help! ever heard of???

hi guys
saw a guy i know today & he said he followed me for a few miles the other day & reckons my fronty is crabbing (i.e not driving straight),i have seen this on a couple of vehicles i have followed over the years,but me old chap watched me going up the road today & said it looked straight,surely if it was crabbing it would be noticable when driving & on tyre wear any ideas,or should i get it to a garage tommorrow to check it out as my kids sometimes travel with me in the fronty????????

I would say you would see noticable tyre wear

It wouldnt cause tyre wear, as crabbing is when the body isnt sitting on the chassis correctly, the chassis would drive straigh and normal but the body would be sque wiff.

Check all visable body mounts

It is possible for a vehicle to crab without any noticable tyre wear, you can check yourself, just need some chalk, measuring tape and a spirit level.

Using the spirit level, mark on the floor directly below the centre of each hub, drive out the way and then measure across the diagonals and see what the difference is.

A couple of things can cause this
Usually its wheel alignment related......does the steering turn further one way than the other? This would indicate incorrect tracking adjustment, and wont obviousely show in tyre wear.
Another is rear axle alignment, with coil suspension you could have a bent tie rod on one side, pulling the axle one way. With leaf springs its often a shackle bush or possibly axle not seated properly on the leaf springs/loose "U" bolts.

i thought crabbing was when the front and rear axel never followed in a parallel line

so when followed it is going down road at an odd angle

it could be caused by hitting wheel against kerb or rock

I only sussed when driving a bus many moons ago and the body wasn't attached to the chassis, was very lucky, the police noticed it, when it was pointed out to me it looked horrendous, police where good, just made me get it towed back :lol:

Bugger looks like i know nothing lol

thats what its doing so my mate said smiffy ie front & rear axle not parallel,all i can think its had a new leaf spring & is not seated properly as meooo says,if i get it to the garage tommorrow will they be able to solve it on proper ramps by measureing each side of the axle etc???

If the axle isn't located properly it'll be obvious from underneath

Well, what was the outcome??

i have only ever seen a mini crab but i think all the old minis done that

not had it yet meoo,brakes have now gone & they think its the vacuum pump on the alternator,so all the work is being done on friday so if i get it back same day i will let you know k

well today i drove the fronty to the garage ready for tommorrow,lets just say brakes worked ok until you hit a roundabout lol,havent brought a vacuum pump as the more i thought about it,it could be a split pipe etc etc,as for the crabbing i've ask them to check it out,so i might be able to tell you the outcome tommorrow (as they said ring at midday for the verdict) if its not done tommorrow i will let you all no next week,as im moving house & have to be in by monday (stress :cry:

),so i have to have my new phone line reconnected but they probably do this in hours not days,so i will let you all know how i get on hopefully tommorrrow,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,god i haaate crabbing you try telling the missus you think you got crabs :lol:

its suuchh hard work explaining

that its the fronty thats crabbing & not me old clean church going self :lol:

well been to garage,brakes not fixed as trying to find new vaccum pump,had new pads in front etc & when they put it on the ramps the axle was out of line some how by one & half inches,so before they fixed it they took it for a drive to see what it drove like,they reckon i should have known something wasnt right but i can honestly say it drove fine to me,so hopefully i will have it back monday....
oh & the garage said its the engine oil that knackers the vacuum pump though little bits of muck etc,i wondered why fog members say they change there oil every 3 thousand miles,think i gonna be doing that myself when i get it back,rather spend abit on oil than lose me brakes again