SAS steering ?

[Chris4x4Gill2]

Ok... you guys helped me on the driveshaft so I have a new question.

Running the EB D44 with the ranger steering box. Tried to use the pitman arm that came with the box and welded a bend into the steering rod from the bronco to get he angles to work. With it this way, it will turn to the right fine, but not to the left. seems like the ranger pitman arm with the angles of the steering jsut wont turn that way enough. I have a drop pitman coming and I thin kthis will fix the problem. What do ya'll think?

Anyone running a similar setup...what did you use to make the steering work?

 

[Jefe]

Cross-over steering, inverted T or Y. . .what are we dealing with? I don't know whats stock on the bronco.

If you've got everything setup with everything centered, and toe somewhat set, it should turn the same amout either direction.

The only diference between the stock pitman arm and a drop pitman will be that the angle of the drag link will not be as steep. . .I don't know how far along on the SAS you are. (do you have a project thread? I couldn't find one. all these different questions would be more helpfull in one thread). have you already set track bar position? if so you don't want to screw it up by changing your drag link angle with a pitman arm. ('course this is all assuming youre using the bronco coil setup and not leaves)

 

[Chris4x4Gill2]

Sorry, I didnt clarify enough I geuss. Set up is a Inverted T. And I am using leaves. As to how far along I am....driveable if i could get the steering correct. I never started a projsect thread.

 

[hvac man]

Here is what mine looks like.
specs:
drag link- 1.25" .120 wall dom with 5/8 by 5/8 heims both ends
Tierod- 1.5" .250 wall dom w/ 5/8 by 5/8 heims both ends
tierod is mounted over the knuckles.
I also used a ford 98' F-150 flat pitman arm so it is possible to interchange ford pitman arms.

I have abused this set-up this summer and well, it is not going to bend or break anytime soon. I think you should build something like this because it is fairly cheap. I have about 250 or so in it. Just a sugestion.

 

[Jefe]

Ok, so you should have toe somewhat set. The ford box should be 4 turns lock to lock, so take it to lock, and then two full turns back to center. then sight down the front tires to the back tires, comparing and center them up by adjusting the drag link length. Make sure there is no play in the rest of the front end while steering back and forth. One thing to note is that when steering the inside tire needs to turn more than than the outside tire, so to compare how far you're turning each direction you cant just look at one of the tires, you have to compare between the two.

I would be very afraid of a cut and welded drag link. If you need a bend in it, do a custom link like hvac and I have and have it bent with a tube bender. depending on the severity of the bend you may want something thicker than .120 wall. steering puts tremendous pressure on those links and you don't want it busting on the trail or the highway

 

[Chris4x4Gill2]

The drag link was done with a tube bender. We used the stock ends from the Bronco and sleeved/welded them onto the tubeing.

The current setup is similar to the pic of hvac mans. Except I am using the stock bronco tierod for now and the draglink connects to the tierod several inches closer to the center of the tierod(the stock location).

Thanks for the pic and the help guys.

 

[Jefe]

The drag link was done with a tube bender. We used the stock ends from the Bronco and sleeved/welded them onto the tubeing.

Ah, ok. . . I was just worried with the way you worded it in the first post.

 

[Chris4x4Gill2]

Ok...what do you guys think of this setup? Comment/critique the setup.
Any changes you guys would suggest?