The Lone Ranger – Kage’s ’94 X-Cab Leaf SAS and Bed Bob

[Josh40601]

As long as the DL and the TB are at the same angle, you shouldn't have bump steer. Mine is a little off, but i have VERY little bump steer since i got the tires balanced.

there are pictures of how far off my angle and the length difference between the two. I dunno if it is 10", but it is a lot shorter

 

[Kage]

As long as the DL and the TB are at the same angle, you shouldn't have bump steer. Mine is a little off, but i have VERY little bump steer since i got the tires balanced.

there are pictures of how far off my angle and the length difference between the two. I dunno if it is 10", but it is a lot shorter

I went back through your build thread (which makes me giggle when I see how far that truck has come) and that made me less worreid about my Track Bar as I don't have anywhere near the amount of travel that you have.

I did get the track bar done tonight, and let me be the first to say that you guys were right, I needed a track bar. I don't know if it solved my sway issue (haven't had it on the highway yet) but it made a world of difference in the around town crusing I did tonight. Its a bit of an odd sensation to turn the steering wheel and actually have the truck turn I didn't realize how bad the steering was!

So even if it doesn't fix my sway issue, it was worth it just to get everything tightened up again!

I'll post another update tomorrow morning/noon assuming the thing doesn't kill me on the way into work

 

[Josh40601]

that's awesome brother!

 

[Kage]

Track Bar​

After fighting doing what I could to solve my death sway issue with the rear (Added rear leafs, played with the shocks, etc) I turned my attention to the front end. Now I knew my front shackle setup was causing some of my vague steering that I was experiencing, I didn’t realize how bad it actually was until I added this track bar. Adding this track bar also appears to have solved my death sway issue. I still need to load the truck down to confirm it, but the initial feeling is that the problem is solved.​

Onto the photos! During lunch I borrowed some Torch Mate time and burned out some brackets on some scrap metal. I think they turned out all right.​

Pieces:

Axle side bracket:

Welded up:

Mounted axle bracket:

Frame side bracket (attached to the bump stop):

Bent up a track bar to clear the K member and pumpkin. I’ll need to do something different if I go 60 in the front some day as this won’t clear a 60 pumpkin:

Assembled:

I goofed on my axle side bracket so track bar isn’t quite parallel to the drag link. Its close enough that it doesn’t bump steer. Or at least not enough to notice.​

The Track bar is about 10" shorter than the Drag Link, so it tries to pull the axle over to the side some. Which is not going to lead to long leaf spring bushing life

Full Droop:

Full Droop again (You can see how much it torques that leaf spring bushing):

So, I'll swap out the bolts holding it on for some pins. That way I can just pull the pins out when I get to the trail to help keep things from binding up. On road its a non issue.　


As I noted earlier, I need to put a few more miles on it before I swear that the death sway is gone. Even if it didn’t solve that issue, it was well worth the effort just to get the front end tightened up. I’m giddy with how nice it turns right now.​

　
Another Eidt: I'm fairly certain that the sway is a thing of the past now.
　
　​

 

[wohlf 16]

Very nice! I know exactly how scary that steering feels like when your meeting someone on the road. Glad to hear that it does help it out. Guess I have to stop bein lazy and weld my driverside mount up. On mine I attached my passenger side mount to the top leaf spring plate. Raises my mount to level with the drag link and also lengthens the ph bar. I got a pic I think on my build if you wanna check it out. Build looks awesome! Keep up the good work!

 

[RangerSVT]

Check out your spring/shackle setup on the front in the last pic, something doesn't look right. Is the spring compressed on one side or something (flexing) ??
SVT

 

[Josh40601]

Check out your spring/shackle setup on the front in the last pic, something doesn't look right.

^This

 

[kris97ranger]

its because the panhard is too short thats why he's going to pull it on the trail but keep it on for on road driving

 

[Kage]

Very nice! I know exactly how scary that steering feels like when your meeting someone on the road. Glad to hear that it does help it out. Guess I have to stop bein lazy and weld my driverside mount up. On mine I attached my passenger side mount to the top leaf spring plate. Raises my mount to level with the drag link and also lengthens the ph bar. I got a pic I think on my build if you wanna check it out. Build looks awesome! Keep up the good work!

It helped out alot. I looked up what you did in your thread and putting the mount on top of the leaf perch like that concerns me some. That can be quite a bit of force sticking out on top of the spring plate like that. It might be a non issue though.

In the end, you'll still have some of the same effect as what I have in that last photo where the Trac Bar/PanHard bar tries to shift the axle over to the drivers side.

I am happy to report that the on road driving is greatly improved by adding one, just make it easily removable for the trails if you keep the leafs

Check out your spring/shackle setup on the front in the last pic, something doesn't look right. Is the spring compressed on one side or something (flexing) ??
SVT

^This

You guys are obviously missing the point here which means I probably wasn't too clear in my post (I've gone back and edited it ). In the last two photos I'm using a fork lift to take all the weight off of the front. So front is at full doop (sitting on the limit straps)

Regardless of the length of a Track/Panhard bar, it will allways drag the front axle over to the Drivers Side of the vehicle. This effect is more noticable the shorter the bar is. That is what you're seeing in the last photo.

As a result, I'll just swap out the bolts holding the bar in for pins that I can easily pull out at the trail head. This will allow me to have great road manners, but not sacafice offroad flex. One day I might get really motivated and extend the bar out further, but for now it works.

You dig?

EDIT:

its because the panhard is too short thats why he's going to pull it on the trail but keep it on for on road driving

Kris got it, and ninja posted on me..

 

[Josh40601]

got it

 

[Bray D]

Steal away! I farted around with a few different designs which mostly revolved around a removable plate that you would pull out to get the winch out. This simplified everything.

Stolen.

 

[Kage]

Stolen.

I see that, yours looks nicer too

 

[Kage]

2,000 mile update
Not exactly an exciting update, but I’ve passed the 2k mile mark here recently, and nothing’s killed me yet. The truck has been playing DD while I did the clutch on my Mustang, so the miles got racked up on it. Over all, I’m very happy with how its working on road. Some Hit and misses:
　
Hits:
- The brakes are friggin awesome ​

- The track bar makes it much nicer to drive​

- It makes me giggle to be sitting in traffic in my ‘wheeler’ with the A/C on while I watch other motorist sweat.​

- The stinger is a good threatening device
　
Misses:
- Heims are making noise (still tight though) so I’ll swap them out for TRE’s after my next wheeling trip (7/30/11)​

- While the 4:10’s get the job done, it could really benefit from deeper gearing. Taking off on a hill is a bit annoying.​

- 14.6 mpg’s regardless of how I drive it. Pretty decent for what it is, but that starts to add up with my commute.​

- I ran it across a scale last night, it looks like I overshot my target weight by a bit. With ~17 gallons of fuel, and the spare in the back this pig weights in at 5,300 lbs. I’m going to guess ‘trail ready’ it’ll weigh in closer to 5,500-5,700 lbs. So much for keeping it under 5k...
　
In other news, I swapped out my t case motor for another, so now I’ve got 4wd again. I’d still like to ditch the electric case, but for now its serving its purpose. At this point, I’m ready to go out and play again so I’m really looking forward to the end of the month!​

 

[Josh40601]

Sounds just like mine buddy! Although you came in a little fatter than me i believe, although i haven't weighed it yet. I have 4.56's and it still sucks taking off on hills. If you do change, go 4.88s

I think i might change out my rod ends to TRE's as well. With the truck going to DD status again, no use in keeping them since my are making noise too.

And yes, A/C is amazing

 

[Kage]

So... I have 4.56's and it still sucks taking off on hills. If you do change, go 4.88s

I think i might change out my rod ends to TRE's as well. With the truck going to DD status again, no use in keeping them since my are making noise too....

I"m trying real hard to justifiy spending the money on regearing it. Its one of those things that "I should do" but every time I look at it, my head spins a little (Lunch box in the rear, new carrier, gears, and new axle shafts and I'm looking at nearly $900 for one end ) . At least the front it just a matter of swaping gears.

As for the Heims, the only time mine are making noise are parking lot moves. Its the typical "Groan" that all of them seem to like to make. I picked up some Ruff Stuff TRE inserts, so we'll see how they'll work out for me (my arms are allready drilled out to 3/4" so I can't just jam a taper in there and call it good).