What's next for my old Sportsmobile?

[wander]

Originally Posted by geoffff

Yeah, I'm in WA. I visited Quadvan a couple years ago and test-drove a van. Seemed decent enough driving on some bad urban roads.

I also test drove this QuadVan van a few months ago https://sportsmobile.com/van-invento...-quad-van-4x4/ and the steering was really heavy at low speeds. Like almost two-hand heavy. (My Sportsmobile 4x4 is super easy to steer.) Have you noticed any heavy steering on QuadVan conversions?

I am also looking seriously at U-Joint, but obviously they are far from me and inconvenient.

Hey, geoffff, I was a little concerned about this steering issue, so called QuadVan today and spoke to John. He said the hard steering issue could be the result of having tires without the correct offset, which could result in binding. I'm not knowledgeable in this area, so may be misquoting him.

[geoffff]

I can see how wheels with too much negative offset (that is, sticking out too far) could increase steering effort (because the tires are no longer centered on their axis of steering rotation and so are being dragged around)

But I don't think this is the case here -- as I noticed this steering heaviness in both the 2013 for sale, and on the test drive with John at Quadvan -- a 2014 van, the shop's van I think.

The steering effort isn't all that bad -- and John might just be used to it -- but it's noticeably heavier than my Sportsmobile 4x4 and my UJoint 4x4.

[wander]

Originally Posted by geoffff

I can see how wheels with too much negative offset (that is, sticking out too far) could increase steering effort (because the tires are no longer centered on their axis of steering rotation and so are being dragged around)

But I don't think this is the case here -- as I noticed this steering heaviness in both the 2013 for sale, and on the test drive with John at Quadvan -- a 2014 van, the shop's van I think.

The steering effort isn't all that bad -- and John might just be used to it -- but it's noticeably heavier than my Sportsmobile 4x4 and my UJoint 4x4.

OK, thanks, geofff. I appreciate you! :-)