Tragic Drive

Like several people have done I have raised the rear of my 95Runner with the land cruiser coils. I like the suspension alot better as its alot more plush and forgiving over bumps and washes.
One thing that bothers me though is the amount of oversteer . I guess this is what its called when the steering wheel or front wheels are way to sensitive to movement. Basically the 4Runner feels like it turns to fast from the input.

Will this oversteer go away after I install my ball joint spacers ? I have the spacers allready and am waiting on a few more parts hubs, new CV's and the time to take it to the dealer for the free alignment.

Also I've been looking around for pan hard drop kits. Ive noticed Allpro lift's the pan hard from the axle and most other company's drop it from the frame. Which one is better or is there even a difference ?
Help....

Cargun

Off the top of my head there could be 3 causes for this:

1) These coils are stiffer than stock coils. As you stiffen the rear springs the rear end is more apt to slide, like if you put on a rear swaybar.

2) These coils are softer and you aren't feeling classic oversteer, but are simply feeling more body roll. How does it feel once you've thrown it into a sweeper and the chassis has had a chance to take a set? Does it oversteer more than normal then or is the feeling you're talking about only transitional? Soft would be transitional, stiffer would lead to steady state oversteer but would probably feel better during transitions.

3) You've messed with the geometry of the rear suspension. By lifting the rear the trailing arms are now pointed toward the ground more than at stock height. The further away from horizontal the links are the more the rear axle will steer as the suspension compresses/extends. As the outside compresses the outside tire is pushed rearward. As the inside extends, the inside tire is pulled forward. Being that this has a solid rear axle that means the tires will always be parallel to each other. So in essence the rear axle is now steering the vehicle toward the outside of the turn. You will feel this in transitional as well as steady state cornering, and probably big bumps and whoops as well.

Edit:
On the panhard bar... that probably isn't causing the feeling you're describing. Is the feeling different in left and right turns? If it is it probably is the panhard bar. Being that the panhard is now further from horizontal as the point of the axle that is attached to the bar raises or lowers the rear axle will shift side to side. Usually panhard bars are mounted to one side of the axle, not the center. So the axle will move in a different direction depending on what direction you're turning. This will be more of a transitional feeling and shouldn't feel any different than stock when in a steady corner.

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

Lifting the rear end of the vehicle will affect the caster angle on the steering. Every 1" of relative lift in the rear reduces the caster angle about 0.6 degrees and since the factory spec is around 1.5 degrees, a few inches of lift in back could have made a substantial change, especially if you went from low (more caster) to high (less caster) in back. My '85 got a little more twitchy when I raised the back end up a few inches with some new springs.

The one thing you may see w/o the panhard rod drop bracket is the rear axle being offset to the passenger side more. Really little difference in which end of the bar is moved, upper end dropped or lower end raised all put the bar back to horizontal:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/...anhardDropBrkt

Cargun

Reread your post and 4crawler is right, you could be describing a caster problem. "Oversteer" is not the correct term to use then as it refers to chassis behavior.

Does this feeling have to do with how the chassis responds to loads or is it how the front tires respond to steering wheel or road inputs?

bamachem

4crawler is right.

however, when you install the front BJ spacers and level it out, the caster will go back to near-stock and should be OK, as long as you sit nearly level.

Tragic Drive

Thanks for the reply's . 4Runner I'll be ordering that panhard drop soon. Can I also get a LSPV 4" lift from you ? Bamachem I'm glad to hear that my caster will be closer to factory after I install the BJspacer's. Once I'm done these few things I let you know how the steering behaves.

Thomas

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

I can make brackets to raise the LSPV sensing rod:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/...l#OrderingInfo