4X4Labs Heavy Duty Steering System for 60 Series

[Jan-78FJ40]

I saw this pic on kevinmrowland's thread which gave me the idea...

I would not do that, because if you ever change out your tie rod ends and they are slighlty different, or if something changes in the alignment even a tiny bit, then the tab will not be in the correct position anymore. That's why I went with something adjustable.
cheers,
Jan

 

[Spook50]

I would not do that, because if you ever change out your tie rod ends and they are slighlty different, or if something changes in the alignment even a tiny bit, then the tab will not be in the correct position anymore. That's why I went with something adjustable.
cheers,
Jan

I was thinking just that for mine too, but decided against it for just the reason you stated. I think the solution you came up with will be the best way to go. Though if you really wanted to be anal about churching it up, you could weld the old drag link directly to the larger sleeves and eliminate one possible area of slippage.

 

[tlcruiserman]

I think Jan has an idea that works and you have no worries when it comes to alignment, the other ones will have problems with alignment and the idea to move the steering damper off of the relay rod seems to go against the Toyota engineering and I am not sure that is a good idea either.

Good Work Jan. Nice facility you have to work in

Cheers,

Michael

 

[Moby]

This is interesting. I talked to Luke a couple of months ago and he talked me out of his arms. I was looking for the same type of improvements that you were after (my end are reasonably new, new OME dampner, I've rebuilt my knuckles and I have a rebuilt steering box). He said that there was no real advantage over the stock arms and that in a front only arm arrangement he was unable to get the type of improved Ackerman angle that his front/rear arms provide.

However there are now several folks running front only 4x4Labs arms that have reported significant improvement. I guess I need to talk to Luke again.

BTW - I added 3* of positive caster (via shims) to bring my total to 4* positive. This made a significant improvement in handling. My wife even commented on how much of an improvement in steering and handling that it made.

Anyway, thanks for posting this thread. Looking forward to a long term report on these arms

 

[lehiguy]

It's actually in the stock position. Toyotas designed it so that the one bracket is on the upper front of the frame at the passenger side, and the other one is incorporated in the driver's side relay rod end.
Which does not mean it could not be improved.
It works well though. I drove the truck without the dampener for a while, and there is quite a difference.
cheers,
J

You did a great job with the fabbing! Way to think outside the box.

 

[tlcruiserman]

I am not sure the take away is that Lukes arms drastically improve the steering setup in this case. I would say Jan had to replace some front end parts and wanted to beef up the front end so the miantenance would go down and lukes arms in conjuction with beefier center and drag link and also the custom solution for the steering damper is the ticket in Jan case.

Actually I would say that Jan is an awesome test case, although not a lot of heavy wheeling the road in 3rd world countries truely test out the strength of Toyota Land Cruisers. I have seen these bad roads and trails that you might be on for 100's of miles take out shocks and shock mounts, completely trash the alighnment, etc.

Cheers,

Michael

 

[Jan-78FJ40]

Here's an update:

I've driven with this system now for several thousand miles, from California to new Mexico, over plenty of bad roads, bumps, up to 12000 feet, highway and city.
All in all I am very happy with the setup. Nothing rattled loose and the steering is as tight as in the beginning. The stabilizer setup is holding up great.
The only thing I'd do differently is to have the rods and arms powder coated, as they are showing some flash rust.
In summary, for what I am using the truck this system is perfect.
cheers,
J

 

[FJ60Cam]

I finally got my steering kit installed. Here are a few pics of the steering stabilzer mount I came up with. It's two 1.25" bar clamps welded together, and the tab from the relay rod end welded to the clamps. HERE is a link to the clamps.

 

[FJ60Cam]

When I pulled the stock arms out, the top knuckle bearing inner race was stuck to the old arm and destroyed the upper bearing on both sides. I ended up having to rebuild the front axle. I'm kinda glad I had to because it was pretty nasty on the driver's side.

While I was at it, I put in the Marlin seals. The are much easier to put in cleanly than the stockers.

I also cut off the dust shield and used one long brake line instead of the union mounted on the dust shield. Now I can pull the caliper and rest it on the spring without having to crack a line open.

I also put in some Speedbleeders. I love these. I had the front bled in under 5 minutes by myself.

Here's a pic without the dust shield...

 

[FJ60Cam]

My main reason for going with the kit

 

[Spook50]

My main reason for going with the kit

You managed that with stock steering??? What size tires are you running?

 

[FJ60Cam]

Yep, stock steering & 33 x 10.5's

 

[lovetoski]

That's a super clean set-up! How's it drive?

 

[Spook50]

Yep, stock steering & 33 x 10.5's

Damn, that's the tire size I plan on going to in the not too distant future. Did you get the setup that matches the stock geometry?

 

[Jan-78FJ40]

I finally got my steering kit installed. Here are a few pics of the steering stabilzer mount I came up with. It's two 1.25" bar clamps welded together, and the tab from the relay rod end welded to the clamps...

That is great! so you took 2 clamps, welded them in parallel, and then the tab, correct? same clamps that I used?

cheers,
J

 

[FJ60Cam]

That's a super clean set-up! How's it drive?

I haven't got a good test drive in yet, but so far the response seems much crisper.

One of the caliper mounting holes on the knuckle started to strip when I put it all back together. I'll have to wait til I get that fixed before I can really test it out.

 

[FJ60Cam]

Damn, that's the tire size I plan on going to in the not too distant future. Did you get the setup that matches the stock geometry?

You should be fine... for a while Mine lasted several years before I bent the rods. It wasn't until I smashed into an (invisible to me) boulder during a river crossing that anything bent. Even that just bent the long rod end. I actually drove it like that for a while til the bar bent.

The geometry is close to stock, but perfect for a SUA lift. The relay rod is very close to parallel. I was really suprised at how tucked up everything is. I doubt I'll run into any rocks with the rods.

That is great! so you took 2 clamps, welded them in parallel, and then the tab, correct? same clamps that I used?

cheers,
J

You got it! THESE are the ones I used.

 

[rover67]

I haven't got a good test drive in yet, but so far the response seems much crisper.

One of the caliper mounting holes on the knuckle started to strip when I put it all back together. I'll have to wait til I get that fixed before I can really test it out.

Heli-coil that bastid!

 

[FJ60Cam]

Already been ordered! I was too cheap to buy one locally

 

[Cruiserdrew]

So today I basically duplicated Cam's dampner mount. Got the weldable shaft collars from McMaster-Carr, cut off an old mount from a drag link end in the junk pile. Then mocked it up in place, welded the mount at a slight angle to account for the angle of the drag link, then finish welded installed on a scrap piece of tube.

I hit a few snags. I am SOA, but used an 80 series pittman arm. This means the end of the drag link (or relay rod, whichever you prefer) is very close to the frame of the truck. So I had to rotate the collar assembly down about 30 degrees to have enough room for everything when the PS tire is flexed all the way up. Anyway, the slight rotation made no difference to function and the whole thing is back together and passed the test drive.

It makes a nice difference and works great. I been driving it without a dampner for almost 2 years and I was surprised by the difference it makes.

Thanks all for the ideas in this thread.