WARNING: TOUGH DOG RTC not so tough, design floor check your

[OZBMX]

G'day just thought I'd put a bit of warning post up with regards to my experience, with a tough dog return to center steering damper.
It started about mid last year, I purchased a replacement steering damper to suit my 99 single cab IFS 4wd hilux work ute, I started looking around online, and found a tough dog supplier in brisbane advertizing on ebay, since I have had intentions to get a bit of offroading in on the weekend I wanted something a bit more suitable, so went with what I was led to believe was the better quality part.
picked it up all looked good till I went to fit it and realized it wasn't a straight forward replacement, on concern I contacted the supplier who assured me that it was fine, as per instruction, you will see in the photo's the bolt that bent, the fact the bolt was taking the force as a side-load only supported from one end seemed quite concerning, however I went with it. fitted it adjusted up took it for an alignment, and all seem fine for a few months till the bolt I'd raised my concern on sheared where expected.
and dropped the damper down to the ground.

I remove the damper and returned to the supplier, with invoice in hand to get will just replace the bolt, at the time, we were flat chat, so I just let it go and refitted now approximately a year down the track, the bolt is bent to all buggery and the spring snapped.

I've had intentions of driving it offroad however have only done a light offroad trip once, due to work restraints with time, I'm not saying it doesn't see mud corrugations etc. however this is because the ute takes me remote areas for work, agricultural properties, construction sites etc.
By no means would I expected an off road intended part to fail so severly. in the given time, with the light level of offroad use.

[GUtripper]

Due to (1) the bolt bending the direction it has and (2) the spring breaking like that my opinion would be that even at full extension the dampener is too short for the application. It also looks like the coil has been binding on full compression.
Get your money back.
Have you still got the original OM dampener? My bet it would be longer overall.

If no luck with the outlet you got it from, go direct to Tough Dog themselves.
If no luck, stick it on every forum you can find.
Not good enough.

[Chook91]

Had the coil on my old mans 105 series snap as well. Couldn't figure out why the front was clicking when we turned and here was the problem.

The piston/bore was still straight as a die and the rest of it looked fine, which steered us away from thinking that we may have hit something under the front. Gave the shop a call that fitted it, they didn't want a bar of it. Gave Tough Dog a call, had a brand new coil over RTC dampener in the mail and on our doorstep within a few days with no end of apologies from their end. Wouldn't hesitate to purchase their product again based on on customer service like that.

[OZBMX]

Well finally contacted tough dogg directly due to onlineautoparts.com.au not responding to my inquiry, bloke I talked to claimed he designed it and has never had a bolt break, did not seem very helpful, would not recommend it more so.
See whether I get a response.

Claims if something had broken he'd have expected a law suit by now, frankly, makes me wish I had time to pursue it further when the first bolt failed.
1 failure, I'd put it down to things do fail, 2 failure same point, same part, makes me question design, although was not confident at the time of initially fitting, and certainly not sure, figured it had been properly engineered, one of those cases I felt like calling them up and saying." I told you so" frankly not happy.

Things go wrong failures & mistakes, happen how you handle it is the difference.

[stilivn]

looks like bush is the wrong size and also should be installed inside bracket and not underneath as in photo, I would guess an installation issue.

[OZBMX]

bush was lipped on both sides and centered(fitted) in packet, I suspect it moved up as the bolt was pulled inwards.
As mentioned I questioned a few things, and was told it was right.

They use a larger width eye, and that's how they intend it to be mounted, underneath with a side load on a bolt.

in the bracket it should have been installed, and this was my complaint from day 1, however assuming the company were doing the right thing you wouldn't have expected an issue. So I just went with it.
Theres a lot of force on a set of wheels under the right condition however power steering, or prior to power steering, gear reduction you don't have anywhere near the force at the steering wheel.

[GRIMACE]

Steering dampers are over rated!

Specially TD ones!

[MikeH]

any RTC damper is a bodge up. Fix your steering geometry properly. They should be illegal.

[80's_delirious]

a tough dog return to center steering damper.

there's your first mistake.

RTC dampers are a gimmick and add stress to your steering. Your best bet is to go with a quality damper not RTC

[OZBMX]

any RTC damper is a bodge up. Fix your steering geometry properly. They should be illegal.

Who said there was anything wrong with the steering geometry, I had no prior experience with steering dampers to now to be perfectly honest, as the triton didn't have one, and to be perfectly honest, despite all the problems that thing had at over 6**,****k's
It frankly handled great, only positive about the bloody thing.

But since this was being setup as my work Ute, I had no intention, of skimping out anywhere, as it does a lot of k's loaded and unloaded, under all sorts of conditions. I was put under the impression it was effectively the duck nuts at the time.

Anyway finally got action through the parts store, after I called tough dog, 5 minutes later the joint calls me back, initially tough dog were trying to just replace the blue spring supposedly, I don't think tough dog liked my phone call.

Now to go fit the replacement and get my wheel alignment done.

[MikeH]

Not having a crack at you for running one, but at the industry for implying a return to centre damper is better than a normal damper. You have been misled as are thousands of people.
The castor etc should encourage your steering to return to centre, not a spring secured with a couple of bolts.

A failure in the spring like you have had could bind up, or the clamp slipping, or the bolt bending, or incorrect installation can cause the car to pull to one side. For what benefit? The RTC damper is designed to increase the return to centre force, when lifting a radius arm vehicle incorrectly the castor is reduced because the diff rolls forward. This is the application these RTC dampers are designed for, rather than replacing radius arms to fix the problem.

If increasing that return to centre tendency was beneficial you'd see people with standard suspension heights installing offset bushes to increase their castor. Or King and Fox would make them - they don't.

I would recommend you get a non RTC damper or leave the spring off altogether. It's only a matter of time before someone blames a failed RTC damper for pulling them into oncoming traffic and causing an accident. Then people will get defected for having one.

[gu town]

Not having a crack at you for running one, but at the industry for implying a return to centre damper is better than a normal damper. You have been misled as are thousands of people.
The castor etc should encourage your steering to return to centre, not a spring secured with a couple of bolts.

A failure in the spring like you have had could bind up, or the clamp slipping, or the bolt bending, or incorrect installation can cause the car to pull to one side. For what benefit? The RTC damper is designed to increase the return to centre force, when lifting a radius arm vehicle incorrectly the castor is reduced because the diff rolls forward. This is the application these RTC dampers are designed for, rather than replacing radius arms to fix the problem.

If increasing that return to centre tendency was beneficial you'd see people with standard suspension heights installing offset bushes to increase their castor. Or King and Fox would make them - they don't.

I would recommend you get a non RTC damper or leave the spring off altogether. It's only a matter of time before someone blames a failed RTC damper for pulling them into oncoming traffic and causing an accident. Then people will get defected for having one.

X2 well said.

I'd throw the spring away.

[80's_delirious]

throw the whole thing away

there is plenty of tech on RTC dampers


http://www.outerlimits4x4.com/viewtopic ... r#p1935274

[OZBMX]

Well further info, took the ute in for the wheel alignment yesterday, after fitting a replacement damper, normal foam cell big bore unit, only to find that they could no longer achieve anything, the extra strain from the rtc, has actually prematurely flogged out my whole front end basically, considering it was all done a couple years ago.
frankly, despite, how it was sold to me, these should be marketed as not for on road use.
I was put under the impression that benefits would be had with highway driving aswell as offroad.

Frankly not happy. If they are to still sell these they should have the marketing turned on it's head.

To add, I was extremely dissapointed with how tough dog handled it.

[V.W.Dave]

Not having a crack at you for running one, but at the industry for implying a return to centre damper is better than a normal damper. You have been misled as are thousands of people.
The castor etc should encourage your steering to return to centre, not a spring secured with a couple of bolts.

A failure in the spring like you have had could bind up, or the clamp slipping, or the bolt bending, or incorrect installation can cause the car to pull to one side. For what benefit? The RTC damper is designed to increase the return to centre force, when lifting a radius arm vehicle incorrectly the castor is reduced because the diff rolls forward. This is the application these RTC dampers are designed for, rather than replacing radius arms to fix the problem.

If increasing that return to centre tendency was beneficial you'd see people with standard suspension heights installing offset bushes to increase their castor. Or King and Fox would make them - they don't.

I would recommend you get a non RTC damper or leave the spring off altogether. It's only a matter of time before someone blames a failed RTC damper for pulling them into oncoming traffic and causing an accident. Then people will get defected for having one.

X2 well said.

I'd throw the spring away.

Believe me I am on the side of toss it in the bin all they do is damage no good. I have seen these things cause soo many problems it isn't funny.

But Fox do a HD steering dampener. You adjust the pressures in it to achieve a "return to centre" feel. They do not run a spring but they work in a very simular way.

[purplebus]

To add, I was extremely dissapointed with how tough dog handled it.

mine from another thread.
Stay away from tough dogs. Mine lasted 2 trips and told no warranty on anything over 3''. Was later told by same shop (on another forum after I posted that info) that they should of been replaced under warranty and it was their salesmans misinformation. Never got any replacements or even an offer from them.

[TheBigBoy]

Not having a crack at you for running one, but at the industry for implying a return to centre damper is better than a normal damper. You have been misled as are thousands of people.
The castor etc should encourage your steering to return to centre, not a spring secured with a couple of bolts.

A failure in the spring like you have had could bind up, or the clamp slipping, or the bolt bending, or incorrect installation can cause the car to pull to one side. For what benefit? The RTC damper is designed to increase the return to centre force, when lifting a radius arm vehicle incorrectly the castor is reduced because the diff rolls forward. This is the application these RTC dampers are designed for, rather than replacing radius arms to fix the problem.

If increasing that return to centre tendency was beneficial you'd see people with standard suspension heights installing offset bushes to increase their castor. Or King and Fox would make them - they don't.

I would recommend you get a non RTC damper or leave the spring off altogether. It's only a matter of time before someone blames a failed RTC damper for pulling them into oncoming traffic and causing an accident. Then people will get defected for having one.

Mike, he has an IFS hilux.

The design of a RTC steering damper is for running very large big heavy tyres. It's ti aid the return for these big heavy tyres at low/no speed. So it takes the pressure off your steering system when they are laying right over. When I say big though, 40" and bigger. They cause more trouble than they are worth and magnify vibrations/wobbles. But people continue to buy them because they look cool.

[stilivn]

Just ordered non-rtc as the TD one died after 5 years. See how i go. In meantime lane changes are interesting.

[offroadboss]

40" and bigger!? I think it's more time for hydro assist then etc dampener once your gone that big

[TheBigBoy]

Exactly.

[evanstaniland]

I ran 42" iroks for 3 years on mechanical steering and no dampner...but shit it was hard work in tight spots!