Tie rod/Drag link Position - Bumpsteer?

[g-money]

Guys,

I just did the TRO and a few other things and want to get some opinions. I haven't driven it yet but want to see how bad you think the bumpsteer will be with the set up as it is.

They are not parallel and I think to get them parallel I will need a drop bracket, which would suck because just before doing the TRO I had the bottom hole of the drop bracket cut off and beefed up. Opps!

Here are some pics.

Thanks
Galen

 

[purple72]

Use a track bar riser bracket from Wild Horses. You need the axle end up. As far as how your set up will drive. Not good.

 

[Broncobowsher]

You should have bumpsteer. The softer the springs, the worse you will feel it.
Use a track bar riser. Wild horses and Driven Auto Parts both have them.

 

[g-money]

I have a few concerns with a track bar riser.

First is that it is a HP D44 so I am not sure how it will fit.

Secondly it seem that I would have to raise it so much that it might hit the fram on compression. The bump stops are set up perferctly at the moment so that when I bottom out the bumps stop the truck about a 1/2 inch before the shocks full compress.

Also one thing to notice is that the trac bar is from the donor vehicle and you can see that as it comes off the frame mount it drops (or has a downward bend in it). You can see the mounting bolt on teh axle end. Does this help of hurt my situation?

 

[SaddleUp]

Your going to need either a drop bracket or raised bracket. In reality though your kind of limited to the raised bracket because the drop one has 2 issues. First is that the drag link will hit it when it compresses and is turned. Second is that it puts a lot of stress on the frame. If you want to see if it has bump steer now get up on the front bumper and bounce the frontend up and down watching the steering wheel. If the steering wheel moves from side to side then it will have bump steer.

 

[Tito]

I would think that if you did the riser, with some grinding (a lot of) you could get it all still setup right. Your angle would be perfect and you could weld/bolt on your bump stop plate still in about the same spot. I think unless this is a trail only rig its gonna need that riser. I think astark did his and did quite a bit of grinding, not sure if he got the bumpstop back on or not though. If you need to take a look at one and get some measurements, I have one on mine over here in clackamas (remember how to get here?)

 

[broncnaz]

Id test it as Saddleup suggested first. While its optimum to have them parallel its not always true. as the lenghts of both can make a differance also.

 

[73stallion]

looks like you have a good amount of lift, i wouldn't be too concerned about the riser hitting the frame. i only have a 2.5"lift and my riser doesn't hit.

the riser gives you a few mounting options for the track bar, and should level the track bar out better than a drop bracket. it looks like the lower bolt is lower on the axle than a bronco mount is anyway.


here's a few close ups for consideation.

 

[SaddleUp]

Galen. I'm not sure if you looked at my riser or not but that is another option. Your welcome to drop by anytime. (Just give me a call to let me know your coming) We did the same thing with my brothers but he opted to use the EB track bar instead of the one from the full size.

Regarding the bend in the arm you need to figure the angle between the mounting points rather than the angle on the rod itself. That makes the rise needed less since it looks worse in the pics than it really is.

 

[Broncobowsher]

OK, so I took a closer look. First time I was just looking at draglink vs. trackbar.

Since you have an axle swap, the off the shelf track bar riser probably won't be the easy fix. But the idea should be good. Looking at the bumpstops, they are already raised. Just get the lower mount up to there.

I would avoid the droped frame bracket, especially with the TRO. Hard compression on the drivers side at full turn stuffs the tierod into the drop braket, bending the tie rod. Seen that more then I can count.

 

[70_Steve]

They are not parallel and I think to get them parallel I will need a drop bracket,

You don't necessarily need to get the drag link and track bar parallel. Here's as good an article to explain our suspension geometry as I've seen.

http://bulletproofsteering.com/geometry.html

 

[crab]

The problem with the bronco tie rod/drag link set up with a lifted suspention is that they are so dang short, expecially the drag link. I really like this set up. The tie rod/drag link have been lengthend to create a much friendlier steering geometry. Notice the track bar and drag link are mounted one in front of the other on the 1/2 ton dodge knuckle, as well as the lengthened track bar. I like!