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High Steer Arm for 80 series?
Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2005 12:59 pm
by crankycruiser
I have 7" lift in my 80 and was wondering weather it would be a good idea to have a high steer arm for the main drag link as it is on a very steep angle..
Does anyone make one of these or would it be something I would have to get made myself??
Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2005 1:17 pm
by RV80
I haven't seen them. But would a hilux hi-steer arm fit?
Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2005 1:32 pm
by crankycruiser
RV wrote:I haven't seen them. But would a hilux hi-steer arm fit?
Is the hilux one an aftermarket thing or a standard thing??
Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2005 1:43 pm
by Busiboy
After market
snake racing do a hilux one is you want to have a look at a pic.
Dial up warning, sloooooooooowwwwwwww on my high speed.
if you wait for the first page or go to the links page you can view thier old website. Same stuff but very lot quicker.
Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2005 2:03 pm
by dumbdunce
there is no good reason to go high steer on an 80, and a few of good reasons not too.
1. it would put your panhard rod and and draglink way out of parallel, which would introduce lots of flex steer and bump steer.
2. high steer conversions create very high stresses in the knuckle bearings, king pins, retaining bolts, swivel housing etc - the stock setup is easier on these elements because the steering force is applied between the king pin bearings, balancing the force between them, rather than outside them, concentrating the steer force on the upper bearing.
3. high steer conversions belong on leaf spring vehicles with spring over conversion, where the high steering arm is necessary to clear the draglink and/or tierod and/or steering arms over the forward part of the leaf soring pack.
your steering performance will be good with 7" lift if you get the castor right - for anything over 5" lift this requires cutting and rotating the knuckles and either a 5 link conversion, or flipping the leading arms so they run flatter, and clear the tierod. anything over about 6 degrees "forced" castor correction (castor plates, bushes, or just rotating the knuckles) on an 80 sends the tierod crashing into the leading arms. for a 7" lift you will need something like 10 - 12 degrees castor correction.
cheers
Brian
Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2005 2:53 pm
by crankycruiser
Thanks for the useful info Brian.
I was only wondering because it looks like the drag link might place to much "upwards" pressure on the steering box shaft.
Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2005 6:02 pm
by dow50r
Hi Cranky!
Geting the caster back to spec should bring the angle better a little...the flipped lower control arms are what you need for this...someone makes the brackets to suit aswell, so its a little easier to do.
With the arms now ontop of the steerings rear relay rod, the diff can move round more without fouling. Also with the arms ontop, the diff goes forward more, and subsequently, tyres are further from the front mudflaps (if u still have them on...)
Ive also seen a Nissan running an s bend in his front relay rod to get steering box angles better. Might be worth considering.
Andrew
Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2005 6:41 pm
by professor
I have a set on my hilux(80 series diff) but it is setup with alot of other gear aswell they are as strong as you will get!
I will have a press release soon on all the new tricks on my rig. I will post you a pic then
Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2005 9:20 pm
by slosh
Contact John MacDonald- 0419 485 348 (Sydney). He was the first to design this hi steer setup for 80's, competition proven, now much copied.
Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2005 8:07 am
by dumbdunce
crankycruiser wrote:Thanks for the useful info Brian.
I was only wondering because it looks like the drag link might place to much "upwards" pressure on the steering box shaft.
yes, it does that a bit. perhaps in addition to what has been suggested, you could consider a high steer setup with the chassis end panhard rod mount dropped (and possibly raise the axle end a bit) to bring the panhard and draglink back closer to parallel.