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Car Forum / Subaru Cars / June 2007Front wheels bind when turned to extreme
My 2001 manual-transmission Forester feels like the front wheels are binding when I turn the steering wheel to either extreme. At first I thought it was the tires rubbing on the wheel wells, but inspection proved otherwise. The symptoms were most pronounced on Sunday after a long drive that heated up the engine. I couldn't reproduce them to the same degree yesterday after my short commute to work. There is plenty of fluid in the steering reservoir. What's going on? -- Charles Packer http://cpacker.org/whatnews mailboxATcpacker.org >My 2001 manual-transmission Forester >feels like the front wheels are [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] >fluid in the steering reservoir. >What's going on? Turning the wheels 'til they lock is very stressful on the steering system. Make sure the air pressure in all tires is the same. (Front the same on both sides, back the same on both sides) I run 31 in front, 30 in back. (A bit up from the recommendation) Get a real gauge, not one of those garbage "blow the stick" ones. A real one with a dial and needle on it. Subarus do not like different air presure in tires and require more or less even wear on all tires to make circomfrence very close to the same. > My 2001 manual-transmission Forester > feels like the front wheels are [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > http://cpacker.org/whatnews > mailboxATcpacker.org > My 2001 manual-transmission Forester > feels like the front wheels are [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > http://cpacker.org/whatnews > mailboxATcpacker.org Do you mean when parked you feel something odd or during tight, slow speed maneuvering as when parking? Carl  Signatureto reply, change ( .not) to ( .net) > Do you mean when parked you feel something odd or during tight, slow > speed maneuvering as when parking? I should have gone into more detail. The symptoms occured when I was turning sharply to maneuver at slow speed. I use the past tense now, because I couldn't reproduce the symptoms on Monday doing tight circles in an empty parking lot near where I work. But they were definitely there on Sunday with the car hot after driving 20 miles on the Beltway. From inside the car, it felt and sounded as if there was a flat area on the tires flapping on the pavement. But the tires are nearly new, and I had checked them that morning; both at 30 psi. Anyway, I'm not going to worry about it. The fact that the symptoms weren't there on Monday tells me at least that I don't have something that's coming loose or deteriorating. -- Charles Packer http://cpacker.org/whatnews mailboxATcpacker.org >>Do you mean when parked you feel something odd or during tight, slow >>speed maneuvering as when parking? [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > http://cpacker.org/whatnews > mailboxATcpacker.org This is a classic symptom of 'torque bind' which can occur due to 2-3 problems ranging from use of mixed size tires (a 'donut' spare, a spare which is almost new mixed with 3 worn tires, 2 new tires mixed with 2 worn or different brand tires,etc.) to an automatic transmission that has gummy deposits, or bad Duty C Solenoid, to a bad center differential in a manual transmission. Basically, the car is in $WD mode but has no chance to relieve stress in the drivetrain since it is on dry pavement and not water, gravel,etc. where there would be some tire slippage. Investigate your tires first. Search the term 'torque bind' here ,at www.ultimatesubaru.org ,etc. Carl Signatureto reply, change ( .not) to ( .net) > Investigate your tires first. Search the term 'torque bind' here ,atwww.ultimatesubaru.org,etc. Your symptoms are exactly the same as mine were about a month or two ago. Mine is a 2003 Outback Sport with 140,000kms. Took about a 10 or 15 minute highway drive for the symptoms to show up. Prognosis was a center differential (viscous coupling unit) at about $1000 parts plus 5.5hrs labour. check the tires of course to make sure they are all the same, same amount of wear, etc, but your symptoms sound like mine!! > Your symptoms are exactly the same as mine were about a month or two > ago. Mine is a 2003 Outback Sport with 140,000kms. Took about a 10 or [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > check the tires of course to make sure they are all the same, same > amount of wear, etc, but your symptoms sound like mine!! I read your other recent threads on this and, yes, our symptoms are identical. Well, to paraphrase Samuel Johnson, the prospect of a $1500+ repair bill tends to concentrate the mind wonderfully. On this news, I did a Google search of the Web (not the newsgroups) on "torque bind" and also "viscous coupling". It seems that the problem, if the result of a bad viscous coupler, is causing the rear wheels to bind, the VC being at the rear of the transmission. On the other hand, Subaru's tolerance for tire circumference variation seems really tight: 1/4 inch was stated in one forum. This weekend I'll do some highway driving with the tires very carefully equalized in pressure and get a feel for how long I can postpone the repair. Incidentally, "torque bind" seems to be almost synonymous with Subaru, if the Google results are indicative! I get 953 references, but when I exclude "subaru" I get only 232!. However, most of the chatter has to do with older models with automatic transmission, and my Forester is a manual 2001 (with 75K miles)....oh well, it must have been the way the original owner drove it... -- Charles Packer http://cpacker.org/whatnews mailboxATcpacker.org |
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