Stone crusher steering system

[Shran]

I should clarify my previous post. I personally think I could build this steering setup for around what I said, and *I* would certainly try to but for the average guy who just wants a better setup, this is great and honestly a pretty good price too. Cool product.

 

[dirtcowboy]

I never noticed this until you posted it. You are correct, the heim should be mounted to the bottom of the pitman arm. There is no way it can touch, the pictures are decieving because they don't show 3-D. The tie-rod actually runs behind the drag link and even at full lock, they aren't close to touching.

These aren't full lock pics but it kinda shows what I'm saying.










Also, just wanted to say thanks for understanding what I was trying to say. I wasn't trying to be a goober about anything but Anthony went out of his way to help me. I owe it to him to help support his product.
This isn't the absolute best steering setup out by no means. You'd need one of them high dollar swingset get ups to be close to perfect. It is however better than factory, easier to istall, and cheaper than the Superlift. I doubt you'd have to worry about the tube unless you are in some serious stuff and heims are cheap enough that you can keep a couple spares with you just in case you needed them. We have kicked around the idea of going with TREs but as many have found out, there is a great deal of machining that has to be done. Anthony doesn't have the necessary equipment to do it and sourcing the jobs increases the price to where no one would pay for it.

Figures I'm the dumbass who put the rod on the wrong side of the arm. Should the bolts go up thru the bottom or down thru the top? I wondered about that when i copied "most" of ThatGuys instructions. I'll git on it tomorrow AM after work!

Thanks fer the pics Bonedoc!!

 

[spdcrazy]

my thought is prob up, the head of the bolt is smaller in height, but if it has no way of touching the tie rod, then either way should be good!!!!

 

[CopyKat]

i think if it had actual tierod ends there might be more interest in it. heims are not legal here for steering components

 

[4x4junkie]

my thought is prob up, the head of the bolt is smaller in height, but if it has no way of touching the tie rod, then either way should be good!!!!

Actually it should be whichever way puts the steering in phase best with the axle beams (pivot point of the steering being closest to the same plane as the axle beam pivots so any side-side bumpsteer is minimized).
Unless you have the big Skyjacker extreme drop pitman arm on a short 2-3" lift (an unlikely combo), guaranteed it will be with the linkage attached to the bottom of the pitman arm.

Edit: Just realized you were only talking about the bolt itself, not where the heim goes... my bad.



Also FWIW, I've noticed the majority of those "copying" this setup so far aren't copying it just to "do it cheaper"... They want it with TREs, which SC currently doesn't offer (I would prefer TREs myself as well).

 

[ThatGuy]

I think technically the bolt should be put in from the top. That way if the nut were to ever come off the bolt wouldn't fall out. Anthony does supply cotter pins with the kit and suggests that you drill through the bolt and nut and insert the cotter pins so that the nut cannot back off. That also makes it legal for those places that allow heims that are "locked".

We installed mine in a hurry and I was laying on my back so I put the bolts in up from the bottom.

 

[dirtcowboy]

I think technically the bolt should be put in from the top. That way if the nut were to ever come off the bolt wouldn't fall out. Anthony does supply cotter pins with the kit and suggests that you drill through the bolt and nut and insert the cotter pins so that the nut cannot back off. That also makes it legal for those places that allow heims that are "locked".

We installed mine in a hurry and I was laying on my back so I put the bolts in up from the bottom.

I'll have to look, I don't remember pins with your refurb'd kit, but I could be wrong. Do you pin the heim joints as well? What size, 1/8th?

Thanks!!

FYI, with my dropped arm the steering rods are dead flat across now that I flipped the arm rod.

Coolbeans.

 

[4.0B2]

Teasers!!! I want it! Lol.

 

[spdcrazy]

Actually it should be whichever way puts the steering in phase best with the axle beams (pivot point of the steering being closest to the same plane as the axle beam pivots so any side-side bumpsteer is minimized).
Unless you have the big Skyjacker extreme drop pitman arm on a short 2-3" lift (an unlikely combo), guaranteed it will be with the linkage attached to the bottom of the pitman arm.

Edit: Just realized you were only talking about the bolt itself, not where the heim goes... my bad.



Also FWIW, I've noticed the majority of those "copying" this setup so far aren't copying it just to "do it cheaper"... They want it with TREs, which SC currently doesn't offer (I would prefer TREs myself as well).

you caught me! i did say bolt, but i was thinking of the entire setup, heim on top or bottom as well.

i'd have to take some measurement, and i'm not real family with this term "in phase" but i do think with my cheap rough country pitman arm, the added drop by putting the heim on the bottom would be the best choice for me.

 

[spdcrazy]

instead of building another thread which will likely be posted by the same people as this one i pose a question

if a guy was to build a stonecrusher style steering with TRE's, like i'd like to do, whats the general idea on the pitman connection point? I plan on doing to searching on some TRE's that have the same dimensions, taper, length and such, but hopefully find a larger shank and improve strength, but i'm not familar with steering components enough to understand what a guy can do with the pitman arm part of the system

 

[Shran]

instead of building another thread which will likely be posted by the same people as this one i pose a question

if a guy was to build a stonecrusher style steering with TRE's, like i'd like to do, whats the general idea on the pitman connection point? I plan on doing to searching on some TRE's that have the same dimensions, taper, length and such, but hopefully find a larger shank and improve strength, but i'm not familar with steering components enough to understand what a guy can do with the pitman arm part of the system

A lot of people use 1-ton Chevy TREs and ream out the knuckles and pitman arm since the Chevy stuff is larger. I'm not sure what your question about the pitman arm is, though. Basically for the best steering, in theory, you should have a pitman arm that drops far enough for both steering links to be in phase with the axle beams - IE at equal angles to each other.

 

[CopyKat]

i'm just going to wait till joel does his crossover with tierods.

 

[4x4junkie]

Yeah the 1-ton Chevy TREs seem to be what everyone is using, so it would probably make the most sense to just use those (finding the correct reamer for it should also be fairly easy).
Ideally you'd want to find a drag link that already has a boss on it to accept the tierod TRE rather than welding one onto it. Might need to modify something (I recall someone did just this and had it posted it in the Steering section on the forum).


"In phase" simply means the steering link and axle beam are inline (or in sync) with each other centered right at ride height. This allows the steering & suspension to travel with each other for as long as possible so that the amount of bumpsteer is minimized.

An example of a steering linkage being 'in phase'

"Out of phase" (steering's pivot point is too high = lots of bumpsteer):

Almost 'in phase'

Way out of phase:

Taken from this article:
http://www.therangerstation.com/Magazine/winter2008/steering_tech.htm

 

[spdcrazy]

ok i follow ya on the "in phase"

and i briefly looked at the napa chassis book today. we have a way to look at a tierod by size, and it gives the taper dimensions, as well as thread size. big chevy's was what i looked into first, get one left and one right hand, but then what does a guy do for the pitman connection?

only thing i'm not real sure of, is will the TRE has enough deflection for flexing?

 

[Shran]

Ream out the pitman arm if necessary so you can use the same TRE?

As long as you set TREs so they rotate the correct way, they will have as much travel or more than a heim does.