From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Letter from the American branch to Derby discussing front axle faults, specifically swerving under braking and 'tramping'.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 41\1\ Scan094 | |
| Date | 8th December 1926 | |
| X3681 ROLLS-ROYCE OF AMERICA, INC. SPRINGFIELD, MASS. Oy2-E-12826 December 8th, 1926 X8420 Mr. E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} W. Hives, Rolls-Royce, Ltd., Derby, England. (Copy for attention of Mr.Haldenby.) Dear Mr. Hives: Re Front Axle Three faults which promise to be extremely troublesome now that we are entering production, show up on the new front axle. (1) A new one to us, is that when the brake is applied the car swerves to the left. We thought this due to badly equalized brakes, but the "Cowdrey" tester shows the r.h. brake to be actually a little stronger than the l.h. It can only be due therefore to the axle/moving back or side steering lever ball (by bending the front spring) when the brake is applied and thus turning the wheels to the left. It can perhaps be reduced by raising the ball end of the side steering lever on the axle. Do you find that your cars swerve to the right under the same conditions? (2) We cannot seem to find any cure for the "tramping". I do not think this is anything to do with high-speed wobble, because you say high-speed wobble does not occur on rough roads or wet roads, and only occurs as a definite phenomenon at a certain speed. This occurs at all speeds at a constant frequency of about 500 oscillations per minute. | ||