Steering on a 10"+ Lifted SFA S-Dime

[CrazyHawaiian]

Aloha, I'm a new member here. Please be easy on me! I recently picked up a new rig and I'm loving it! Its a 91 x-cab with a 14" lift and SFA conversion on 33's. I've taken it out crawling already and identified some things that I need to work on. One major thing I don't like so far is the steering setup on my rig. Previous owner used some sort of Jeep conversion kit, and while it works, I don't like the way it feels. I will post more info and pics soon as I get em. There is alot of play and alot of bump-steer. It really stands out while driving to and from the 4 wheeling spots (on regular pavement). I really have to concentrate just to keep the rig going straight in my lane, it wants to go all over the road. I know there are lots of variables here, from the box itself, to the linkage, geometry, and probably other things I'm not aware of yet. I tried to do a search on the forums to see how other people are doing their steering, but I was not very successful. I was wondering if you guys could throw out some examples or ideas on how you guys did the steering on your rigs? I'm guessing there may be steering kits, or custom conversions from other makes/models that provide tighter steering with less play and less bumpsteer. Thank you for your help!!!

[DieselS10]

Welcome to the Forum!
I assume that it has leaf springs on the front? If so you are going to have to get your drag link angle as near flat as possible to get rid of the bump steer. Let us know what front axle your running and someone here will be able to steer you in the right direction.
Your wondering issue is probably from a bad camber angle and there are simple ways to check and correct that issue also.

[808mills]

nice to see more locals. Any chance is your truck yellow and white running around on oahu?

[CrazyHawaiian]

Yup thats the one, yellow and white. But pretty soon my friend will be re-painting the yellow part with a Hot-Hues green (Xtreme Green) and I'm going to do some other manini body changes (chrome grill, etc). I'm really looking forward to getting the suspension and steering setup top notch, Here is a picture:



DieselS10, thank you for the welcome! Yes you are correct it has leafs in the front. The front axle is a Dana 30 from a Jeep. I think the Leafs are also from a Jeep, and the steering was converted to some sort of Jeep steering setup. I'll get more specific info and pictures this weekend. How did you do your steering?

[808mills]

nice truck iv seen it up close. as for your streering you could buy a high steer kit for that dana 30 or even make one.

[DieselS10]

That's a nice lookin truck!

My steering was easier to do than most because of the kingpin Dana 60 I'm using. They are already machined flat on the top of the knuckle and there are a ton of companies that offer bolt on high steer arms, so my drag link angle is near flat.

[Merritt]

That's a clean looking truck!

[Kucharyski20]

Very nice truck

[tfpets]

AAAHHHH! a d30...I know just what you need! http://www.jb4x4.com/products.htm










Hopefully you get the idea!

[tfpets]

I tried to have a closer look at you pic and it looks to have some form of high steer on it? It looks as if the tie rod is above the springs? You may already have a decent setup on it that needs to be fine tuned...I also noticed the pinion to be pointing up pretty high, which isnt a bad thing IF someone cut and rotated the C's when they did it...if they did not your caster angle is probably WAAAAYYY out of wack and it is amazing you can drive it on the road at all! It would be nice to see a better pic of the steering setup and of the knuckles...this would tell us a lot!

[CrazyHawaiian]

Aloha everybody! I must apologize that I didn't follow up on this sooner, been going through some life issues and because of that, I have not been spending much time on my rig. But recently I spent some time at a friend of a friend's shop and really looked over some aftermarket steering setups on some shop jeeps with Dana30 front ends. Because the front of my S10 uses a jeep Dana30 and jeep steering parts, I figured I would check out the jeeps to see what they're doing.

It turns out that my rig does have a high-steering kit, made for jeeps. I'm still trying to determine what exact kit the previous owner used, but whatever it is, I don't like it. There are definately alignment issues, bumpsteer issues, and just a plain sloppy setup. And it's nowhere near as beefy/stable as some of the steering setups on these jeeps I looked at (steering on a Dana30 done right, aftermarket spindles and all). I will be getting pics of the setup on my rig soon as I get my camera working again. Also, after comparing, I found that my rig with my Dana30 front setup is missing the track bar, probably explaining why my rig flexes so much when steering, and also probably adding to the sloppy feeling.

After much thought and discussion I realized that steering done right costs a good ammount of money. And with this in mind, the steering setups for the different front axles we can use in our trucks for SFA conversions do not just swap over from one type of axle to the other. So I'm not sure if I want to dump alot of time and money into this Dana30, might just be smarter to begin a Dana44 or Dana60 swap first, and then do the steering on that one.

In any event, I'll be getting some pics asap.

[DieselS10]

If you plan on going up in tire size you would definately be wise considering an axle swap, if you aren't, you will probably be fine with the one you have. It really depends on the terrain your on and your driving style.

Does the truck have a sway-bar? That may be part of the sloppy feel if your drag-link is steep. The track-bar isn't neccesary with leafs, but it will probably help with the bumpsteer.

[CrazyHawaiian]

I finally gave up on trying to get my digital camera to work and I just snapped pictures with my phone. So they aren't very good pictures, sorry guys!!!! I also researched the setup and found out who makes this kit. It's a kit from 'Rocky Road Outfitters' called the OTT Steering setup. Here is the link to the kit:

http://www.rocky-road.com/cjott.html

And here are pictures of it on the rig:









Reading the description from the manufacturer, this seems to be a well built kit. I think what I'm experiencing here is the result of doing a hybrid swap (aka Jeep parts on a S10) with a huge lift. There is a picture on the website, here it is:



Thats the same setup on a Jeep with a 6" lift, and if you compare the angle to my setup, wow you can just see how bad my geometry is. So I'm not really sure what I can do here with this kit to salvage the best performance possible. What do you guys think?

Here's another few pics of the truck just for fun (hahahah)





Thank you for your help guys!! I appreciate all the input and suggestions on what to do with this rig. This community rocks!

[808mills]

A cuz you might want to try adding a pan hard bar that runs the same as your steering link

[Tim99Zr2]

he doesnt really need a pan hard.

that steering set up looks like BEEF. good and strong.

what kind of pitman arm are you running? my steering linkage was almost perfectly flat.

i used the JB bracket, and welded a piece of 1.75" long pipe on top of that, and gusseted it.

[rusty89]

Quote: Originally Posted by Tim99Zr2

what kind of pitman arm are you running? my steering linkage was almost perfectly flat.

x2 - Might just be the pic. but looks like the pitman arm is way off to me

[lifted2wds10]

Track Bar track bar track bar!!!. THis will all but solve your problems. As some of the other guys are saying, you need to get your drag link as flat as possible. Getting a bigger drop pitman arm will help, but a track bar is the quick fix for your problem. My S10 was horrible to drive when I first put it together. It had massive bump steer, and was just generally sloppy. I put a track bar on it and it all but solved that. It tracks nice and straight on the freeway, the steering is very responsive and it doesn't try to hop lanes when you hit a bump on the freeway.

When doing a track bar keep in mind it should be almost as long as your drag link and as close to the same angle to your drag link as possible. I understand that some people will say you don't need one with a leaf sprung vehicle but trust me when your drag link is at that much of an angle, you do. RIght now on the freeway, your arms are currently operating as a your track bar and thus why your truck is all over the road.



This is what I have on my truck and it made all the difference in the world. I cost me $30 to make and was definitely well worth it.

[rusty89]

looks like the steering link could be binding on the draglink itself. The power steering box needs moved forward. Now i have no clue how guys do this on the s10 frame since i swaped to full size BUT i have heard of guys running astro van boxes-dont know what the benefit is? Anything to make the angle better and once the box is moved forward the pitman arm will proly be ok.
Im sure a track bar would maybe help but this needs to be fixed first any serious wheeling your truck will be eating thoseTREs like candy.

[crewcab rabbit]

i think a astor van box and the pitman arm you running now will get your angles to flat so no more bump steer. try taking you pitman arm lose and fliping it 180deg and see if you angles are good, if you take it around the block like that rember that left will be right and right will be left, but it should give you a idea if the van box would help you or not.