ModelWorks Foden 
Builder's Diary

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Kit 8 - Steering

Kit 10 account

Kit 5 account

 
The contents of kit 8 laid out for inspection
 

In the opening remains of this months instructions Steve included some good and some bad news.  First the bad news; supply problems with the bevel gears continue (Indian monsoon season !) and kit 4 has been further delayed.  The good news is that  ModelWorks have a Foden built to the John Rex design on loan and have been steaming it at recent shows. 

Over the last few weeks I have made progress and painted all the chassis components.  At the weekend I shall be attending the Detling Steam Rally with the Burrell.  I have decided to make this my last rally of the year which will mean I will be able to assemble the chassis in the garage without the need to move it to lower the trailer.  I hope by spring 2007 MW will have overcome the difficulties with kit 4 and gone on to supply the wheels. 

I plan to trial assemble the steering over the next few days and hopefully tests in on the assembled chassis next week.  Once I am happy with the fit I shall add it to the queue for painting.  I have fitted a similar arrangement to my POP and it will be interesting to compare the two versions.

Sliding the lead assembled lead screw into the steering box The steering after completion of dry assembly

Tuesday 22 August: I have been preoccupied with preparations for Detling Rally and it has been nearly a week since I last looked at this kit.

I used a combination of flap wheel, wire brush and file to clean up the components.  Assembly was straight forward and no significant problems encountered.  As I found it tricky to keep the nut in the central position I marked its position with a felt tip pen as soon as possible.  As the thread on the steering wheel was a bit stiff when I tried to fit it to the shaft, I eased it by running a M10 tap through it.

I shall now put the assembly to one side until I have assembled the chassis and one I have check it for fit will take it apart for painting.

The steering temporality fitted to the chassis This pictures illustrates two problems 1) The steering rod is screwed in a far as it will go 2) The clash between the two ball joints.

Saturday 2nd September: Now that I have finally assembled the chassis I am able to trial assemble the front axle and steering.  The first problem I encountered was of my own making as I had fitted the horns on the stub axles the wrong way round.  This was easy to fix but illustrates how easy it is to make silly mistakes.

At first sight the ball joint looked a poor fit into their mounting holes on the horns but then I realised that they have a tapered shaft that mates with a corresponding taper in the horn.  I fitted the track rod without incident but when I cam to fit the steering rod I could not get it short enough.

I double checked that I had the steering rack at its central position which in my case was 7 and a bit turn from full lock.  Even dispensing with the lock nuts and screwing in the rod as far as it would go, I found that in order to go straight ahead I had to turn the wheel by 2 1/2 turn.  I shall contact ModelWorks for advise but I suspect it will be necessary to shorten the steering rod. 

The next problem I encountered is that as left lock is applied the track rod and steering rod couplings clash.  My over long steering rod would have allowed me to put on extra left lock but to be fair I only used 7 turns.  Even so the jam between the coupling was enough to force the front axle to rock.  If the Foden was not on stands something would have twisted , most probably the steering rod.

Next week I plan to talk both issue through with ModelWorks and in the mean time I shall double check my assemble to check that I have not made a silly mistake.

2 March 2007: Somehow I was missed out when the replacements rods were sent and I had to arrange to have one specially sent.