Evan Houston

hi guys I was wondering what i should do with the front suspension to make it feel more relaxed and strong. i have 31x12.5 SSR's on it her now and i know a new steering stabilizer should point me in the right direction. what would be the best shocks/steering stabilizer to buy? i want the truck to feel relaxed on the trail buy still practical on the road seeing as its my daily driver. i just bought FJC coils from toyota so i dont want to jack the front up just make it strong so i dont have to buy ball joints again.

Thanks

Evan Houston
91 runner

abecedarian

Not sure what you mean by 'more relaxed'. The last thing I want is a front suspension that doesn't relay to me, through the steering column, what the tires are rolling over.

The steering dampener is only there to (a) keep minor oscillations under control when you're travelling at higher speeds [1]; and (b) to hopefully keep the steering wheel from getting jerked out of your hand(s) [2] if you happen to be driving in one of those many situations where bumps and things happen. [3][4]

Anyhow, how is it supposed to be relaxed (softer) and strong (strong)?


________________
Footnotes:
[1] Jeep owners and many motorcyclists call it 'speed wobble' or 'death wobble'.
[2] Motorcycle riders figured out that adjusting rake and trail as well as weight distribution and a good steering dampener or two could fix the problems of high speed wobble and unwanted, uninitiated steering inputs.
[3] Jeep owners still haven't figured it out.
[4] Clarification: JPL and NASA ["Jeep Predicament Laboratories" and "Need A Stronger Assembly"] think the situation is being caused by a leaking o-ring somewhere in the system

yodta

agreed on the feeling like you can't tell what you're driving over!
seems like all new cars are like this - so completely isolated that there's no real "feel" to it.
I just had this conversation with one of my friends a few weeks back.

I can personally vouch for the Old Man Emu system if you want something that's still comfy to drive, but is a little beefier. I just finished mine. firm, but not jarring.

the P.O. had a Rancho steering stabilizer on it. I didn't realize it was actually worn out and not working properly until I installed the OME steering stabilizer. steering was sloppy and loose before; seemed to have some play. now it's responsive without any float or play.

Evan Houston

where can i buy the old man emu kit from? what about torsion bars? thanks guys

yodta

OME's a division of the Australian company ARB, but there's a US division out of Renton, Washington. if you go to ARBUSA.com, you should be able to find a distributor up in B.C., or someone who can at least ship to you :: ARB USA Contact Information

I can't rave about OME enough. I find myself looking for excuses to drive my truck all the time now

doesn't look like they're too far from you. bet you could find a local distributor in B.C. or even one just over the border.

Windsor

Coming from the motorcycling (sport bike) community and veering a little off-topic...

We just call it "headshake". When it goes terminal it's called "tank slapper" because the ends of the bars are literally slapping the fuel tank (along with your hands, if you managed to hang on). Search YouTube for "tank slapper", you'll find plenty of dramatic examples.

Fiddling with the rake/trail is effectively impossible in the sport bike world. A few "outlaw" types have moved the forks up/down the triple clamps in a vain attempt to change the geometry, but it's really hard to outguess the manufacturer.

Some folks have found wheel bearings or steering-head bearings out-of-spec (not failed, but not shiny-new-bike tight, either) causing the headshake when it appears all-of-the-sudden. Since those are easy to tighten or replace, that's an easy cure.

Lastly, the front tire can make a difference. On my bike ('01 Honda VFR), Michelin Pilot Sports had a tendency to wobble the steering if the nose was light and under high-gear engine braking -- basically raising up off of the bars while the bike was slowing down from 70 to 30 in 5th or 6th gear would give me a little shake. No other tire (to date) has done that to me.

The dampener on a bike should be used as a safety device, not to mask an active problem. I think I saw someone post that the same as applied to a steering dampener on a 4x4.