I recently replaced my original steering (tie rod and adjustable drag link).
Just curious. Are you saying your old one had an adjustable draglink already? Or that you replaced your old solid one with an adjustable one?
I also just installed disc brakes and knuckles from a 1978 f150.
Definitely lowered the tie-rod, so changed the angle of the draglink. Even with the old draglink your angle would have changed, so if your bars were parallel before, they are not anymore.
There have been no issues with bump steer until the new tie rod/drag link install.
Is this with the disc brakes, or not? Did you do them at the same time, or did you do the disc brake knuckles first, drive it around and then replace the steering linkage later?
Just wondering if it was all done at the same time or at times different enough for you to tell if it was only the steering change that caused the bump-steer.
I posted the before and after pics. I believe it might be due to the slight curve on the bottom of the drag link.
What's the difference between the two? They look the same, linkage-wise. So is the only difference in the pictures the introduction of the disc brakes? Or are they also showing different linkages?
I doubt that the curve itself is causing the issue, but the lower steering arms are definitely potential contributors.
In the old pic the track-bar and drag link are parallel. In the new pic they are also parallel, except the bottom where it attaches to the tie rod. Could that be it?
They don't actually look parallel to me.
Don't look at the bars themselves. Measure from the ground to the approx. center of the pivot points of each of the rod ends on the draglink. Are they the same exact distance above the ground? Does not look like it from here.
They also look too steep to ever get rid of bump-steer completely. I know you had the same lift height, so that did not change, but now the draglink is at a steeper angle from the lower steering arms, and that may just by itself have been enough. Perhaps you were borderline before and that put you over the edge.
Don't know that for sure, but it's a possibility.
I don’t want a drop pitman arm. I only have a 2.5” lift on it. I shouldn’t need a drop pitman arm. Any suggestions?
Why not? Who says you don't need a pitman arm and trackbar bracket for 2.5 inches of lift?
Yes, I know the answer... Literally everybody (except me that is) says it's not needed. I call that BS...
I call BS (even on our own statements) because your truck has changed height by over two inches. Why would we not need to lower the steering angles back down that 2.5 to 3 inches to get it steering more like stock?
The answer is, we
DO NEED TO DO IT! At least to make it better, if not perfect.
The new tie rod is indeed closer to the ground. I noticed it as well compared to the axle. The new f150 knuckles caused it when I installed the new knuckles/disc brakes. However, the angle has not changed. Could this be causing it?
Yes.
Look again and look at what you just said. The mounting points are lower, but the angle did not change? That's not possible.
As soon as you lowered the tie-rod location, you increased the angle of the draglink. Period...
It has to happen that way. More lift, more angle. Mounting points further away from each other, more angle.
Should I do a “tie rod over” conversion? Should this solve the bump steer issue?
Up to you. But it's not that simple and may in fact create an opposite problem of the tie-rod being too high.
But whether too high or not, it's a benefit to the steering angles, which necessitates you making other changes to suit. Such as shortening the lower trackbar bolt because the tie-rod will hit the stock one. Adding a riser or drop bracket to the trackbar (maybe even a custom one) so you can get your angles back to parallel.
None of the modifications to one component guarantees that your other components will match again. You usually have to make more than one tweak to make things play nice together again.
The bump steer is much better since I shortened up the trackbar a few days ago and brought the front wheels closer back to center. I only shortened it up about 1/8-1/4" but it made a huge difference.
Good call on centering the axle. Everything you do to return to factory spec helps.
Including bringing the overall angles back to their lower, more stock-like angles.
Which might mean you are going to need to either add drops, rises, custom tweaks, or other stuff to bring the bars into parallel (if they are not now) and lower their angles.
So that's my rant for the moment. I'm sure others who have had to deal with your same mods will have cures. Hopefully other than just "live with it" that is.
But I'll repeat, I don't care what the mantra has been since the '70's about not needing to pay extra for stuff to correct steering because we didn't really notice the bad behavior, and with manual steering boxes it wasn't as bad anyway. But over the last 50+ years the trucks have not changed that much. But WE have changed.
We don't want sloppy steering or handling or braking. We actually care about those things now and are (or should be) willing to spend another few dollars, to a few hundred dollars, to bring the Bronco back into compliance after the mods we wanted (suspension lifts and larger tires) so we can safely and happily drive them on the street and not feel like we're driving a clapped-out old truck.
So yes, by all means modify the steering linkage, in whichever way suits you, to get the angles corrected.
If that means a more budget and time-friendly dropped pitman arm and custom trackbar bracket install to start with, as a proof of concept so you can later go to a tie-rod over and custom riser, then that's one option.
Or just do the big mods right off the bat. Go tie-rod over and a custom trackbar mount to bring them into parallel.
But get the angles lower, get the angles more parallel too if needed, and see if that gets you where you need to go.
Paul
