct.

(I would probably just replace the bent arm these days, but then (1970's) cash was tight !

 

BTW on a normal cambered road you will always get some drift to the left.

 

Bob.

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Have you checked the front wheel alignment?

 

If it is better at speed I would be looking for some form of friction like the brakes. Are the shoes lightly dragging on the drum ? Maybe the LH drum might be slightly oval have you tried swaping the drums between the front wheels ?

I did not think sidescreens had self centering, was that not the reason for the 3° top arms and trunion on the later 4's

 

cheers

 

Alan

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All cars have self centering - driving would be impossible without it. The change in camber on the later cars was to improve road holding.

To alter the self centering effect you change the "castor" angle (I have done this on my 1935 Hillman - to good effect).

 

Wheel alignment would also not effect pulling one way or the other, if out of line the steering wheel will be off centre, & you will wear out tyres quicker.

 

I agree it could be brake related, or tyre related - try swapping the front wheels over.

 

Bob.

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"All cars have self centering - driving would be impossible without it" not so in my experience. There isn't much discernable self-centreing on my '3A and of course the sidescreen cars were designed with zero castor so you would not expect any. Neither is there any on my vintage car but I don't find either to be impossible to drive - in fact they are both quite enjoyable though of course need more concentration than a modern car does. Isn't that just the point of running them?

 

I agree that road camber has a marked effect and the lack of castor on a TR2 will tend to accentuate that. There isn't much camber on a motorway which could be why you don't notice the effect so much there. I assume you have had the alignment checked - having no toe-in (or even worse toe-out) will make the car run down the camber.

Its not clear whether this is something new, nor what the degree of 'pull' is. If it is only mild and you can find a quiet stretch of road why not try driving on the other side for a short distance, which will tell you whether it is camber-related or not.

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Many years ago when I had a 2000 the car pulled to the left whenever the tracking was not spot on. A quick trip to the shop to get the tracking aligned and all was well again

 

Cheers

 

Howard

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Sounds to me like castor trail is out on one side; too mcuh on the side it pulls towards- or too little on the other. Supposedly castor is set by the trunnions. But if the upper wishbones have been swapped front to back one on one side of the car the castor could be unbalanced. Well, it can on a 6, not sure about upper wishbone differences on a 2.

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When I got my 3 it pulled to the left, after much checking the left side top wish bones were bent. Also on inspection the tyres were worn on one side, I suspect the the car had been like this for a while and the tyres had been swapped around to spread the worn tyres around ! New wish bones and tyre have transformed the car currently performing well in the south of France ????????????

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Thanks gentlemen, I'll try the easy bits first i.e. tracking and swapping the front wheels around, before the hard core stuff.Don't think it's the brakes as it's always done it, and I've changed to TR3 discs a while ago. Driving on the opposite side would be worth trying, never thought of that. I do have access to an all singing dancing Laser alignment via a friend, but they seem to work on data in the machine, and don't cover classics, or is it a case of they can only follow the pretty pic's and no deviation?

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We really should get our two cars together since my drum braked TR2 pulls to the right! Not a problem on gradual braking from any speed but a sudden stab of the pedal will give an almost violent pull to the right.

 

Lou Metelko

Auburn, Indiana USA

54 TR2LD

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I would also check that the rear axle is properly located on the springs and that the location pegs are acually there a have not beenremoved by a PO.

Saw this on a Midget some years ago. The axle was at least 1/2" out of alignment as the axle had slid along the spring under the U bolts.

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Bloody hell Stuart are you trying to give me the D.T's :o

On the subject of rear springs, when the drivers side was removed there were TWO holes in the U bolt plate, and the bolt through the leaves although cenrtal on top, at the bottom where it emerges it was 2 inches further forward! work that one out,I've never seen that before.

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Might be a good idea to do a measure of front to rear on the hubs each side.

Stuart.

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