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).
Test report on steering column movement issues and subsequent modifications for the 15-EX chassis.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 17\3\ Scan181 | |
| Date | 7th March 1928 | |
| To R.{Sir Henry Royce} from Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} c.c. to BJ. Wor.{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} c.c. to E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} Da.{Bernard Day - Chassis Design} c.c. to BY.{R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} FN. c.c. to CWB. +7430 Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rml/LG7.3.28. 15-EX CHASSIS. 489406 X8724 We have been conducting tests on 15-EX due to complaints in the daily reports that the steering was unsatisfactory. A summary of the modifications made and general impression of the car is as follows :- STEERING. (1) Column movement. The main complaint we observed in the steering was that due to column movement. Over quite a normal bit of pavée the steering wheel was displaced vertically .375" upward and .500" downwards when driving at normal speeds. On a bad road the column movement was such that it had hammered a portion of the instrument board away. The rattles from the front of the car were unpleasant. The car was not like this when it left England, and apparently the trouble did not become acute until the car had done 1000 miles or so high speed running at Chateauroux. We found that the trouble was due to insufficient column support by the dash. We tried several light stays as indicated in the attached sketch but they did not do very much. We finally got a 1 1/8" 10 gauge tube and welded one end to a temporary steel steering box cover; to the other end attaching a bracket which we bolted to the dash as close to the point where the steering column stay is fixed as possible. This effected a 75% cure of both column movement and rattles. We afterwards removed all stays and incorporated a semi-isolation contd :- | ||