Wobbly Steering

Had a 12 plate MAN TGX 26.440 today while mine was in for MOT, as soon as I got on to the M1 at J15 she started to weave about, not too much, but enough to keep compensating every few seconds. The tyres were all good & seemed to be up to pressure, all the wheel nuts felt solid, I was only carrying 10 pallets around 2 tons on the pin & I tried it with the lift axle down, but it made no difference.
It’s been defected & is in for her 6 week check on Monday. She’s done 243652 km.
Any ideas as to what might be wrong ?
Felt like the linkage, the tram lines were fun. Lol.

wheel bearing ■■?

Alignment…

Is there plenty of grease on the 5th wheel .?

Don’t quote me but we had MAN’s bloody awful motors felt like you were all over the shop.
We were told its to do with The truck boasts full air suspension …
Its the only truck I have had this problem with and felt sea sick after every shift :open_mouth:

As Shugg suggests, 5th wheel dry?

5th wheel too far back?

New drive axle tyres not yet bedded in?

When going from power to overrun and back do you detect a slight sideways shift, in some cases you can see this from the mirrors as the angle 'tween tractor and trailer change, even slightly, could be worn 5th wheel jaws (unlikely) or bushes worn on drive axle top tie rods, whatever they’re called, they used to wear on the previous model look like a similar layout to a mere steering wheel jockey like me, i thought it was 5th wheel wear but the mechanics knew exactly where to look when i described the symptoms.

Thanks for your replies Guys, I’ll put them to the fitter on Monday & wait for the feedback.

Check for sheared locating pin on a front spring.
U bolts are still tight but axle can “float”
First sign is that the steering wheel is off center.

I drove one of them up to last week. Constantly “following” it around the road. Never got to the bottom of it

When correcting the steering, and under normal driving, did the steering feel heavy around the centre?

I had a motor which vibrated and wobbled like buggery.
Apparently it was the cab mounting bushes - the ones on
the pivot at the front where it tilts.

No ones mentioned wheel balancing

Worn or seized steering column U/J ?

shuttlespanker:
When correcting the steering, and under normal driving, did the steering feel heavy around the centre?

Not really, just wouldn’t hold a straight line for more than a couple of seconds. My 13 plate, (that’s done around 110,000 km) goes for ‘miles’ with out ‘wondering all over the road’.

It only seemed to be at motorway speed/over 50 mph, I drove from MK to J15 at 40 mph (about 10 miles) & didn’t notice any thing wrong.

ringfur:
No ones mentioned wheel balancing

Good point, but I would probably have felt that through the steering wheel/vibration.

get the king pins greased, there will possibly be end caps over the grease ■■■■■■■, hammer and chisel should sort them out :wink:

shuttlespanker:
get the king pins greased, there will possibly be end caps over the grease ■■■■■■■, hammer and chisel should sort them out :wink:

Our fitter mentioned that when I told him about it on Friday. Its not my usual motor & I reckon Adie (the usual driver) hasn’t noticed it as much as I did, because it wasn’t a massive distortion & its probably just crept up on him.

Funny how the night trunkers haven’t noticed it either, perhaps its because the culture here is- Pull into the yard, jump out & get home before the turbo’s stopped spinning :unamused:

Defects ? defects ? What are those :confused:. some of them don’t even do the statuary walk round check before they take the wagon out. :imp:
I’m just waiting for VOSA to target them one night, at least my records will be straight :wink:

that’s just it, if it has a regular driver, he won’t notice it, because it is a very gradual change, but, if you go from your regular motor which is fine, on to the one where the king pins need greasing, it is very noticeable :wink:

shuttlespanker:
get the king pins greased, there will possibly be end caps over the grease ■■■■■■■, hammer and chisel should sort them out :wink:

That’s a good point, they often get overlooked, I seem to remember a TGA we had was sorted like that but I found the MAN’s to be lively on the steering ( motorway ruts etc.) compared to other makes.

martinviking:

shuttlespanker:
get the king pins greased, there will possibly be end caps over the grease ■■■■■■■, hammer and chisel should sort them out :wink:

Our fitter mentioned that when I told him about it on Friday. Its not my usual motor & I reckon Adie (the usual driver) hasn’t noticed it as much as I did, because it wasn’t a massive distortion & its probably just crept up on him.

Funny how the night trunkers haven’t noticed it either, perhaps its because the culture here is- Pull into the yard, jump out & get home before the turbo’s stopped spinning :unamused:

Defects ? defects ? What are those :confused:. some of them don’t even do the statuary walk round check before they take the wagon out. :imp:
I’m just waiting for VOSA to target them one night, at least my records will be straight :wink:

Funny enough Martin, a mate of mine is doing quite a bit of subbing work out of your place in his white (well silver actually) vans. He reckons they are slick, professional, easy to work with and above all pay on time every time. He can’t sing their praises high enough.