Big lift and scary steering

[edinning]

Is there any way to get better steering. The knuckles and all steering parts look good but the steering is very touchy and dangers at speeds above 40. I don't know how to attach a photo of the front suspension. I have about 8" of lift and run 37" tires.
The guy at the alignment shop said the tires were too big to do alignment and that if I put on the 31" tires I have the alignment would be off when the 37" are on. Any help would be great. I don't know much about the set up as I didn't build it and the person I got it from wasn't much help with identifying the parts.

 

[TexasBronco]

What year Bronco? Most likely your caster and Camber are WAY off.

 

[edinning]

Its a 67. How much different could the alignment be using the 31 tires verses the 37?

 

[jason]

Its a 67. How much different could the alignment be using the 31 tires verses the 37?

it would make a pretty good difference with the toe-in.

 

[edinning]

If the toe is the only change I can fix that.

 

[Flash69]

Do you have the dropped trac bar bracket and the dropped pittman arm? Did the PO change the c bushings to the correct degree?

 

[68ford]

shouldnt the toe really be from the hub or somthing like that, i really dont think the tire should be it, stock would be soooooooo much more than some rig runnin those 52in michelins ?

 

[broncnaz]

Its probably a combination of things Caster is off because of the height of lift. Steering box has some play magnified by big tires. or tire pressure is to high/low.
I'd check your tires pressure if its above 30psi it may be to much you'll have to try different pressures to see if your steering gets any better. If your steering box has any play get it rebuilt. check your actual lift height measure from the top of the front axle tube to the bottom of the frame 7 in is the stock measurement what ever you have above that is your lift. if you really do have 8in of lift then your caster may be way off as the C bushings that are availible barely get a 5.5 in lift close to what its supposed to be. Also look at your radius arms they should be in drop brackets for a 8 in lift(probably about 4in drop from the frame) or they could be extended or both.

 

[Skuzzlebutt]

I'm thinking that with 8" of lift, you're gonna need Cage extended arms, lowered radius arm mount, and the 10^ corrective C bushings BC Broncos sometimes sells to get that castre in line, & that will leave you with some ugly driveshaft angles.
The other option would be to have your caster measured and then lop off the knuckles to reweld on rotated maybe 20^ back. And that isn't something most ametures are up to doing a home.
That's a helluva lot o' lift you're dealing with there

 

[ransil]

Are the Trac bar & drag link parallel.

Plus 8" is too much lift.

 

[jason]

are those some kind of coil spring rockers? that might be to blame for a scary ride ?:? ?:? http://classicbroncos.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=3983

 

[GRIZZLY]

are those some kind of coil spring rockers? that might be to blame for a scary ride ?:? ?:? http://classicbroncos.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=3983

Looks like it. Your trac bar bushings are going to get additional stress from those. Also, with that much lift it will be hard to get your pinion angle and caster correct without rotating the knuckles. I've got a 6 inch lift on mine and had wandering problems until I found a alignment shop that had off-set ball joints that you can rotate for either camber or caster adjustment. They definitely helped in my case but to be correct I probably need to rotate mine too and that's just with a 6" lift. Also if the alignment shop you talked to can't handle 37" tires it means they have no real world experience with the kind of geometry issues lifted trucks present. Talk to people on the street and see if you can find a shop that specializes in lifted trucks and big tires. BTW, toe in is measure from the front and rear of the tire. Which means a bigger tire will have a much smaller degree of angle at the knuckle for an equivelant amount of toe in than on a smaller tire.

 

[tabascom16]

Your caster has to be the main culprit. I have a 5.5" lift with stock radius arms. I not sure what degree c bushings if any are in to counteract some of it but even if it is some 7 degree ones it will not counter the 5.5" lift without radius arm drop brackets. Everything else is how it should be. I will attest to it being scary at points on narrow roads doing 50 plus. You really cant take your eye off the road for a second. I also have one with just a 2.5" lift and no adustments with smaller tires and it is just fine. As far as toe in they just have to not toe it in as much as is reccommended to achieve the desired effect. Also big wide tires don't fit nicely into the "grooves or dips" in the road that are made from normal size tires which will make it wander a bit too.

 

[Mikeg23]

The guy at the alignment shop said the tires were too big to do alignment and that if I put on the 31" tires I have the alignment would be off when the 37" are on.

The guy at the alignment shop is lying to you because he doesn't want to do an alignment on such an old vehicle. Tires have nothing to do with steering geometry.

 

[edinning]

check your actual lift height measure from the top of the front axle tube to the bottom of the frame 7 in is the stock measurement what ever you have above that is your lift./QUOTE]
The measurment is 12 3/4 so not the 8in I was thinking. The frt and rear springs are on bushings and allow some movement. There are some more photos in my gallery of the frt suspension. I don't know how to attach then. The knuckles and all steering arms look good to be but I don't know much about the proper angles for the driveline. Thanks for the feed back all helps as when I get my new wheels and tires I am going to try ot find a local alignment shop to try to get this thing a little better. If anyone needs a good set of wheels with 37in tires mine will need a new home soon.