Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Hi All,

OK, i have a LWB zook. In this is a leaf sprung hilux steering box (Nth/Sth-push/pull), with the "J" arm. Eventually i am planning to replace this with a 75 box, but am not cashed up enough atm. What im asking is, are thier any issues, common problems, with the leaf sprung power steer box, & will it handle 36x12.5 on hilux diff, locked? Or will it break? I dont like the prospect of locked 36s, without power steer. Any help, ideas, comments appreciated.

Peter.

Both boxes will handle the 36`s but if your running lux diffs the J arm won`t,and the 75s and the solid axle front hilux box`s are differant

u would be better off going a ifs hilux box with cross over steering

4sum4 wrote:Both boxes will handle the 36`s but if your running lux diffs the J arm won`t,and the 75s and the solid axle front hilux box`s are differant

So the J arm will be the only weak point? The leaf sprung hilux power steer would be a temporary Luxury, until i could afford to do a complete cross over steering setup, with either 75 series, or IFS Hilux Box. If the J arm is not going to be strong enough, i may as well save the $$ from the hilux box, & put it towards the crossover setup. One other thing, how long would you give the J arm before it broke, Assuming its in average condition, could i maybe get a few trips out of it? I generally drive challenging tracks, but slowly, not too much right foot. thanks for the feedback.

The j arm may break first drive or last 1000 drives they usually break from to much flex and or wrap

4sum4 wrote:The j arm may break first drive or last 1000 drives they usually break from to much flex and or wrap

"how longs a piece of string", thought that may be the case. Thanks for pointing those causes of weakness out. I am planning on having a front trac bar fitted, but may change this to a wrap bar. Having only standard zook springs in it, it does flex, but nothing excessive. If i put a wrap bar in, this shouldnt affect the travel should it? or slightly? The car is only just getting back on the road, with the 36''s, so i wanna make sure im well aware of any potential issues. thanks again.

CAP51Z wrote:

4sum4 wrote:The j arm may break first drive or last 1000 drives they usually break from to much flex and or wrap

"how longs a piece of string", thought that may be the case. Thanks for pointing those causes of weakness out. I am planning on having a front trac bar fitted, but may change this to a wrap bar. Having only standard zook springs in it, it does flex, but nothing excessive. If i put a wrap bar in, this shouldnt affect the travel should it? or slightly? The car is only just getting back on the road, with the 36''s, so i wanna make sure im well aware of any potential issues. thanks again.

i would strongly suggest holding off on the diff swap until you have all the bits and pieces to do job first time properly. if you already have a leaf sprung PS box, most wreckers will be happy to swap this for an IFS box as the leaf sprung box are worth more. continuing on the cheap, it is easy to fab up a double arm for the cross over out of two left hand steering arms. overkill engineering make these arms up relatively cheap and i haven't heard of any failures. i think you'll find, using the north,south steering box "for the time being" will be a bit of a waste because you'll have to fab new mounts for the 75 or IFS box also the failure of the J arms is rather high.

cheers joel

cheers mate. The diffs are already in. I will have to get a spare J arm, until i get the xover done. Which part breaks usually, the straight upper piece, or the curved lower piece? Im thinkin the threaded part on the upper piece looks weak, & also the curve piece on the lower.