Steering Modification

[DiscoDino]

Well, here it is:

Got tired of bashing my steering stabilizer on and on, so decided to slap an OME SD22 (for a Patrol) on the front a la Defender and beef up the track bar.

After a whole day roaming around the wreckers', I got my hands on a school bus' track rod (the buses that carry 44 passengers, the old ones). After some measurements, we found that to work great. It cost me 13USD with the used ball joints.

The ball joints were progressive from 17.5mm to 21.5mm, meaning that we had to widen the wholes at the mounting points from the original 15.5mm to 17.5mm. Easily done.

The rod itself was 85cm longer than what was needed, so it was chopped up the middle, revealing the beautiful 6mm thickness. it was welded to the desired length by inserting a solid shaft and welding a "v" section across. The front steering arm was sleeved with the chopped 85cm part and a "U" shapped section was welded for the steering stabilizer. My custom bumper already had the matching mount on the opposide side.

Welding and labor cost me nothing (I did that), 4 new ball joints were bought: 2 stock LR ones at 18USD, and 2 GMC "600 series" for 24USD each, rendering the whole upgrade to 97USD. add 2USD for a rattle can of matt black, and for under 100USD, I got some bomb-proof steering. To test this, the whole front of the vehicle was jacked on each rod seperately with no problem.

Herein are some pictures:

[DiscoDino]

Here is the size of the new ball joint:

[HSV Rangie]

Disco,
this ball joint the GM one.

taper's fit ok, set up looks good.

Michael.

[Adam]

What does 6mm equate to in inches? I am running a 1.5" OD .250" wall DOM tie rod and drag link right now and wouldn't trade either for anything... except maybe 3/8" or 1/2" wall

[DiscoDino]

Adam,

That is almost the same size. 6mm is a wee bit less than .25". I have to agree with you, best mod for the buck I have done.

[mickrangie]

Disco..

Nice work I have done the same for my truck and TuffRR... however we used a return to centre dampener from a defender because of the slightly longer length and the Pin at one end and Eye at the other…

I found out the hard wan n the weekend that the std drag link is crapola and bends…. I have just ordered a 31mm OD from Rangie Spares that uses existing tie rods n shite.. I’ll post some pics later tonight of my banana drag link (new is on it’s way) should have it installed this weekend!!!!

[DiscoDino]

Mick,

I do agree with you that the standard ones are useless. The new 6mm ones rock, and I was able to jeck the truck on the track rod with that. Impressive. the ball joints are actually twice the weight of the Rover ones. Its all very sweet. I was thinking of kinking the bar just like Rockware did, but I decided to go with it straight on and strong. Do post pics. I have bent both stock bars before without pictures. I do attest to the shaky ride on the highway back home.