Outer Limits 4x4 Board

got 6inch lift and a cheezy bullbar meaning big clearance between bar and ground so my steering arm is unprotected and any trees rocks watever bends the shit out of it. I cant see a way of getting a bash plate to hang down enough to protect it, anyway of toughening these weak things up or is there a way to get a bash plate in there that will be strong enough

steering arm or draglink?

if its the draglink you can get much much stronger ones than standard

other options, 42" tyres

bit odd if it is always steering arm! and your doing it often??? if it is your draglink/tierod then that is a pretty weak standard item! i just bent my on weekend and now have ordered a chromoly one whooooooo, cnat wait-solid 33mm tube should be strong enough!

from what i ahve heard, a bar that is hollow in the centre made from strong thick tube will be stronger than a solid bar, due to it having to radii....

not sure though,

cheers, andrew

draglink?
the bar runs pretty much parrallel with diff, pushes and pulls wheel in and out if this is called draglink then thats wat i meant to say, whoops. if i go solid stronger steel will this make weakness elsewhere and can you buy this or a custom made thing

dude place your wheels ontop of the rocks not the diff......

should change your name to MR plough who ever u speel it plow

i run the 3rds productions gear and only ever bent it once took it back and they straightend it out havnt had a issue seince
and i drive some pritty fucked shit....

http://www.superiorengineering.com.au/s ... =2a&page=4

i think mousie has the right idea though....

just keep in mind that if you upgrade the drag link and keep hitting things you're only going to keep breaking the next weakest link in the system

lol no u wont it connects direcly onto the tie arms wat ever there called off the swivel hub.. there not going to brea...

but then again with a 6 " lift it would be good practice to upgrade it all anyawy

brad-chevlux is right, I'd rather the drag link bend than break other stuff, and yes, I have seen the knuckle where the tie-rod end goes in on the swivel hub break clean off, when that happens you ain't goin nowhere fast, at least if you bend the drasglink or tie rod it's an easy fix to straighten and drive home.

you would actually have to land on the knuckle to break the arms off it.
more risk tearing the ball out of the tierod id think.

never seen anyone have an issue due to using a stronger drag link tho, stronger steering arms on the other hand ive seen a few steering boxes broken due to them

Just remember that you are better off bending something than breaking something!

Al.

Are you sure that it is bending as a result of hitting a rock or other obstruction? Sometimes tie rods can buckle due to compression caused by a sideways thump on the wheel such as when your truck is thrown sharply against a rut or stump. This tendency may be aggravated by your 6inch lift and by your presumably larger tyres.

A larger diameter tube would be preferable in this case than a solid bar.

Just a thought.

The 6" lift shoud'nt have anything to do with it.
You know when you hit something, i've been there.
I had thought of doing strengthening but decided against it as Badger has said it only finds the weakest link.

Better to bend than break!

Al.

what are you doing to break shit other then draglink or tierod? the next weakest link will be the box. if you get the larger box itll either blow out the pressure seals or snap the pitman arm... that doesnt happen by turning the wheel when its against a rut.

upgrade to adjustable superior draglink. if your tierod bends i strongly suggest you get a unbreakable superior tierod with the GU TREs bloody beef. if you break the steering box somehow other than comp work or over 37 inch tyres get a GU box if you break that.....learn how to drive. but that shouldnt happen.

just get a stronger draglink and youll be happy irection

so you're all saying the rest of the GQ steering system is unbreakable?

so you fit a solid drag link or larger diameter drag link, now just how big is the balljoint on the end of that drag link?

fix the weakest link and then second weakest becomes the new weakest link.
bash it enough and will break. be it a rod end the steering box of the knuckle or what ever, something will break

you can say that about anything.... ANYTHING not one thing is unbreakable. with enough or the right force everything will break. bad choice of words for your statement, i know what your getting at and so does everyone else but it aint that weak. it will break yes, but alot of guys still compete in winch challenges with GQ front diffs without breaking CVs. those who change to cal CVs were told they would break centres but dont.

was perfect choice of words.

and you missed my point completly, he bends the thing becuase hit smashes it on stuff. by fitting a stronger drag link, he's not fixing the problem! He's putting a bandaid on it.

if he fits a stronger link and keep abusing the truck, he IS going to eventualy break the next weakest link, and that won't be a cheap fix.

if hes bending arms by smashing into shit then he will hit his pumpkin soon. so should he buy a diff guard to protect his ring gear from damage which can root the rest of the diff and not allow him to get home. or will the diff guard put undue pressure on somewhere else on the housing causing it to bend at the weld heat spots?

by laminating rear lower and upper trailing arms make the mounts on the diff break first? not always. most times the arms still bend before ripping the mounts off the chassis or diff.

what about upgrading the tierod? does making it stronger directly cause the steering knuckles to fail? maybe it causes the draglink to bend? maybe even break the steering box?

id really like to see a hands up for all those people running strengthened steering arms opposed to those running the piss weak nissan ones and who of those people have destroyed their steering box as a direct result of fitting the beefed up arms.

ive got draglink and tierod and i got them after mutilating the standard ones on little rocks and these crappy arms flogged out my steering box because i had to fight the steering everywhere because the arms put the steering out etc.

chunderlicious wrote:if hes bending arms by smashing into shit then he will hit his pumpkin soon. so should he buy a diff guard to protect his ring gear from damage which can root the rest of the diff and not allow him to get home. or will the diff guard put undue pressure on somewhere else on the housing causing it to bend at the weld heat spots?

by laminating rear lower and upper trailing arms make the mounts on the diff break first? not always. most times the arms still bend before ripping the mounts off the chassis or diff.

what about upgrading the tierod? does making it stronger directly cause the steering knuckles to fail? maybe it causes the draglink to bend? maybe even break the steering box?

id really like to see a hands up for all those people running strengthened steering arms opposed to those running the piss weak nissan ones and who of those people have destroyed their steering box as a direct result of fitting the beefed up arms.

ive got draglink and tierod and i got them after mutilating the standard ones on little rocks and these crappy arms flogged out my steering box because i had to fight the steering everywhere because the arms put the steering out etc.

NO, you're right, fit the drag link and the whole truck will become bullet proof. the drag link is the only weak link and everything is too strong already. you'll never ever break anything after you fit the strong drag link.

NOT RUNNING INTO THINGS WILL NOT HELP AT ALL. YOU"LL STILL BEND THE THING EVEN IF YOU NEVER HIT ANYTHING.

yes cause thats exactly what i said.

Not 100% shaw but with a 6' lift you cant use a standard draglink or panard if want to drive the truck.So you need aftermarket ones anyway wich are usualy stronger than standard.

He's also talking about getting a cromolly draglink,they will bend when they hit something(within reason) but will spring back straight.

Here's a thought, if it's bent now it's less likely to hit something again isn't it, so just leave it and reset your wheel alignment to suit and keep drivin it! Ha!

haha or try and heat treat it, i straightened mine with mapp gas then instantly cooled it with mud, after that i couldnt even move it with a sledge hammer, which pissed me off because it still wasnt straight. so i went out and bought a snake racing one, very good in my opinion and so much thicker and stronger, oh and its adjustable!

We've had loads of trouble bending draglinks on defenders over here for years. Especially bad is competions where they insist on sending you over tree-stumps
Tried all types of uprated links and bent them all. Now run a link protector by Gwyn Lewis and really no problems since. Its is a simple bit of kit and could be homemade to suit a Nissan set-up very easily......


http://www.gwynlewis4x4.co.uk/page29.html