Steering and Alignment Questions (W124,201,126) - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

JamesDean · #1 10-02-2013, 08:48 AM

Good Morning All,

I have a few questions regarding the steering and alignment on these cars.

1) How does the steering geometry compensate for road crown?

As long as the crown is not ridiculous, should my car always drive straight down with minimal compensation needed from the the driver? Or should I expect to have to hold the wheel in a certain direction based on the lane I am in?

Example: In my 124, if I am in the right most lane on the freeway, I can drive with minimal corrections needed to the wheel. If I go into the middle or right most lanes, I need to hold the wheel to the right otherwise it will pull to the left.

2) How does a high or low set caster effect the steering?

Does a low caster make the car tramline or follow the road imperfections/variations more? Or is this completely unrelated? If the car has a high caster value set, does that make the wheels "desire" to return to center higher thus "listening" to the steering wheel over the road surface variations?

As I understand it, using the steering gear box locking pin (removing the drain bolt, and installing a longer one that goes into the gear box piston is crucial as well as the use of a spreader bar in preloading the suspension. These are the first two steps in a proper alignment, correct?

3) In general, when the car is getting aligned, what effect does leaving the steering gear box centering pin out have on the overall alignment?

If someone were to align the car, centering the wheel by locking it using the normal steering lock that engaged when you take your key out and move the wheel about...what effect would that have on steering? Would that "position" be center?

[B] 4) In general, when the car is getting aligned, what effect does NOT using the spreader bar have?

Just trying to sort things out and clear them up! Thanks for the replies and comments!