blainelukens

Ok so I took my 89 4WD PU in for the recall today and they said I need new idler arm, pitman arm, tie rods and sleeves(what are the sleeves?) I can do the work myself but am wondering if there are some beefed up parts for offroading that I could put on, any help would be great.
Thanks BLaine.

jimbo74

you can get beefed up parts, but they are $$$$$$$$

anyways, jsut make them do the recall... they always try to scam people into stuff they dont need to replace.....

Flygtenstein

All those parts are going to be "worn" on any rig.

Hell, I changed idler arms more often than I changed my oil.

Ask if they are dangerously worn. My guess is the idler is, the rest are not.

You can get a new stronger idler from Total Chaos, other steering parts from ESB fab and then convert to uniballs. All told, that is a couple grand of stuff you likely don't need.

deathrunner

I have heimed steering links, but even heims wear out.

The total chaos idler arm is a great investment if you plan on keeping IFS.

A big determining factor on the longevity of your steering components is what angle they reside at. The more horizontal the steering links the less stress is m[ut on the components. Those angles are directly proportional to the amount of lift or torsion crank you have. If your t-bars are cranked, plan on breaking idler arms.

I have very little tbar crank and my steering is pretty horizontal. I have rebuilt my idler, but never had to replace it yet.

Flygtenstein

The Total Chaos Idler I have seen got killed in less than 3k miles and 4 trails.

Keep the IFS as close to stock as possible. Replace as little as possible. Wheel the hell out of it until you break daily and then cut it off.

Compass Creek

Do uniballs completely replace the balljoints or just bolt to it? What's the benifit/drawback of switching to uniballs?

I've got the same situation going on with my truck, the last run out got a little rough. I'd like to do the same thing and upgrade to better stuff and switch to long travel suspension.

Dennis

deathrunner

Wow! What part went on it? the mount or the arm?

that's crazy

deathrunner

Uniballs completely replace the ball joints. They are much stronger especially at extreme angles. I think you'd have to be doing something really dumb to break one, considering how much abuse they take in all the racing.

The drawback is price and trying to fit them into the geometry. The larger the unioball the stronger they are. If you look at a long travel kit, the upper arm has enough room for a uniball to be included in the geometry. Most LT companies do not put a uniball on the lower a arm for 86-95 yotas because there is not enough room for it. In fact the lower joint is attached to the spindle because of the lack of room.

Total chaos now makes a unibal that mounts into the lower balljoint hole, It change sthe geometry of the kit because it pushes the lower arm lower than it it usually designed to be.


Here is a pic of the kit that I am running.


Nothing is going to beat a solid axle in really abusive rockcrawling, but the upgrades provided by these kits will keep you going alot further than stock in my opinion. At least in fast conditions and I don't see why they won't help in slow conditions.

Flygtenstein

If you rock crawl your IFS, those parts become consumable. None are proven in anything but racing. The arm chair QB in me says they might work, but that is a lot of cash to throw at a chance. The solid front is proven.

The arm and the bolt were bent, the bushings aroung the bolt were trashed and needed rebuilding.

deathrunner

WOW! I gotta see you guys in action. If you guys are busting that stuff I definitely wouldn't want to take my rig out there. Impressive.

I agree with that what you guys do in arizona and colorado is too much for IFS. But I think alot of guys are just looking to beef up thier IFS for peace of mind in general offroading. I think these components hold up great under "normal" offroad conditions. Is it worth the money? Depends whose money it is....

NDrunner

Kind of a dumb question probably but how do you know if the idler arm is shot? And what exactly goes wrong with it? Oh and the idler arm is the one on the pasenger side right ?

deathrunner

Yes on the passenger side.

There can be a couple issues.


1- The arm can bend, but this usually only occurs if you abuse it either beating it hard or trying to force your tires ina direction that an obstacle doesn't agree with.

2- The busings inside it will wear out causing it to have play and be sloppy.


3-The Joint on the end of the arm can go bad. It's kinda like a tie rod or ball joint ball and socket.

Napoleon047

do my eyes decieve me or is that a heim joint on the steering arm in SINGLE SHEAR?



what size bolt is that?

deathrunner

They are often single shear. Obviously double shear would be ideal, but I doubt I will be breaking that. I went to heim steering so I wouldn't have to keep replacing tie rods. ALready replaced 3 in a year.

By the way that isn't a pictur eof my actual setup. I am still running torsions. I think the bolt is 5/8" diameter. I am using the total chaos heim kit.