steerable tag

[gondolaguy]

What I remember from past reading on the subject is that the steerable axles, while a good idea on paper, caused the unit to be tail-happy and wander when on inconsistent pavement. This would likely be due to the added potential for play in all the moving parts that allow the steering. It would also explain why they would weld the axles straight versus just relying on the pin to hold it firm. You should check to see if yours is welded as that would make it much harder to restore the feature.

No matter what the current thinking as to being able to restore it or maintain it, I would question the fact that the factory saw fit to weld them straight. That is a pretty radical fix and one that would make me suspect that there is no perfect mechanical fix. I will agree that there could be several series of steerable axle, that could make a difference.

Although this is probably common knowledge, it took me a while to figure out how to easily tell a steerable tag versus non. It turns out it's very easy. Steerable tags have "front wheels" on the tag versus deep dish rear wheels on the non tags.