Project 4x4 Commuter Mazda

[escort_gts]

your lunch in the first picture?

 

[legoms013]

Haha, no just a snack to get me by till dinner last night.


So I drove it to work today, and I'm not very happy with the way it handles now. Some really funky bumpsteer is goin on as far as I can tell...

 

[escort_gts]

hmmm, maybe the same reason I have bumpsteer.

 

[Kyle M.]

To me, the way it is set up with the pivot for the drivers side being in the center of the passengerside, it seems like you would get serious bump steer. Now I don't see a better way of doing it and I would bet that style of steering would be really nice off road, lots of clearance and stronger than factory stuff.

I think you did very nice work, well thought out. Maybe try at add more toe in, that seemed to help my steering when I had bump steer.

 

[escort_gts]

my camber is out on one side, not much though like 3* or so. ?

 

[legoms013]

escort, if you havent had your truck aligned since the 3* of camber you have came about, then your toe will be out, and those two combined may have some effect on your bumpsteer. How are your trac bar and draglink angles? are they parallel? if not then that is the primary culprit.

kyle,it has 1/8 of toe in right now as is. Seems like people that have the Stonecrusher setup said that it handled better than with their stock stuff. But too me it seems no better.

All i did was copy the design, and was hoping to rid myself of the bumpsteer. Well if anything its got to be stronger than stock....and I most likely accomplished my goal of upgrading to 1 ton stuff, so that I don't eat through stock RBV draglinks every few thousand miles. With the chevy DRE at the pitman arm, that sucker should damn near never wear out....I hope.

I'm gonna fiddle with the position of the pivot point bracket, in relation to more or less vertical...maybe that will help some of the weird handling charcteristics...

 

[Kyle M.]

How are you measuring for toe?

I had about 1/8", then I bent my tie rod and it drove better than ever lol

I have about 3/16 to a 1/4, but I am measuring off tread so who knows.

 

[legoms013]

I used a paint marker pen and spun the wheel to get a circle all the way around both tires, pretty close to dead center of each tire. Then just used a tape measure.

Oh and also one tire is on a steel plate and rollers, so there is no weird binding or jacking after taking it off the jack.

 

[legoms013]

And on a side note...I'm contemplating pulling the trigger on a new set of BFG KM2 33x10.5's in a few weeks.

Can anybody bounce some ideas off me? I am having crazy ass bumpsteer issues with this new setup. Worse than stock. It drives like absolute crap. Every dip in the road causes steering wheel movement, and divots/potholes cause the truck to jolt/jump sideways with bumpsteer. Whats the deal? I thought this "idea" or concept of a steering system was to alleviate some of the bumpsteer that plagues the stock setup?

I'll be the first to admit it looks cool, and is very strong (way better than stock) but I am having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that it really isn't all what its cracked up to be. My bumpsteer after is worse than before. Not really worth all my hard work no is it? I thought I was nailing to birds with one stone by doing this...but I only nailed one, durability.

I understand it is not a perfect setup, but it "should" be better than the stock inverted y linkage. Yet it behaves worse. According to the following picture, the both linkage pivot points are now closer to the red "a-arm" swing plane of the whole radius arm-axle beam assembly.

I'm considering cutting off my fancy new heim bracket, and welding on a 1"x4" block of steel, drilled and reamed for a chevy TRE and welded near where the stock driver's side tierod was pivoting. Would be an easy fix to put it back to "stock function" with aftermarket beefiness.

 

[legoms013]

Still deciding if I want to re-work my steering setup to pivot like the stock linkage...I hate how it handles now. Live an learn I guess.

 

[88_Eddie]

sorry dude, i understand engines, suspensions and the rest of the drivetrain, but steering setup's are beyond my grasp at this point. i really havent done too much with mine and i plan on rocking the factory setup with a drop pitman arm on mine.

would a steering stabilizer help?

 

[escort_gts]

is it possible it's because the draglink is longer than the passenger side beam?

 

[legoms013]

Eddie, I hear yah. I'm sorta the same way, minus any knowledge about engines. I mainly just understand suspension setups. I bet steering stabilizer would help, cuz as is side to side body role causes alot of bumpsteer (before it really didn't all that much). In fact a sway bar might help even more. But I liked being able to drive without either, so I'm gonna modify it all so that I don't have to.

Escort, the draglink is essentially the same as a stock one in terms of length and design, so I believe it has to do with it having an angle on it versus flat (which is what it is supposed to be). As the passenger's side draglink moves, it either pushes or pulls on the driver's side tie-rod. Causing the bumpsteer I am now getting. Some how the location of the stock pivot point gave the perception of "equal" bumpsteer, and effectively canceling out any side to side steering when hitting a bump on both tires.

But now a bump on the right tire causes the truck to steer right.....or if a bump affects both tires simultaneously then the resultant is an even harsher bumpsteer to the right (due to that draglink having the angle that it does).
Bumps on the left don't affect the steering wheel at all.

Suspension wise I am not changing anything to lower the ride height, that is going backwards in my mind though I'm sure it would most definitely help and is actually the proper thing to do. BUT I have grown to like the way my suspension is right now...and would prefer to not redo it all over again...

I have decided to torch my new heim bracket off, and get a piece of 3/4" thick flat bar to weld on the draglink (this will be drilled and reamed for another chevy DRE). Then welded in the same or almost the same place as the stock pivot point, but a little lower (thats the best I can do to mimic stock).

This way at least the bumpsteers of the axles as they move up or down simultaneously will sort of cancel out (like the stock setup did). IMHO this is better than fighting to stay in a lane, as I didn't have this problem with the stock linkage as I do now. I do alot of driving...and need it to just work like it did. How it is now absolutely sucks to drive, and I'm not commuting to school and work (400 mi a week) like this. Something has to change.

I will be back to the way that it was, but with 1 ton chevy TRE's and DRE's. I can live with that...at least they should never wear out while I still own this truck.

This week = more to do. I'll try and post pics as I go...I need to get it dialed in by next Sunday, as I start school the next day.

 

[legoms013]

Friday & Monday's progress. Bought another Chevy draglink end (ES2027R) and welded on new pivot bracket (made from 3/4" flat bar).

Tomorrow I'm taking my tubing to WFO in Auburn to have it shortened and tapped.

Clearance right in front of the diff is sort of limited, I hope its not a problem. I'm guessing it will be much less of a problem though than I was having with the Stonecrusher style pivot point. Between the Skyjacker bracket and Skyjacker extreme drop pitman arm, there was no room there, and the pivot bolt would hang up when making a hard right turn.

 

[legoms013]

Its all finished, aligned and painted. Turned out great and drives like a dream (even better than stock, less slop and I think slightly less bumpsteer due to driver's side tie-rod being more horizontal).