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Show KEEPING THE MOTOR CAR IN LEASH (Merrill C. Horine.) Easiest of driving operations, soonest soon-est learned and last mastered, most often in tho thoughts, yet given least frequent attention, O steering gear, thy -lot is hard! There is no major part of the chassis about which so. little is understood by tho average owner as the- steering gear, and yet there is nothing which upon failure through neglect could precipitate greater tragedy. Crippled is tho ship whose masts have fallen before the gale, but doubly helpless is the rudderless craft. The greatest railway disaster short of collision Is to jump the track at speed. That more motor accidents do not result re-sult from tho negligence of most drivers in not keeping a weather eye on the steering gear, while warranting the greatest honors to the builders of those units, is perhaps primly unfor tunate, for danger breeds caution. Steering gears suffer from various ailments, all of which have simple remedies, but which develop into diro disorders if neglected. Most common among these is backlash or lost motion. mo-tion. Most gears have worm-and-nut or worm-and-gear actions, the worm ; being a very large and coarse screw : attached to the base of the steering J post, working In a nut or on tho teeth j of a gear, so that the turning of tho worm or screw moves the nut up or down or turns tho bear. A simple bell-crank bell-crank or olbow-lover transmits this motion to tho steering rod of drag-link drag-link which is connected with the steering steer-ing knuckle on the front axle. Naturally there are bearings to tako tho great thrust on tho worm and there are adjustments, In the worm-and-gear type, to govern tho mash of tho teeth. Usually back -lash will originate horo and Is easily remedied by turning up on a nut at the bottom of the gear. Sometimes this nut is at the top, but whatover Its location, its owner should have no difficulty in finding it, for it is always quite large and provided with a positive and, incidentally, in-cidentally, highly necessary lock. Tho adjustment of the gears themsolvos Is not difficult nor often required a'd ordinarily consists of an eccentric bushing on the gear shaft by which the gear may bo drawn closer toward it to take up the wear on tho teeth. After years of use a steering gear of the geared type will wear sufficiently so that adjustment of the mesh will not take up all of tho back-lash. In this case an entirely new wearing surface must be provided. This is done very easily, in tho majority of cases, by removing the bell-crank arm at tho side. This leaves tho squared shank of the gear shaft expospd. The hand wheel may now bo turned until tho squared shaft has made one-quarter turn and the bell -crank arm slipped back in place. An entirely new sector of the gear is now in mesh with tho worm and tho gear will bo-havo bo-havo virtually like a new one. But tho owner would make a mistake mis-take if ho Bhould Infer uiat all his back-lash must bo located In the gear itself. Before talcing any drastic measures meas-ures with this admirable mechanism, a few experiments will save much timo and, If caro is taken, will reveal tho exact seat of tho difficulty. With an assistant to movo the hand wheel as far a sit turns freely, that is, as far as the lost motion extends, ono may watch first the bell -crank arm. If for the entire distance the bell-crank arm remains stationary, then tho lost motion Is entirely in tho gear itself. If, conversoly, it moves in response to every motion of tho hand' wheel, then the innocent gear Is vindicated and tho cause lies in the steering linkage. link-age. This should bo traced from beginning be-ginning to end, starling at tho bell-crank bell-crank arm and moving forward. The joints in the tie-bar may also bo tested, although their looseness would not havo any effect upon back-lash Jn steering, but would cause the wheels to wabble and run out of lino. If this is not sufficient to locate tho trouble, careful attention should be given to the steering knuckles themselves. them-selves. If tho front wheels aro raised on a jack, one may turn the wheels, as In ateorlng, pushing or pulling on ' the road wheel itself. An assistant may be stationed at the Bteoring wheel to hold It ngalnat motion. Por-hapa Por-hapa this -will roveal a looso Bteoring knucklo. Thero la not always an adjustment, ad-justment, but, If there is, it will bo just as simple as the others. If not and the play is excessive, then a now aleovo or bushing will bo necessary. It is to bo hoped that no special instruction in-struction is neoded for the adjustment of the rod-euds, but a word of caution cau-tion may not be amiss. In these au-Justments, au-Justments, as in all others in tho steering system, or on tho car, for' that matter, care must bo taken to in-1 sure the perfect freedom of all moving mov-ing parts Tho adjustment should bo with such finesse that the parts will bo ns loose as possible without the least bit of detectable play. ' I Barring troubles from acctdoht or- bad design, this method should locate and remedy oven the most aggravated case of road -wabbles. Sometimes, though, a very obscure back-lash will persist in spite of conscientious care in taking up properly on every adjustments. adjust-ments. One cause of this .s a loose handwheel. Ordinarily tho wheel is attached to the end of the steering pillar by a squared end, a keyed end, or a spllno. Some of these fastenings will bocome loose at times. Anothor causo of back-lash is loose fastenings of tho steering gear itself where it attaches to tho frame. Needless Need-less to say .this Is a most dangerous condition for any part to get Into 'and it should bo remedied at onco when discovered, oven if it is necessary to lay up tho car while rolnforcoment is being applied. Of course lost motion Is not tho only 111 to which steering gears aro heir. They sometimes bind and "steer hard." Horo enters tho ogre, Friction. He Is the avenger of carelessness care-lessness about lubrication. Keep everything ev-erything oiled and it should operate freely. J In one of tho minor bumps or skids that nearly every owner has before ho becomes initiated some part may have become sprung. That long pillar offers much opportunity for misalignment. The dash should be rigid. Hasty Judgment of the cause of lost motion leads many motorists to tighten too much on the steering adjustments, causing them to bind and wear. A steering gear should have a small amount of play, just enough to give the wheels sufficient freedom to follow fol-low the road without disagreeable yawing whon moving rapidly. It should move freely enough so that thero is no sense of effort in steering at speeds above ten miles per hour. One should not expect an entire absence of lost motion through the springing of parts, or ease of turning when the machine is stationary. It Is dangerous to drive without! adequate brakes. It is suicidal to tako out a car whoso steering system is In . .other than tho best shape! No matter how tight or how true your steering connections may be, either In tho now car stage or after adjustmont, It Is the height of folly to I imagine that this important apparatus I Is not seriously affected or strained by tho frequent contact with largo obstacles ob-stacles on the road. Pick your way on tho stony or uneven stretch of road; use caro In approaching curve or curb; don't employ tho habit of coming com-ing to a sudden stop with ono wheel against the curb In parking, and you will experience little further need of alignment and adjustment. nn |