Steering Upgrade / Alignment Read out

[BGBronco]

70. 2.5 lift. Time to dial the steering in. New Tie Rod, Drag Link, Adj Trac Bar, Drop Pitman / Trac Bar Bracket, and Steering Stabilizer. Any advice before I start? Thank you.

[1st pic is of my old set up]

 

[Dannyboy71]

Curious on what stabilizer that is? Looks good.

 

[SteveL]

The dual stabilizer is overkill. You don't really need one unless you're running 36" or larger.ive been running 35s for years without one. With a 2 1/2" lift it's borderline if you need the drop pitman and trak bar bracket. If the drag link and trak bar aren't adjustable the drop bracket will probably shift the front end to the passenger side.

 

[BGBronco]

The dual stabilizers (1st pic) are what I have on it today. All coming off. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

 

[BGBronco]

With a 2 1/2" lift it's borderline if you need the drop pitman and trak bar bracket. If the drag link and trak bar aren't adjustable the drop bracket will probably shift the front end to the passenger side.

Sorry, I don't understand what this means. Trac Bar is adjustable, drag link is not. Is this an issue??

 

[Dannyboy71]

I was talking about the new stabilizer pictured on the bench

 

[DirtDonk]

Glad the old stabilizer setup is coming off for sure.
Can you see any evidence of the two shocks hitting each other? If you look at the upper one being mounted to the draglink, and the lower one being mounted to the tie-rod, then you can imagine that during the suspension's up and down movement, the two driver's side ends get closer and closer to each other as the suspension compresses. At some point it looks to be entirely possible for them to hit each other.
A single is a better choice and in your case will allow you to use the factory style mounts.

An adjustable draglink is actually a very good upgrade, whether you're using drop brackets and arms or not. You might get lucky and the drops bring everything back into perfect alignment, but Broncos leave a lot of leeway on either side of the "just right" line.
Only way to know is put them on and see what you get.

But whatever you do, if the steering wheel is off-center (indicating that the box is now off-center) don't just pull the wheel and re-orient it on the shaft.
Instead, this is the time to go ahead and get an adjustable draglink to allow you to adjust the steering gear box back to it's perfect on-center position.

Paul

 

[BGBronco]

Yes, they were hitting a bit. It mainly stays on the road so it wasn't a big issue. My steering box is way off (2.75 right and 1.5 left) anxious to get it adjusted. I hope I can use the non-adjustable draglink I bought and get it dialed in. Do you see any issue with using what I have? (Tie Rod, Non Adj Drag Link, Adj Trac Bar, Drop Pitman / Trac Bar Bracket, and Steering Stabilizer. I'd rather not get half way and have to stop and order parts. Thank you.

Glad the old stabilizer setup is coming off for sure.
Can you see any evidence of the two shocks hitting each other? If you look at the upper one being mounted to the draglink, and the lower one being mounted to the tie-rod, then you can imagine that during the suspension's up and down movement, the two driver's side ends get closer and closer to each other as the suspension compresses. At some point it looks to be entirely possible for them to hit each other.
A single is a better choice and in your case will allow you to use the factory style mounts.

An adjustable draglink is actually a very good upgrade, whether you're using drop brackets and arms or not. You might get lucky and the drops bring everything back into perfect alignment, but Broncos leave a lot of leeway on either side of the "just right" line.
Only way to know is put them on and see what you get.

But whatever you do, if the steering wheel is off-center (indicating that the box is now off-center) don't just pull the wheel and re-orient it on the shaft.
Instead, this is the time to go ahead and get an adjustable draglink to allow you to adjust the steering gear box back to it's perfect on-center position.

Paul

 

[DirtDonk]

Nope. You should be fine. Only keep the adjustable draglink in mind as an option in case things are not dialed-in perfectly after adding the drops.

And since you do have that off-center issue right now, and since you're going to have your linkage disconnected anyway, now is your time to make 100% certain the box is centered and everything else is built around that center.
I think we've talked about the methods before, so just go through the steps prior to re-connecting the system with the new linkages, center the box and if the steering wheel is not indicating that center, re-orient the wheel on the shaft so that from then on you can use the steering wheel to know when things are centered.

And this way once it's all back together and toe-in is set (or re-set%)), if your steering wheel is off-center when driving straight down the road, you know you still need an adjustable draglink.
Otherwise drive it with the steering wheel off a bit and tell people you're doing it so you can see the gauges better!

Good luck with the install. Hope it all goes smooth.
An ancient Bronco-project saying/prayer.... "May your trackbar bolt holes be round, and all your drop brackets be welded.";D

Paul

 

[DirtDonk]

Oh, and for some basic advice that you were maybe asking about originally...
Initially just leave the tires on and the truck on the ground until you install your tie-rod.
Just makes it easier to work on and more stable and you're able to keep the knuckles from turning and messing up your toe-in before you get the new tie-rod installed.

If your toe-in is set already (or even if it's just very close), then when you remove the old tie-rod, don't let the knuckles turn at all until you get the new tie-rod adjusted for length and installed.
Simply adjust the new tie-rod to gently slip into the tapered holes without moving them and you're good to go.

You can put it up on stands, or at least remove the driver's side wheel/tire to give you more access to the upper trackbar bolt and bracket. You don't actually have to do that either.
But it does make things easier to work around. There's a surprising amount of crap that gets in the way of removing the upper bolt, for such a simple vehicle.

You can do all of this in any order you please. Trackbar and bracket first, then tie-rod and draglink and pitman arm. Or the reverse order.
Whatever makes the most sense at the time.

Paul

 

[englewoodcowboy]

We install a drop pitman and drop track bar bracket with the 2.5" lift and we do away with the stabilizers as we have not needed them. I am not a fan of the stock style drag link or tie rod you have shown. I have used that brand and had bump steer that was not acceptable to me. I prefer the GM 1 Ton conversion as it gets the angles down more and I have not had one complaint to our steering using them. You are on the right path, another thing I also do with a 2.5" lift is install the 7° bushings which gets us in the 4° caster area which also helps greatly with handling at speed.

 

[BGBronco]

Thank you.

We install a drop pitman and drop track bar bracket with the 2.5" lift and we do away with the stabilizers as we have not needed them. I am not a fan of the stock style drag link or tie rod you have shown. I have used that brand and had bump steer that was not acceptable to me. I prefer the GM 1 Ton conversion as it gets the angles down more and I have not had one complaint to our steering using them. You are on the right path, another thing I also do with a 2.5" lift is install the 7° bushings which gets us in the 4° caster area which also helps greatly with handling at speed.

 

[BGBronco]

Two hours later, all the new stuff is on the Bronco. Overall not that big of a job. I didn't have a chance to drive it far because of the rain but the steering overall has definitely tightened up. Plan on getting an alignment in the morning and get the numbers and will report back.

If you see anything wrong, feel free to let me know!

 

[DirtDonk]

Remember not to let the alignment tech talk you out of getting all the readings with the excuse that "they're not adjustable anyway so you don't kneed them" crap.
Get the full printout that their machine is capable of giving you so you know where to go from here.

Looks good.
Do we see cotter pins in place?
Did you torque the tie-rod and draglink nuts to 40 lbs?
Did you torque the trackbar bolts to like 900 million pounds?;D Actually 110-130 (upper) and 155-205 (lower).
Did you use a cotter pin on at least the larger lower nut, if not both? Or locking nuts.

Carry a large wrench with you for the next bit of driving and after each drive check the torque on the pitman arm nut. They can tighten up quite a bit after sometimes, as the pitman arm moves up the taper.
That does not happen every time, but that it happens at all is good reason to check. And yours does look like it's just barely on there.
There's probably a good reason that the torque on that nut is 170-230 lbs with at least 2 threads showing below the nut.

Looks like the stabilizer fit ok, but make sure it's not limiting the steering in any way just in case. Nothing to be done about the angle that does not involve some careful thought and tweaking.

And last but not least, tighten the trackbar bracket up quiteubergutentight and then, when all is said and done and you're happy with the results, put some good welds on it to make it permanent.

Paul

 

[BGBronco]

I used the previous holes on the frame for the stabilizer bracket and it does bind a little so I need to move it closer to the bend in the frame. I will report back when I get my alignment numbers.

 

[True North]

What do your bump stops look like?

 

[BGBronco]

What do your bump stops look like?

rotten and original!

 

[BGBronco]

Alignment Read Out

Here is my alignment readout after swapping out my steering components. Looks like c bushings are next.

 

[DirtDonk]

Looks like c bushings are next.

I'll say! Wow, negative caster, eh? Stock bushings still? Just go straight to 7's then.

Why did the tech adjust the toe to zero? Seems wrong to me. How did it drive after the visit?

And the camber is a bit off too. I would try to get the right side down some.
I think (but not sure) we like to see a little more camber on the passenger side, but unless you feel like lowering the left camber too, I would take the right down at least to .5 or so.
If it turns out that the right should have more (there are alignment guys here that will know for sure) then try to get the left to about .3 or .4, and the right to .5 or so.
If you want to go to the trouble. Which I would or your right tire is going to wear on the outside even faster than normal.

Even the rear seems a bit out on the right. Tweaked housing maybe?
Probably not a huge deal, but on a short wheelbase rig like these, every little bit counts.

If you're driving it around now, I would play with the toe-in settings. Maybe don't even bother measuring. Just twist the adjuster to shorten the tie-rod and drive it until you find the setting you like.
I would start with 1/8 to 1/4 turn of the sleeve at a time. Then tighten it down (always tighten the clamps before driving) and see if things improve.
If you're not really driving it regularly yet, you can dial down the camber and dial up the caster first if you want. Especially the caster. Anything in the negative range is bad.

And don't forget air pressures in all this. Our rigs rarely need the max pressures listed on the sidewall.
What pressures you running now?

Paul

 

[DirtDonk]

And for the more alignment-savvy of you out there, what is "steer ahead" exactly?
I have heard the term I think, but don't know what it's referring to.

Thanks

Paul