I dunno if a P/S sector would help in returning to center, though would reduce turns lock to lock... What would help is less assist and/or adding positive caster to the front end alignment...
Even with assist off it still wont center by it self. I've played with the strut rod a few times until the last adjustment bringing the front wheels closer to the front valence but it did not help.
Ummm, I can visualize that, got the T-Shirt for that one... No chance the column has some bind after the install??
That's what i thought too.. Yesterday i jacked up the front end, wheels in the air moved the wheels side to side and there is resistence like if it had a frozen bearing on the column so i pulled the column out and then the wheels turned with ease. Tried moving the column to different angles i have two u joints on the intermid shaft. One is right at the ragjoint on the box and the other joint is at the output shaft of the column same location as it is in the Saturn Vue. Funny thing is that with the system off i can grab the intermid shaft by one hand and turn it with ease to both sides but at the wheels it is somewhat hard. The colum has a resistance turning the shaft because i imagine im also turning the motor in it. So i guess that with that resistance plus the resistance from the sector it makes it too stiff for the wheels to center on its own? That's why i thought of the power steering sector. It might have less resistence because of its ratio?
I'm gonna agree with that, too much total resistance to overcome... Looking at it in that light the P/S sector can't hurt ... Wonder if the original system logic gives assist in return? (though I can't visualize that operation)
From all the sites i've been reading about this system. Some people will say that there is a sensor on the colums that tells the computer where center is and once there is no more torq on the steering wheel it will make the motor bring it to center. Some say that this unit from the saturn does not have this system and that the steering sector has some sort of a special grind on gears or tooth that makes it self center. I also read on some mustang forum that on these new mustangs when you do some mods on the car like lowereing or even changing tires sizes the self centering gets screwed!
Always something to screw ya... I have a buddy that owns a car lot, maybe he has one I can look at(he did have a Ion), though I'm not sure sure I'd recognize what I was seeing...
Yeah. Tell me about it! Why can't things just work the way we want it to? I don't know if i can get used to it like that. It's freaking awesome now to get out and in my driveway. before it was a pita! Wide tires small steering wheel wasn't fun! But on the road it was good and firm. Now what i had bad is good and what was good now is bad! Hahaha!
Sorry I haven't been more help but I will check with my buddy this week to see what he has... I'd really like to see one of these systems operate...
You're helping! Just by thinking about it and giving sugestions. Two or more brains thinking is better than just one. Thanks! Let me know if you see or think of anything else!
What is your caster? I'm unsure about what it takes to inform the system of center but if you can find an answer for how it's determined, you can simulate those conditions manually. Mods like this are a learning process but there's usually a way around software idiosyncrasies.
I couldn't tell you what exactly my caster is. What i can tell you is that i've played with the strut rods bringing the wheels close to the valence. it came to a point that the tires started rubbing on the valence. It did not help with the issue it all. I don't know anyone good in my area that could help me with the alignment. Tire places around me has kids working and they can't even do good work on a modern car, if i bring my mav there i'm sure they will just scratch their heads and try to do what the pc tells them To.
You'll need to find a good alignment shop that is familiar with older cars and modifications that affect the factory settings to get the best results. That will require some research on your part for your area. My thought is that when the system is powered it's holding (giving resistance) electrically which is resisting the natural tendency of the suspension to return to center. When properly aligned, caster will create this tendency. With resistance created by the motor, it sounds as if it's fighting that tendency. The system should have the ability to see center and hold it but it may be dependent on software and/or other inputs possibly from other systems. The way I understand this particular setup is that it gets turning torque from the steering wheel side of the motor using a torque sensor type of arrangement that determines input forces. It resists changes in direction from the output side to prevent wandering and unwanted changes in direction. I want to try this system as well for the record.
I got this from a falcon board. “1960-1966 Mustang and Falcon Performance Alignment with UCA drop”. Electric power steering These specifications are in order of importance. 1. NO more than .25 degrees difference between driver’s side and passenger’s side. 2. +5.0 degrees caster. NOTE: for cars with Adjustable strut rods. Please attain as much caster as possible using the shims (at least 1.5 to 2.0 degrees), and then use the adjustable strut rods to increase the caster and make the sides the same. Also, please note that the caster difference between the driver’s side and passenger’s side needs to have no more .25 degrees difference prior to the adjustment of the strut rods. 3. -.5 to 0 degrees camber. No positive camber, please. There is no problem having a slight variation from driver’s side to passenger’s side to account for the crown in the road. 4. 1/16" to 1/8” toe in So I played around with the suspension this afternoon based on these directions... Now i'm not a front end guy nor have any specialty tools for alignments never worked doing alignments either . But i went ahead and pulled the strut rod arms all that i could with out the tires hitting the valence, next i played with the camber bolt i made it go negative a good amount. Dont ask me how many degrees! LOL. Then i went to the tie rod ends and extended them a little bit and used a cord to align the front wheels with the rear wheels. I left the toe a bit in. Took car for a drive and oh boy it's so much better it is even handling better. So now i'm going to look for a decent shop that will do these settings above and i think it should be good after that!
As long as you have some type power assist, positive camber is your friend, though with manual steering makes one with big tires a major chore to park... I have my wheels pulled forward till it's starting to look funny, still no doubt short on positive caster... One of these days I'm going to pull the upper control arms and rotate shaft to push them rearward...
