Outer Limits 4x4 Board

A steering damper is designed to
a) Stop harmonic steering oscillation (increasing wobbles / shakes) caused by solid front axle geometry
b) reduce steering harshness due to unformed roads.

It does this by damping.

It is not designed to help the car stter straight.

An RTC damper has a spring on it, this spring will tend to want to have it's own oscillation, needing it's own damping.

Would this spring partialyl defeat the damper, making oscillation and shaking problems worse?

Paul

You will be better off with a Dobinsons steering damper.

The cheaper RTC has a useless damper on it so within a relatively short time it will expire leaving you with a spring that makes it harder on the steering box and you for the tight corners.

A small percentage of people would be better off with an RTC.
For straight driving the spring doesn't do anything but you don't drive straight, so for anything that isn't straight the spring will put some side forces on the steering reducing bad Patrol setup (worn bushes etc) oscillation.

I suppose when going dead straight and if the steering damper was stuffed then the spring may increase oscillation but it would have to be in phase with the bad Patrol setup oscillations. Someone else will have to report on their experiences in this regard.

So harder to steer, harder on steering box and not good when damper dies.

60-90% of people will be happy with an RTC damper.
99.9% of people will be happy with a Dobinsons steering damper.

From someone who sells stuff, I like the odds better with the Dobinsons steering damper.
By the way, those percentages are just an estimation.

Shane

As I understand it, the RTC dampers are a bandaid for insufficient castor.

However, I don't see that the RTC damper would be self defeating. In concept, there is not an inherent problem with effectively using the same mounting points on the steering for (a) a damper and (b) a component that adds some modest extra centering. If it was well designed it would have a graduated "fall to the centre" kind of effect that was just a match for what castor gives, and only act when you are close to the centre already. But I am not saying that RTC dampers you can buy actually do this that way.


Just my thoughts without having really thought it over for a long time... one thing is for sure they are no substitute for properly fixing the steering imho.

chimpboy wrote:As I understand it, the RTC dampers are a bandaid for insufficient castor.

I agree. That, and the reduced self centering you get when you fit wide wheels.