Steering stabilizer drop bracket

[rexorcist]

Hoping to get some help..2nd owner (maybe)..1970 bronco with 3.5 lift..last eeek the steering stabilizer bracket sheared off @40 mph..definitely puckering moment..ordered a new one..fits the frame holes but too short relative to the failed unit and changes the angle of stabilizer greatly..anyone knows of drop bracket for 3.5 lift? Please and thank you

 

[Broncobowsher]

I'm going to take a different tangent on this...
If loosing the steering damper at 40 MPH is a puckering moment, there are bigger issues that should be addressed. Maybe you were playing baja racer, in which case maybe it would be a noticeable failure. But if you are driving on a road at 40 MPH and the damper bracket failing makes a noticeable difference in how it drives, someone was using the damper to mask problems they probably didn't understand correctly.

The damper absorbs sudden movement, impact blows. Stuff that tears up steering gear boxes and cracks the frame where the steering box goes. Also slows the sudden steering wheel snaps that like to try and break thumbs. Doesn't prevent them, just slows them down a little bit.

At this point I am thinking you have a flawed lift and probably don't even know it. There are a lot of members here who run 3½" lift with no steering damper at all. Not just trail rigs, but people who daily drive them, thousands of miles a year, highway speeds (and beyond). I have lost a damper bracket once. Completely un-noticeable on the street and highway. Only noticeable off-road when one tire would catch a rock and snap the steering wheel to one side violently. I like my steering gear box and uncracked frame so I went and re-attached mine. Which was a stock bracket.

Back to yours. Sounds like you picked up a stock replacment damper for a Bronco and it doesn't fit. At this point you are now into the realm of PO (Previous Owner) modifications. There is no rule or limit to what a PO may have done in the past. Broncos have been highly customized with all sorts of stuff for decades. Sometimes well engineered and functional, sometimes using stuff from a scrap pile installed while racing to empty a keg PBR. There is no universal 3½" lift kit steering damper drop bracket for non-stock sized steering damper. We understand it doesn't fit. But there are too many different lift and steering setups for a 3½" lift to really have any idea what you are working with. If we could see what you are working with, maybe we could come up with an idea to fix it. But the mental picture has too many holes in it at the moment.

 

[cldonley]

What Bowsher is saying, in a nutshell, is "dude, we need pictures".

 

[DirtDonk]

I’m surprised one of us hasn’t come up with a reasonable facsimile of a drop so, that when using a dropped Pitman Arm, most of which are pretty close to the same length of drop, would work reasonably well and be strong.
I guess it just hasn’t been a super high priority for anyone. But I think it would sell reasonably well because nobody likes the look of a crooked stabilizer after a dropped Pitman Arm is installed.

 

[73azbronco]

Post 108 link below, my solution to dropping damper. And, you shouldnt need to rely on it to make steering safe, its only there for when a 35 inch tire bashes a rcok.

https://classicbroncos.com/forums/threads/73-explorer-rebuild-year-8-9-10-11.179077/page-6

 

[m_m70]

If loosing the steering damper at 40 MPH is a puckering moment, there are bigger issues that should be addressed.

This! What exactly happened when the damper sheared off?? Just curious...

 

[rexorcist]

 

[rexorcist]

Thanx for replies..hit very uneven pavement and truck shimmied and wandered with lots of steering wheel play…wasn’t expecting it

 

[rexorcist]

middle picture is how sits now w stock bracket..haven’t driven yet but suspect will be bad

 

[blade]

It should work fine, all it is doing is damping the steering system to reduce the effects of hard hits. if your drag link and panhard are at different angles then you will have an issue.

 

[jamesroney]

Yikes! Please take off that bellows boot and cycle the steering all the way to the right...and snap a pic.

I don't think you have enough travel available, and your damper might have bottomed.

I have always wondered why they sell a dropped pitman arm, but no dropped bracket. I have also wondered why the bracket isn't longer to allow a longer damper. I have also wondered why Ford didn't bother to mount that bracket so it doesn't collapse the cross member. I have also wondered why a damper is needed at all with power steering. But I wonder a lot...

 

[Yeller]

@jamesroney I used to wonder about the damper and power steering. Then I started putting assist on everything and stopped going through steering boxes, so there is something to it. The first thing on the list of any build anymore is assist, unless it is a 100% pavement princess on stock size tires.

 

[rexorcist]

ordered new stabilizer…buddy will fab a drop bracket..tbc