Outer Limits 4x4 Board

I have just put in a 6" lift into my 80, and runing 36" pedes

now she handles like a roaming dog at 60km/h

I have put on castor plates, panhard arms front and rear, have not yet put my lower rear trailing arms on yet or my sway bars.

Would any of this affect straight line driving. I didnt think it would. I will be putting the rear sway on tommorrow, the damn trailing arms have snapped 2 of my ratchet sockets trying to loosen them (need a hi impact me thinx)

any ideas how to make it drive decent at speed?

in short

*cough* the Pedes...


you could try a wheel alignment and install a steering return to center.

have the caster checked.

make sure all bushes are in good nick to. the tyres won't help either on road, but would not expect them to be the cause.

Z()LTAN wrote:in short

*cough* the Pedes...


you could try a wheel alignment and install a steering return to center.

x2 if the castor is correct etc

Show us some pics of what its looking like

As for the problem, i wouldnt have a clue, i have spent to much time and money on mine to get it going properly, the latest mod being a $300 steering damper, which has put steering into a whole new category

ps. dont waste $200 on an rtc damper.

6 inch is simply too high. Unless you spend the time changing everything to suit.

Have fun with all the bent steering arms and other damage you will receive.

Guts wrote:6 inch is simply too high. Unless you spend the time changing everything to suit.

Have fun with all the bent steering arms and other damage you will receive.

whats with the attitude????

Attitude? what are you on about?
Just saying it how it is

Way better off with 4 inch and 2 body.
6 and 2 is just silly unless its never driven on the street.

i was thinking the same thing,6 inches is alot,you can't ram a car up that high and expect it to behave the same on the tar.i can see you spending dollar after dollar tryin to get it drivable.

Guts wrote:6 inch is simply too high. Unless you spend the time changing everything to suit.

Have fun with all the bent steering arms and other damage you will receive.

Errrr

Talking from experience i can say that you can make 6"+ work just fine onroad....

i built a gq ute with 6" coils and 3" body, 3rds arms, 4way rtc, , all chromemolly tierod, draglink, adjustable uppers and lowers.

Running 35s 4.625 diffs and turbo i/c diesel

Driven to 110% at all times and competing in many comps...

it handled the same if not better than standard.

Offroad it was in a league of its own

Z()LTAN wrote:

Guts wrote:6 inch is simply too high. Unless you spend the time changing everything to suit.

Have fun with all the bent steering arms and other damage you will receive.

Errrr

Talking from experience i can say that you can make 6"+ work just fine onroad....

i built a gq ute with 6" coils and 3" body, 3rds arms, 4way rtc, , all chromemolly tierod, draglink, adjustable uppers and lowers.

Running 35s 4.625 diffs and turbo i/c diesel

Driven to 110% at all times and competing in many comps...

it handled the same if not better than standard.

Offroad it was in a league of its own

Did you read the bit that is now in bold

I would also bet thousands on it not handling the same or better then standard. Simple pyshics tell you it has a higher centre of gravity Yeah it would have ridden better (smoother) but it would not handle the same on tight fast twisty roads.

But what ever, if it floats your boat then good for you. Just like a white pos leaf sprung hilux is not for everybody.

Steering is the biggest thing on an 80 when it has a 6 inch lift.
the controll arms are now dropped way down, this brings them closer to the tie rod arm across the back of the diff. When flexed up the controll arms hit on the tie rod arm. the tie rod arm is a bucket load weaker then the control arms, which do you think is going to bend first?
Now in the above pic look at the tie rod ends on the drag link. Both ends are close to maxed out allready (the bottom one which is not in the pic has to be the same as the top one). Flex it up and see how much they bind up.

LIke I said 6 inch on an 80 is too much, but if thats what you want and you like it good for you

Guts wrote:Steering is the biggest thing on an 80 when it has a 6 inch lift.
the controll arms are now dropped way down, this brings them closer to the tie rod arm across the back of the diff. When flexed up the controll arms hit on the tie rod arm. the tie rod arm is a bucket load weaker then the control arms, which do you think is going to bend first?
Now in the above pic look at the tie rod ends on the drag link. Both ends are close to maxed out allready. Flex it up and see how much they bind up.

LIke I said 6 inch on an 80 is too much, but if thats what you want and you like it good for you

Totally agree. I've got 2" and 315's and it handles like its on rail compared to other lifted 80's i've driven. There simply isn't any need to go the high. My experiance is that the lower the truck, the better it is off road.

I will flip the arms over when I get the $$$ for an x-link and hi steer. But im a poor poor man. So wont be next week. Or the week after.

Will be taking it to pro axle next week to get it all checked and linned up better then what I have done. I lined it up best to my ability.

yea 6" might be to high, but like mentioned each th their own. This is the 1st high lifted truck ive owned, so will judge for myself how it handels off road. If I dont like it, it aint hard to lower it down to a 4" (2" is far to low).
Was not expecting it to drive like a car, but not wander this much. I am also comparing the wander to my previously stock ride height.

But what ever, if it floats your boat then good for you. Just like a white pos leaf sprung hilux is not for everybody.

ill have it if ya dont want it? i rekon your hilux is the best one around

i dont have much experience with thi but the simple phrase comes to mind of "the higher the worse on road at fast speed"

sniper wrote:I will flip the arms over when I get the $$$ for an x-link and hi steer. But im a poor poor man. So wont be next week. Or the week after.

Will be taking it to pro axle next week to get it all checked and linned up better then what I have done. I lined it up best to my ability.

yea 6" might be to high, but like mentioned each th their own. This is the 1st high lifted truck ive owned, so will judge for myself how it handels off road. If I dont like it, it aint hard to lower it down to a 4" (2" is far to low).
Was not expecting it to drive like a car, but not wander this much. I am also comparing the wander to my previously stock ride height.

Yeah, looking at your pics it seems to pull down ont the left, so this wouldnt help. Could be an illusion though. Might want to try drop boxes instead of castor plates, this helps get your radius arms back to the angle that they were.

Are the caster plates 5deg?

I have 4" lift in an 80 and recently cut and rotated the steering knuckles on the front diff to correct poor handling due to incorrect caster angles. now handles great.
I had to rotate the knuckles by 7deg to restore caster angles to within factory specs. With 6" lift you may need more like 9-10deg caster correction(about 1.7deg per 1" lift).
The mod I did caused clearance issues with the tie rod hitting the control arms. which meant another engineering puzzle and more $$ to work around it.
IMO everything you change opens up a can of worms. You can end up f...in up more things trying to make the first f... up workable.
Get ready for a long list of failures/problems!

your panhard and steering link are on pretty extreme angle which increase pressure on steering arms, tie rod ends, chassis mounts, steering box etc.
Upgrading steering dampers might hide the problems, but wont fix them.

Ya gotta find a balance between safety on and off road and having an awesome trail rig.

80's_delirious wrote: Upgrading steering dampers might hide the problems, but wont fix them.

100% correct. A perfect steering system does not need a damper at all.
The steering on my hilux is not perfect but I don't run a damper. It doesn't drive perfect but it isn't too bad.

Guts wrote:

80's_delirious wrote: Upgrading steering dampers might hide the problems, but wont fix them.

100% correct. A perfect steering system does not need a damper at all.
The steering on my hilux is not perfect but I don't run a damper. It doesn't drive perfect but it isn't too bad.

why would dampers come factory fitted then

Too make certain they drive well

so they are needed on a 4wd then

especially one weighin in at 2T

Hilux weights 2150kgs. Got engineers without damper. Even got the NSW blue slip for rego without it. Getting that blue slip was a pain in the arse to

so many steering dampers are stuffed anyway and 99% of people don't even notice.

mate i just put a 5" lift on mine. with 36" pedes dobinson springs and pro comp shocks 5.5 deg castor plates. had severe wheel wobble when the wheels hit a slight bumps on the road. so i replaced the panhard rod bushes with new rubber toyota ones, and new chassis end bushes in the control arms.(make sure you put the slots back in the right way, i rotated mine slightly to account for the lift)now it drives fine with no sway bars and handles great. i also ran som weld up the front of my castor plates just to tighten things up.also did you loosen the control arm bushes when you put the lift in.
hope this helps
Troy

check out the next 62 ton b-double you see on the highway,bet you cant find the steering damper!!! drag link angles usually cause a little bump steer,as do the larger tires we put on our stock steering boxes,the damper does just what it says,takes a little of the shock transferred from the road. in my opinion it also reduces the number of dudes breaking their fingers when the a tire catches a rock or a ledge off road. dont take offence just a light hearted explaination of the way i see things.

[
. There simply isn't any need to go the high. My experiance is that the lower the truck, the better it is off road.[/quote]


Well u must not b doing very hard off roading then (unless u don't mined smashing your sills and under carage LOL). I have friends with 2" lifts and they don't come close to the Wheeling i do they just don't have the clearance and my 80 handles just as good as it did before i lifted it.

Steve

lewy wrote:

STUMPY wrote: . There simply isn't any need to go the high. My experiance is that the lower the truck, the better it is off road.

Well u must not do very hard off roading then...
Steve

dogbreath_48 wrote:

lewy wrote:

STUMPY wrote: . There simply isn't any need to go the high. My experiance is that the lower the truck, the better it is off road.

Well u must not do very hard off roading then...
Steve

LOL shit hay ooppss

5 degrees is not enough for a 6 inch lift. If you want to do it properly, put the caster plates for sale and buy flip arm mounts. This brings the diff forward with a flatter arm on top and upside down. Then....buy a high steer arm before you bend your steering box sector shaft. When that is fitted, you will need to realign the panny to be higher than the steering rod, and you will have a beautiful car to drive.
Putting splitties on now will clean up the steering a bit, as the widies are riding up on the outer edges due to the old tow in setup, put your hands in a clapping position with fingers pointing forward....now tilt the front of each hand down a bit..now move the finger tips closer than the palms...thats how your front tyres are now and when you turn right, the left tyre lifts the car with its outer edge, right tyre lifts with inner edge...try it...get a mate to turn the steering and watch what the wheels do...look side on at the angle the wheel is at on turning...
Way way cheaper and less headache to fit 4 inch springs and 2 inch body lift

check that wheel bearings, king pin bearings, tierod ends are all 100% in good nick and properly adjusted. Any wear/slop in these will all contribute to the wandering