4WD Touring Australia – June 2018

092 | 4WDTouringAustralia

ASK THE EXPERT

ALL YOUR CAMPER TRAILER,

MECHANICAL AND 4WD

QUESTIONS ANSWERED

WANDERING 80 SERIES

CARLISLE ROGERS

Adam,

I drive an 80 Series and when it’s driving about 50km/h, I nd

that it does this strange wandering over the road?

Any ideas? It has a suspension lift but I’m not sure what

else as I have only recently bought the vehicle.

Gary, Melbourne.

Hey Gary,

I have actually had a few come through the workshop here

over the years with the same symptoms.

Firstly, what I would suggest is to make sure things like the

wheel bearing and steering arms are all OK and don’t have

excessive movement. I would also check the panhard rod

bushes as well.

If all of the basics check out, then I’d suggest getting a wheel

alignment done and getting a reading on the castor.

If the vehicle has a lift in it but the castor hasn’t been

adjusted, this darting when driving and hitting bumps is quite

common.

If the castor is out then a set of castor correction bushes

should give it roughly 2.5 degrees of castor and should

denitely help.

Of course I’m assuming that it has a standard 2” lift. If it

has a much larger lift then you will need to look into things

like drop boxes or even replacement front arms to get the

steering geometry correct.

Hope that helps.

GO NUTS!

Adam

FUEL ADDITIVE ANSWERS

Hi Adam,

I have heard good and bad things about additives that you

can put into the fuel tank when you are lling up. I’m not sure

whether they do anything though, what are your thoughts on

using fuel additives?

John, Wollongong, NSW.

John,

Additives are not something I really recommend or push.

For the right purposes, yes, they may possibly help from

the very beginning, to stop a build up of deposits.

However, I do nd that some products can actually be

corrosive and in some cases have an adverse affect on the

fuel system. I believe that if something needs xing it should

be xed correctly. Worn injectors ultimately need replacing.

If you really want to use an additive then maybe check as

best you can with the company to make sure it will not be

corrosive in any way, not only for the injectors but also all of

the other components in the fuel system like the injector lines

and rails.

The best advice I could give is to service the vehicle

correctly and regularly replace things like fuel lters.

Hope that helps

GO NUTS!

Adam