Steering Stabilizer questions
 

I'm nearly finished doing my first SAS on my 86' 4runner. All I have left is to mount my shock hoops. I'm still waiting on the shocks. Anyway my runner is going to be my DD and I was planning on running a steering stabilizer. I know TG makes one that mounts to the inside of the passenger side frame and is connected to the drag link, but I have a stabilizer that came on my 85' parts truck, I was thinking of modifying to work to save money. My question is does it make any difference whether its mounted to the tie rod, or if it is mounted to the drag link? I was thinking of making some armour/ bracket like an1mal69 did on his build and run it from the axel to the tie rod.
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/q...5/e289f393.jpg




Thanks in advance for any advice!...Here's a couple pics of my 4runner SAS.


http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/q...e05/IMG102.jpg http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/q...e05/IMG083.jpg

http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/q...e05/IMG094.jpg http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/q...e05/IMG272.jpg

You should mount it on the tie rod only if you are going to use drag link steering. If you are going to install cross over steering you might be able to mount it on the cross steering rod. Check with WABFAB on this site they would know for sure.

See how it drives first. I've never put a steering stabilizer on any of mine personally.

Several options to mount it if you do.

:wabbit2:

Thanks Wabbit, I took it on a test drive a couple of times around the block and was getting some bump steer whenever I'd go over some bumps. I'm sure its mainly from not having any front shocks mounted yet, and the fact that I'm running soft RUF springs up front. I'll take your advice and wait until I get the shocks and drive it awhile to see how it handles before looking into a stabilizer.

Nice Runner man, very clean!

As far as the stabilizer goes I don't even run one lol. The 37's get a little road walk but not as bad as you'd thing. I'd text drive that beast, you may want to save the cash on another upgrade lol. I'm hardcore though but I'll probably ad one soon as I move my tierod bar to hi-steer.

Thanks man! Yeah, I don't think I will need the stabilizer. I finally was able to get the runner licensed and insurance on it today, and drove it around and I think I'm getting used to the way it handles. I still need front shocks, lol.
A friend of mine said that if I used a drop pitman arm it might help with the bump steer due to the high angle of my drag link, does anyone know if that is truely the case? I ran a flat pitman because I wasn't expecting the ruf springs to provide that much lift. If a drop Pitman would help, I might go that route.

Shock up travel question???
 

Well, I finally got my shock hoops welded in and my shocks mounted, I took it out for a test drive down the same bumpy, pothole infested road as last time, and the 4 runner handled them great, very minimal amount of bumpsteer! So I'm happy about that. Before I could just push up and down on the front bumper and watch my steering wheel bounce back and forth, now it barely moves, so I don't plan on running a steering stabilizer.

Since i already had this thread started i figured I'd ask another question about up travel. I jumped the gun and ordered 14" bilisteins without really cycling my suspension and doing any measuring of full compression and full droop. I guess you can say I got a little lazy, and just kinda copied some other builds out there. Anyway after mounting my shocks it looks like I only have about 2-1/2" of uptravel before the shocks will bottom out. I know up travel is going to vary from one suspension to another depending on how its setup, but is there a minimum number of inches to shoot for when running 14" shocks, or do I need to go back to the drawing board, cycling the suspension and figure it out, lol. I read in another thread where Deathtrap said he had around 5" of uptravel with his 14" shocks and he was fine ( if i remember right he's running rufs)... anyhow, here's some pics and specs on my setup. Ruf pack made up of 2" Toyota rear lift springs and stock factory rear springs (6 leaves total) home brew front hanger, TG shackles. Thanks in advance for any help or advice, this is my first SAS, and I guess I just got in a hurry at the end to finish it up, lol.

http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/q...e05/IMG367.jpg

http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/q...e05/IMG370.jpg

When you do a suspension lift you should do it as a system. Springs, shocks, steering components, etc. I have a 3" front and 2" rear lift springs with dual shocks per corner and all upward shock travel is about 5". I have 2 degree shims front and rear, dropped steering arm, "S" type torque rod, Extended rear brake proportioning valve (load) bracket, single steering stabilizer, etc. The system has been in 25+ years and nothing ever broke or gave me any problems. The system was designed by Downy Off Road Mfg.

Thanks for the input suncomb. I wish had the budget to buy a front suspension system, like TG's ifs Eliminator kit, ($1200+) but since I was on a tight budget (and also doing a V8 swap at the same time) I opted to go with a more affordable RUF springs. I probably should have done a little more homework before buying the 14" shocks, (probably only needed 12"),but I guess I'll go back and pull the shocks off and cycle the suspension and figure out how much travel I have and go from there. If I have to I will modify the shock mounts on the shock hoops to make the 14" shocks work, lol.

i've got some bilstein 5125 12'' got about 6 month on them works perfect nothing wrong with them but they are a little short for me. insterested in trade? i got the the trail gear 5' hd classic lift.

Hey 559runner, I probably would have traded you a couple weeks ago, but I've already started modifying my upper shock mount to accommodate the longer shocks. Thanks though!