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).
Issues with the vehicle's brakes and suspension systems over an extended period of use.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 114\4\ scan0153 | |
| Date | 5th May 1937 | |
| -4- failure, the new bolts were continually examined and nuts tightened so as to prevent further delay. Later new parts were sent out and fitted. BRAKES. On leaving the works, the brakes on this car were good, and effective, but it was found that they quickly deteriorated and before reaching Marseilles the car was diving to the left and extraordinary pedal pressure was necessary. This was later traced to grease having got onto the O.S.F. brake linings, which both caused the front brakes to pull to the left and accounted for the extra pedal pressure required to obtain adequate braking. The diving could be rectified to some extent by careful adjustment of the hand butterfly nuts, but these became increasingly hard to move due to sand and dust, and no amount of lubrication would satisfactorily keep them easy to operate. It appears that when the adjustments are in constant use under such conditions a gaiter or some form of protection is essential. When 5000 to 6000 miles had been completed the brake ropes had considerably stretched, causing excessive pedal movement, the rear ropes were shortened as much as possible, but only reduced the pedal movement by a small amount. The remaining excess of pedal movement remained until the end of the run. SUSPENSION. It was evident as soon as the car reached exceptional conditions, that the rear springing was too soft. The car when fully loaded weighed 3 tons 18 cwts. Under this weight the springs were continually hitting the rubber buffers, although the rear springs were considerably stronger than those fitted on a standard chassis. This continued banging did not harm the springs in any way, and the buffer clearances were only reduced by 1" during the whole 13000 miles. The front coil springs although new, were packed up with washers so as to obtain the maximum amount of buffer clearance before starting. Owing to the somewhat excessive weight the front wheels took on the 'knock-knee' aspect from the beginning of the run, and had 1 1/2" to 2" bottom buffer clearance. At Nairobi this had become reduced to 1" on the N.S. and 1 1/4" on the O.S. The spring boxes were therefore dismantled and more washers making a total of 3 under each spring were added. The riding at the front of the car was remarkable throughout, over the very worst surfaces the front of the car remained steady and only hit the rubber buffers on a few occasions. On the other hand the ride in the rear of the car was poor, partly due to the fact that the rear damping had to continued | ||