IllustratedXJ
NAXJA Member # 1169
- Location
- San Jose, CA
Okay, before you reach for the flame key on the keyboard please hear me out. I *have* searched and read and studied. And I'm very much aware the general concensus is steering stabilizers just mask an existing problem and that is *not* my question/problem...well sort of.
A little background: I recently moved my 2001 up to 4.5" from 3.5" with what amounts to an "upgraded" 4.5 RE Superflex Kit; meaning I got adjustable control arms instead of fixed and boomerang shackles (I kept my existing leaf springs since they're the same in the 3.5 and 4.5 kits). Along with this I put on new disconnects, the ORO U-Turn steering kit and a new OME Steering stabilizer. After getting everything tightened up and an alignment done everything was fine. Not too long after that I got ahold of an HP D30 from a guy in Santa Cruz for a pretty reasonable price (thanks Jed! ) and since I still had a few things left to do (Optima Yellow Top, RE HD Adjustable TB w/Brace, replace TRE on the ORO draglink since it showed up with a loose one) but had run out of time I decided to have a local shop to the swap (quick plug for Arabia's Overkill for anybody in the San Jose area - Jeff is a great guy and builds some incredible machines!).
The swap goes fine. Stuff is tight, the steering geometry looks good. I have a n HP D30 so I'm happy and it drives just fine on the way home (all surface streets) but the next day when I take it on the freeway I get one of the biggest scares of my life driving a car. At about 70 mph, I hit a few divits in the road (nothing major) and the front end goes nuts. I get off the freeway and go right back to the shop. They drop everything and start going over things. They find a couple of things right away, the brand new track bar seems to have a lot of play in the bushing where it attaches to the axle. That gets replaced. The castor is off quite a bit. That gets adjusted throughout the rest of the day by increments (glad I bought those adjustables ) with drives in between every degree or so. The tires get rotated and the pressure set (they were already balanced - remember I had been on the freeway before with no problem). Check the toe in again. Check the steering knuckles. Nothing helps.
We decide to start moving things back to the way they were when I brought it in so I drop it off the next day with the old trackbar (a JKS adjustable - I went with the RE for the mount and the brace), the first ORO draglink and I brought the original steering assembly for kicks. Swapping the draglink has no effect so we go back to the new new one. However, replacing the brand new OME steering stabilizer with the stocker does. No more DW. Now, I would have thought (perhaps naively) putting the stock stabilizer on would have made things worse not better but apparently thats not the case. At this point, everything looks right: stuff is tight, alignment is good, tires are good, damn near everything up front is new and I didn't have this problem with essentially the same setup.
So, my question(s):
Why would the stock SS make this go away (or at least mask it better) than the OME?
Has anyone else seen this where the only significant change was going from a LP D30 to an HP?
Is it possible adding the track bar brace has some effect?
I did have a C-ROK inner steering plate put in, is it possible something happened with the steering box which could cause this?
What else can we check?
Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.
--mike
A little background: I recently moved my 2001 up to 4.5" from 3.5" with what amounts to an "upgraded" 4.5 RE Superflex Kit; meaning I got adjustable control arms instead of fixed and boomerang shackles (I kept my existing leaf springs since they're the same in the 3.5 and 4.5 kits). Along with this I put on new disconnects, the ORO U-Turn steering kit and a new OME Steering stabilizer. After getting everything tightened up and an alignment done everything was fine. Not too long after that I got ahold of an HP D30 from a guy in Santa Cruz for a pretty reasonable price (thanks Jed! ) and since I still had a few things left to do (Optima Yellow Top, RE HD Adjustable TB w/Brace, replace TRE on the ORO draglink since it showed up with a loose one) but had run out of time I decided to have a local shop to the swap (quick plug for Arabia's Overkill for anybody in the San Jose area - Jeff is a great guy and builds some incredible machines!).
The swap goes fine. Stuff is tight, the steering geometry looks good. I have a n HP D30 so I'm happy and it drives just fine on the way home (all surface streets) but the next day when I take it on the freeway I get one of the biggest scares of my life driving a car. At about 70 mph, I hit a few divits in the road (nothing major) and the front end goes nuts. I get off the freeway and go right back to the shop. They drop everything and start going over things. They find a couple of things right away, the brand new track bar seems to have a lot of play in the bushing where it attaches to the axle. That gets replaced. The castor is off quite a bit. That gets adjusted throughout the rest of the day by increments (glad I bought those adjustables ) with drives in between every degree or so. The tires get rotated and the pressure set (they were already balanced - remember I had been on the freeway before with no problem). Check the toe in again. Check the steering knuckles. Nothing helps.
We decide to start moving things back to the way they were when I brought it in so I drop it off the next day with the old trackbar (a JKS adjustable - I went with the RE for the mount and the brace), the first ORO draglink and I brought the original steering assembly for kicks. Swapping the draglink has no effect so we go back to the new new one. However, replacing the brand new OME steering stabilizer with the stocker does. No more DW. Now, I would have thought (perhaps naively) putting the stock stabilizer on would have made things worse not better but apparently thats not the case. At this point, everything looks right: stuff is tight, alignment is good, tires are good, damn near everything up front is new and I didn't have this problem with essentially the same setup.
So, my question(s):
Why would the stock SS make this go away (or at least mask it better) than the OME?
Has anyone else seen this where the only significant change was going from a LP D30 to an HP?
Is it possible adding the track bar brace has some effect?
I did have a C-ROK inner steering plate put in, is it possible something happened with the steering box which could cause this?
What else can we check?
Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.
--mike