Slack in Steering

[DirtDonk]

Great looking rig by the way!

Paul

 

[c17jack]

Ok, I misjudged the picture you linked to on JBG's site. You DO in fact have an alignment issue with the multi-adjustable tie-rod.
You need to loosen all three adjusting sleeves, rotate the center tie-rod link "up" so that the grease fitting on the lower draglink end points up at an approx. 60° angle. Basically up at the bottom of the radiator.
This mimics the factory angle and reduces the amount of play in the system taken up by "tie-rod roll" instead of the tie-rod moving in a linear fashion following the pitman arm.

When you did the test with the helper racking the wheel back and forth, did you notice the tie-rod rotating up and down when it transitioned between left and right? This is a big deal and is due to the orientation of the draglink trying to "push down" or "pull up" on the tie rod, rather than pushing right and pulling left.

Changing this orientation will also change the overall angle of the draglink, potent taking them out of, or putting them back into parallel. Just have to deal with that as a separate issue after you correct the angle.

Paul

Took me a second to get what you were talking about but i see it now. I will definitely make that change this weekend. Thanks for all of your help so far. This site has been unreal over the past 4 years with all of the advice and questions answered. I'll let you know if it helps.

Jack

 

[c17jack]

Ok, I misjudged the picture you linked to on JBG's site. You DO in fact have an alignment issue with the multi-adjustable tie-rod.
You need to loosen all three adjusting sleeves, rotate the center tie-rod link "up" so that the grease fitting on the lower draglink end points up at an approx. 60° angle. Basically up at the bottom of the radiator.
This mimics the factory angle and reduces the amount of play in the system taken up by "tie-rod roll" instead of the tie-rod moving in a linear fashion following the pitman arm.

When you did the test with the helper racking the wheel back and forth, did you notice the tie-rod rotating up and down when it transitioned between left and right? This is a big deal and is due to the orientation of the draglink trying to "push down" or "pull up" on the tie rod, rather than pushing right and pulling left.

Changing this orientation will also change the overall angle of the draglink, potent taking them out of, or putting them back into parallel. Just have to deal with that as a separate issue after you correct the angle.

Paul

Dirtdonk is the man, I made the adjustment you said with the steering and it drives a ton better. Going to put it back on the alignment rack this week and make sure everything is still within limits.

Thanks again,
Jack

 

[EricLar80]

Great job, DirtDonk! Here is a product used to fix this type of issue as well:
https://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/R1768.html

 

[DirtDonk]

Great to hear! Glad that helped. It almost always does, as long as you don't have to fight the alignment guy who "always knows better" and then re-sets it the wrong way!
So don't let them change it back when they're setting the toe-in (in case they even need to change it that is) and reinforce to them that this new angle you have it at is in fact the same as the factory original angle.

Although it certainly made some change in the toe-in, it was not much and may even have improved it. Since what toe-in setting works best with any given Bronco is kind of dependent on the individual Bronco's setup and the driver's personal preference, it does seem to fall into the same window that the factory recommends. Which is I think 1/8" to 1/4" or thereabouts. I seem to remember mine always liking it about in the middle at 3/16 inch. But I could definitely feel the difference when it was changed.

Be great if when you have it checked, and if they need to change it a little bit, that it feels even better!

And then don't forget to experiment with tire pressures over time. You're looking for even tire wear (especially in the rear where they sit more squarely on the ground), driving feel and comfort. And the nice thing about air pressure is that it's easy to change, then easy to bring back if it was better before.

Good luck.

Paul

 

[bigmuddy]

Great to hear! Glad that helped. It almost always does, as long as you don't have to fight the alignment guy who "always knows better" and then re-sets it the wrong way!
So don't let them change it back when they're setting the toe-in (in case they even need to change it that is) and reinforce to them that this new angle you have it at is in fact the same as the factory original angle.

Although it certainly made some change in the toe-in, it was not much and may even have improved it. Since what toe-in setting works best with any given Bronco is kind of dependent on the individual Bronco's setup and the driver's personal preference, it does seem to fall into the same window that the factory recommends. Which is I think 1/8" to 1/4" or thereabouts. I seem to remember mine always liking it about in the middle at 3/16 inch. But I could definitely feel the difference when it was changed.

Be great if when you have it checked, and if they need to change it a little bit, that it feels even better!

And then don't forget to experiment with tire pressures over time. You're looking for even tire wear (especially in the rear where they sit more squarely on the ground), driving feel and comfort. And the nice thing about air pressure is that it's easy to change, then easy to bring back if it was better before.

Good luck.

Paul

With regard to tire pressure I have found my bronco rides best and steers better at 25lb of pressure.

 

[c17jack]

Great to hear! Glad that helped. It almost always does, as long as you don't have to fight the alignment guy who "always knows better" and then re-sets it the wrong way!
So don't let them change it back when they're setting the toe-in (in case they even need to change it that is) and reinforce to them that this new angle you have it at is in fact the same as the factory original angle.

Although it certainly made some change in the toe-in, it was not much and may even have improved it. Since what toe-in setting works best with any given Bronco is kind of dependent on the individual Bronco's setup and the driver's personal preference, it does seem to fall into the same window that the factory recommends. Which is I think 1/8" to 1/4" or thereabouts. I seem to remember mine always liking it about in the middle at 3/16 inch. But I could definitely feel the difference when it was changed.

Be great if when you have it checked, and if they need to change it a little bit, that it feels even better!

And then don't forget to experiment with tire pressures over time. You're looking for even tire wear (especially in the rear where they sit more squarely on the ground), driving feel and comfort. And the nice thing about air pressure is that it's easy to change, then easy to bring back if it was better before.

Good luck.

Paul

I’m going to play around with tire pressure this weekend, I didn’t want to change but one thing at a time. My days road racing motorcycles taught me that. Futile to make a ton of changes and not know what it was that actually did what.
I’m running 32 psi all the way around right now thinking about dropping rear first to 28.

 

[DirtDonk]

Good plan. Hard to stick to sometimes, but making one change at a time is really the way to go unless you just don't have the time.
I think most of us run a few pounds less in the rear most of the time. I can tell that in most cases I've been involved with the rear tires have so little weight on them compared to the front that you can literally see the road dirt deposited in the center of the tire.
Other than a little safety factor for that un-planned load, I generally let air out of the rear tires until the wear/dirt pattern is almost to the edge of the tread.

Same thing the old "chalk line test" does, but over a longer period of time.

Paul