Hard to turn left

62 Beetle, stock.

I adjusted the front wheel alignment (1/8" toe in) , but find that it
is still very difficult to turn left. Turning right is easy, but left
turns take about 5x the effort on the steering wheel. I jacked up the
car so no weight was on the wheels and cannot find any binding in the
steering mechanism.

Any ideas???

bokuglen wrote:
> 62 Beetle, stock.
>
> I adjusted the front wheel alignment (1/8" toe in) , but find that it
> is still very difficult to turn left. Turning right is easy, but left
> turns take about 5x the effort on the steering wheel. I jacked up the
> car so no weight was on the wheels and cannot find any binding in the
> steering mechanism.
>
> Any ideas???
>

Disconnect the Pitman arm. See if the bind is in the box.
That will also isolate the wheels (somewhat) so you
can move them back and forth. If necessary, take a tie rod
off to move each wheel thru its range.

My bet would be on the box.

Speedy Jim
http://www.nls.net/mp/volks/

Speedy, you forgot the obvious! This could be a Republican Beetle! It
would be cruel and unusual to force it to sway to the left.
--
KWW
'65 Beetle (Jenny the IOC)
'64 Beetle (TBD the Blue Wave)
"Speedy Jim" > wrote in message
.net...
> bokuglen wrote:
>> 62 Beetle, stock.
>>
>> I adjusted the front wheel alignment (1/8" toe in) , but find that it
>> is still very difficult to turn left. Turning right is easy, but left
>> turns take about 5x the effort on the steering wheel. I jacked up the
>> car so no weight was on the wheels and cannot find any binding in the
>> steering mechanism. Any ideas???
>>
>
> Disconnect the Pitman arm. See if the bind is in the box.
> That will also isolate the wheels (somewhat) so you
> can move them back and forth. If necessary, take a tie rod
> off to move each wheel thru its range.
>
> My bet would be on the box.
>
> Speedy Jim
> http://www.nls.net/mp/volks/

"KWW" > wrote in message
. ..
> Speedy, you forgot the obvious! This could be a Republican Beetle! It
> would be cruel and unusual to force it to sway to the left.


hehe...that made me laugh...

KWW wrote:

> Speedy, you forgot the obvious! This could be a Republican Beetle! It
> would be cruel and unusual to force it to sway to the left.

Best laugh all day!
Jim

Everybody: I found the problem- it was the brakes !

I noticed my right rear wheel got very hot after a short drive. After
removing that drum, I found that the wheel cylinder was sticking open,
causing the brake shoes to drag. This caused the car to be very
difficult to turn left. Sort of like those dune buggies with the
separate rear brake handles to assist turning.

I couldn't find any issue with the cylinder, as when I opened up the
bleed valve, the cylinder retracted properly. The real issue was the
rubber brake tubing that connects to the metal brake lines. These were
very old and collapsed over time. They would pass brake fluid OUT
because of the high pressure from stepping on the brakes, but would not
allow the fluid to come back IN, hence locking the brakes on.
Replacing the rubber lines fixed this problem, and the 'hard to turn
left' problem completely. THe car also has more apparent power without
the brakes being constantly on !

Keep an eye on the ground around that wheel for a while to make sure that
oil does not start to collect on the ground when it is parked. Sometimes
excessive heat can mess up the rear wheel seal - maybe damage the o-rings on
the wheel seal or something.

--
KWW
'65 Beetle (Jenny the IOC)
'64 Beetle (TBD the Blue Wave)
"bokuglen" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>
> Everybody: I found the problem- it was the brakes !
>
> I noticed my right rear wheel got very hot after a short drive. After
> removing that drum, I found that the wheel cylinder was sticking open,
> causing the brake shoes to drag. This caused the car to be very
> difficult to turn left. Sort of like those dune buggies with the
> separate rear brake handles to assist turning.
>
> I couldn't find any issue with the cylinder, as when I opened up the
> bleed valve, the cylinder retracted properly. The real issue was the
> rubber brake tubing that connects to the metal brake lines. These were
> very old and collapsed over time. They would pass brake fluid OUT
> because of the high pressure from stepping on the brakes, but would not
> allow the fluid to come back IN, hence locking the brakes on.
> Replacing the rubber lines fixed this problem, and the 'hard to turn
> left' problem completely. THe car also has more apparent power without
> the brakes being constantly on !
>