Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Finally I have a smooth steering.

Thank You Heinz.

I also am no engineer myself and the last person to give valid opinions on subjects so technical.

Fortunately I have had no problems with the Roadster 100 steering and am very happy with its overall performance of 20k varied road condition miles.

I have added your comments to the blog so hopefully any of our readers will be able to assess their own situation and decide if they need professional help with their own unsatisfactory steering situations.

Best Wishes

Frank

You're welcome, Frank. It is one of the very beautiful things of our time that exchange, communication and sharing of experiences works so wonderfully.

Heinz,
that makes sense. Glad you got it resolved.
John

Do I understand this correctly?

If a combination of shafts and U-joints an be resolved so that all the shafts may lie on the same plane, horizontal or vertical, then the forks must be aligned all in the same direction? On the other hand if it is not possible for the shafts to lie on a single plane then where there is a change in direction the forks must be aligned at a calculated angle to each other?

I believe the answer, if I understand you correctly, is yes. Please look at the picture I posted on the first page.

Picture 1 and 2. From top to bottom. The ideal case for a smooth rotation: When three cardan shafts are connected together in the same plane, whether horizontally or vertically the forks must be aligned in the same way. The angles of the first and third shaft must also be the same. This must result in an even "Z" or an even "W". Angle beta 1 = angle beta 2. There is no even rotation if input angle and output angle are different.

If there is a spatial arrangement, we have the case in diagram 3 that the three shafts are no longer in the same plane. But it only works ideally if the angles of the input and the output shaft (1 and 3) are also the same, even if the planes are different Beta R1 = Beta R2. You see the two different planes in figure three. There you have to turn the forks at both ends of the middle shaft against each other in such a way that they are straight on both planes. You can see this when you look at this diagram a little bit more intensively. That's how it is with the second shaft in the Morgan seen from the steering wheel. That is why their forks are not in alignment. But they are in the same alignment with the connecting links on both sides and their corresponding planes.
I haven't measured if input and output angles are equal on the Morgan as they should in theory. I don't think they are exactly the same. The whole Morgan system is just an approximation but in everyday life it works to some extent.