how about a little geometry/engineering advice?

[skipnrocks]

Ok so here is the story. I have a ford ranger race truck. I rebuilt the front suspension for short track racing (low as possible). I have to rework the front steering to accomidate the 12in of travel. I have looked at the crossover steering kits to design off of however these kits run on pre-runners with usually 5-6in of lift. and we are 2in below stock. So I thought of doing a single cross over (arm from pitman to wheel and arm from pitman to swing arm, and arm from swing arm to wheel) Then I thought maybe I was over thinking it, I can run full travel with a steering arm that is 37in long from the steering box to the wheel with very little bump steer.

Can I rebuild the y-link with both arms being the same length or will that cause too many issues with the drivers side tire. Stock y link has long arm 37 short 19. What each was 37?

 

[skipnrocks]

This might help my gibberish. Here is option a with the swing arm, this is seen on desert per-runner style long travel. A bit of a pain to build due to trying to accommodate the arm going from p-arm to wheel right under it. Most guys who use this also have 5-7in extended I beams. But since we are stock class we have stockish length I beams.

Here is option 2 ish... But my truck has equal length TIB front end and is 2wd.

Pivot A is where I would like to have my pivot point, it would be simple and accommodate my travel. Pivot B is where the stock point was.. I know I need a pivot in the tie rod set up to prevent crazy bump steer during whoops and jumps. I just dont see why this wouldn't work.

 

[Fire Freak]

James Duff has an interesting steering setup

 

[TBItoy]

I know exactly what you are referring too...

You have to balance length of the Driver Side "tie rod",

because if it is short (like factory) you get a lot of toe change throughout Driver side wheel travel

and if it is too long, you get a lot of toe change throughout Passenger side wheel travel.

I plan to build something like this on my TTB bronco, maybe make the DS arm a little longer

 

[skipnrocks]

That is exactly what I am talking about. Does it matter if both links are the same length?

 

[5BrothersFabrication]

Brad at BA Metal Fab is experimenting with this setup. I'll PM you his number tomorrow morning when he's up.

 

[bradzuki]

The simplest setup that works well is called Stonecrusher Steering. I worked with Anthony to prototype this setup on my Explorer. There are many variants to it but the simple way to put it is you line up your pivot points on the steering with the pivot points for the axles. That way your steering stays in phase with your axle beams. Here is a pic of a Stonecrusher type setup.

The next step would be to go to a single swing arm type of steering. This mounts a single swingset bracket to the inside of the passenger side framerail (this is what I'm working on now). You run pitman arm to pass. knuckle and pitman arm to swing arm then swing arm to driver knuckle. http://giantmotorsports.com/content/view/74/95/ has this type of steering for mega $$$ which is why I'm wanting to make my own to sell for less than $200.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me.
[email protected]
Brad.

 

[skipnrocks]

That is what I had in mind. In my head I couldn't see a reason for not doing it. I don't run crazy travel. But I didn't want to talk myself into it because it would be easier. I take it since you took part in it your suggesting it would be a good setup.

 

[bradzuki]

Yes it works well and yes I do recommend it. This is the very first one we built on my Ex when it still had the TTB.

It does still have a little bump steer but it is way better than stock. I'm wanting to build the swingset steering brackets now that I have a Torchmate table but I need a TTB truck to go off of.