A new angle on steering wheels

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Sat 6 Sep 2008 06:40
A new angle on steering wheels - ifithelps
Why do HGVs/buses have near horizontal steering wheels and cars have near vertical ones?

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Sat 6 Sep 2008 07:08
A new angle on steering wheels - mike hannon
I guess, before the days of power assistance, lorries and buses needed a lot more effort to steer and it's easier to haul a horizontal wheel round.
Years ago I drove an Alvis TD21 (now there was a nice motor, sigh...) with a near vertical steering wheel and when I went to turn out of the garage I thought the steering had seized, it was so heavy!
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Sat 6 Sep 2008 08:44
A new angle on steering wheels - cheddar
I guess the main reason would be the position of the steering rack relative to the driver.
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Sat 6 Sep 2008 09:07
A new angle on steering wheels - gordonbennet
MH is there, plus the steering box is almost directly under the drivers feet, so in the interests of strength it makes sense to have the most direct link to the box, and its true it isn't so long ago, mid 70's, that big trucks didn't have power steering, my first 3 artics didn't and to compensate had a massive steering wheel and about 6 turns from lock to lock.
By heck they made a man out of you, sharpened your manoeuvring skills up pretty quick too, hadn't got the strength for more than about 3 shunts, and as mike probably found with the Alvis town work etc could be exhausting.

Most of the modern trucks now have adjustable wheels and you can get them to about 45% but thats about it, not really the room for any more, and somehow it doesn't feel quite right either.

On the old Fodens i cut my teeth on the steering column was bolted directly to the very short chassis, bearing in mind we had cart springs all round and no dampers at the rear for years, not that the fronts were any use, i'll leave it to your imagination the pain of road shocks that would travel straight up that column and the drivers arms.
Strangely enough my arms these days ache almost constantly as does the back and the left leg (no power assistance on the clutches either), even though i'm getting on a bit it probably explains a lot.
You couldn't imagine just how painful a pot holed or bumpy road could be, of course the cabs were tiny too, and being fairly long legged there would be a row of electric switches touching both knee caps continuously.

eeeh we used to dream of living in a box.....

Edit Sorry Cheddar i'd written before reading your post.

Edited by gordonbennet on 06/09/2008 at 09:08

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Sat 6 Sep 2008 11:04
A new angle on steering wheels - ifithelps
Thanks Cheddar and GB, I wouldn't have guessed that.

GB,

Now that all trucks have power steering, have the steering wheels got any smaller.

just from a glimpse inside a couple of cabs, I don't think they have.

Power steering certainly led to smaller steering wheels in cars.
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Sat 6 Sep 2008 11:49
A new angle on steering wheels - gordonbennet
Now that all trucks have power steering have the steering wheels got any smaller.


Goodness yes, those old lorries the almost horizontal wheel was huge, and before now i've had to brace a foot against the screen pillar and haul the wheel round like pulling a ships anchor in.
The first trucks i drove with power steering still retained huge wheels, a bit of good old fashioned belt and braces, the theory i suppose was that in the event of power failure the vehicle would still be safely driven.
In many cases, MB and Daf notably we were well into the 90's before they started fitting smaller wheels.
I still prefer a large steering wheel on a truck i suppose, but then i like the old stuff.

Its worth a visit to Gaydon in May or June when they host the classic truck show, many very old trucks and their equally old drivers on show, many refurbed to concours condition (not the drivers..;)
Take a look inside the cab of a S39 (mickey mouse) Foden to see just how small a space the driver had to work in, my last one of those was built in 72 IIRC, hard to believe they could still sell the things, and the S40 that replaced it still didn't have power either, but not many of those survive as they used the 'motor panels' steel cab noted for terrible rust. Then i recieved a S80, luxury with power steering and air assisted clutch, a small wheel and a Cummins engine, back to fibre glass and notable for its 14" dia round headlamps.
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Sat 6 Sep 2008 13:07
A new angle on steering wheels - Dynamic Dave
From what I remember, my old Allagro steering wheel was almost horizontal - well compared to the Astra I replaced it with anyway.
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Sat 6 Sep 2008 14:09
A new angle on steering wheels - ifithelps
Some other BL stuff had near horizontal steering wheels, the original Mini, the big saloon we called a land crab and Morris 1100/1300s.
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