TheSamba.com :: View topic - Steering swings back and forth when towing flat..Help?

Fri Jul 06, 2007 7:38 pm

Guys -

I need to move my inop 72 beetle to a new storage location. I filled up the tires and put on the tow bar. I took it for a short slow run down my street, and a couple of times the beetle shook hard side to side because its steering was going back and forth about a half turn. I have towed my 62 flat hundreds of miles on the tow bar with no problem... anybody run into this before or have a suggestion on how to stop it? I tried searching the forums, but found nothing. My only thoughts are trying to damp the steering wheel with a bungee chord, or giving up on the flat tow and rent a dolly from U-Haul. Any advise appreciated.

Matt

Fri Jul 06, 2007 7:40 pm

You could put someone in the towed car to steer, but why not rent a tow dolly to at least get the front off the street?

Fri Jul 06, 2007 7:47 pm

it could be something as simple as lug studs

Fri Jul 06, 2007 7:55 pm

Porterville -

You mean lugs being loose? I did not check that, so I'll add that to my list.

Mike -

Yeah, I hate to spend the $50 to rent the dolly, but I will do that if I can't get the shimy fixed. also, I visited your web site, pretty cool. Your ghia is really nice.

Matt

Fri Jul 06, 2007 8:21 pm

#1 Cause is the tow bar not being level, get a drop ball mount if you need one. #2 Cause is bad steering damper

Fri Jul 06, 2007 8:38 pm

I'm not an advocate of using a tow dolly. Tow dolly's are expensive, cumbersom, agravating and time comsuming, not to mention the fact that you can't back up very far with one. With a tow bar and the steering locked you can back up as far as you like.
Remedy the problem and you can tow it thousands of trouble free miles.
Is your VW a standard or Super? Super front ends must be in tip top shape to tow.

If it is a standard the remedy could be a new steering damper.

I have towed my '67 thousands of miles and only had that problem once.
When this happens stop the vehicles while moving in a straight line forward and start moving forward again slowly then accelerate to highway speed.

If you do have a bad steering damper you can do this in an emergency:
1( Make sure the VW front wheels are straight.
2( Take a 24" bungie and hook one end under the front seat.
3( pull up a moderate amount of pressure and wrap the steering wheel twice and hook the other end under the seat.
This is just a stop gap measure until you can fix the problem
Marvin

Fri Jul 06, 2007 9:10 pm

one of your front drums are dragging and is tighter than the other

Fri Jul 06, 2007 9:46 pm

I really appreciate the suggestions;

Things I'll check in the morning -

- Lug Bolts Tight
- Brake shoes backed all the way out
- Steering Damper - (Anybody know how to easily test the steering damper?)
- buy a bungie cord for backup.

Matt

Sat Jul 07, 2007 6:26 am

You can do all that and if your tow bar isn't level with the ground still have a problem.

Sat Jul 07, 2007 7:43 am

as dr darby says, the tow bar needs to be as level as possible or you are pulling upward as well as forward on the bar...this makes the front end light and also raises the suspension which makes the toe-in greater....the main reason a vw will sway when being towed is either towbar angle or bad alignment....adding some weight to the trunk can help stabilize it a bit. replacing the steering damper will do nothing to cover up the real issues...

Sat Jul 07, 2007 7:49 am

I have found that at low speeds, VWs being towed tend to swing back and forth. Goose the throttle a bit and it behaves quickly. I doubt a dragging drum would cause it, but checking the alignment couldn't hurt.

Sat Jul 07, 2007 8:52 am

Icy wrote: I have found that at low speeds, VWs being towed tend to swing back and forth. Goose the throttle a bit and it behaves quickly. I doubt a dragging drum would cause it, but checking the alignment couldn't hurt.

actually, it happened to me.
i was towing a thing and the wheels would shake back and fourth no matter what i did.

i had a dragging drum.now, it was really dragging hard. so, i pulled the drum and pulled the brake pads off and it was fine.

may not be his problem, but i would never count it out

Sat Jul 07, 2007 8:58 am

pumpkinthing wrote: Icy wrote: I have found that at low speeds, VWs being towed tend to swing back and forth. Goose the throttle a bit and it behaves quickly. I doubt a dragging drum would cause it, but checking the alignment couldn't hurt.

actually, it happened to me.
i was towing a thing and the wheels would shake back and fourth no matter what i did.

i had a dragging drum.now, it was really dragging hard. so, i pulled the drum and pulled the brake pads off and it was fine.

may not be his problem, but i would never count it out Very good point. I would think that it would cause the car to keep dragging to one side, rather that the side-to-side problem mentioned here. That's one reason, when I pick up a "pile" that I use my trailer. ;)

Sat Jul 07, 2007 9:05 am

what it was doing , ICY, it would pull to one side then the urge to go straight would pull it back. and so on and so on.

i was so frustrated , i almost rented a tow dolly.

i wish i could lay down some $$$ for a trailer. someday i will have to.
for now, i keep racking up miles on the towbar :wink:

Sat Jul 07, 2007 9:41 am

The tow bar is my first guess also. "close enough" to level sometimes isn't enough. The other thing is tires - are they the same tire on both sides? Or just tires to get it rolling. They may track alright when you are in the car driving it, but when no one is hanging onto the wheel it may track wierd.

Sat Jul 07, 2007 11:06 am

Update -

After checking some of the other possibilities, I switched tow vehicle this morning, and had no further problems. I didn't have time to experiment, but I think this indicates that the problem was the towbar not being level - the first vehicle was a chevy sedan, and I think the ball is lower on it than my other vehicle.

I really appreciate all the help guys.

Matt