Disk Brake Conv and High Steer (4x4 Labs) (1 Viewer)

[ArmyFJ]

Well I finished my disk brake conversion today...still need to get the long flex lines, its a little ugly there right now. The brakes are amazing. Its like a new car, well sort of.

The high steer is really nice too but I am really close to the frame on the back. Luke at 4x4 labs said it would be close but I didn't think it was going to be this close. Anyone out there with a 4 inch lift have close clearance issues? there is about an inch between the frame and the tie rod.

 

[ArmyFJ]

One more pic

 

[projektdotnet]

Send those pics to luke and see what he says about it

 

[67azcruizr]

Any chance your 4 inch lift isn't 4 inches anymore? Here are pics of my 2 1/2" spring package with a shackle reversal that they claim adds an 1 1/2" for a total of 4". I'm just shy of 6" clearance with no motor/front clip. I remember looking at it with my engine in and still having 4+ inches.

 

[ArmyFJ]

I noticed your tie rod is flipped compared to mine. that might be the problem. My arms are tapered from the top down so maybe I need to get different arms. I will have to give Luke a call. Thanks for your posts. Any trouble with the clearance of yours on the third member?

Matthew

 

[67azcruizr]

No, it looks closer because of the camera angle and I've got the wheels nearly turned out to the bump stops.

good luck, I was missing my pitman arm in my package and Luke didn't even second question it, just sent it right out. Seemed like a great guy.

 

[1973Guppie]

this may be a stupid question, but what is the purpose for the front and rear tie rods? on my high steer I have only the front rod, is the rear one above the pinion really necessary??

Noah

 

[crazylandcruiser]

this may be a stupid question, but what is the purpose for the front and rear tie rods? on my high steer I have only the front rod, is the rear one above the pinion really necessary??

Noah

well as far as i can answer your question since i am running the same 4x4labs set up. if you think about it you have less stuff in the front of your diff to bang on rocks. tie rods are very important for steering and a bent one will have some problems that you wouldn't want to have to deal with on the trails or on the road.

 

[67azcruizr]

this may be a stupid question, but what is the purpose for the front and rear tie rods? on my high steer I have only the front rod, is the rear one above the pinion really necessary??

Noah

There is only the rear. The passenger side, front of the knuckle arm attaches relay rod to the pitman. Sorry for the prior post, I misread your question.

 

[rsc71]

this may be a stupid question, but what is the purpose for the front and rear tie rods? on my high steer I have only the front rod, is the rear one above the pinion really necessary??

Noah

if you look close there is only one in the rear

 

[Cruiserdrew]

this may be a stupid question, but what is the purpose for the front and rear tie rods? on my high steer I have only the front rod, is the rear one above the pinion really necessary??

Noah

I think the point of the application is to mimic the 80 series steering set up with the drag link in front and the tie rod behind the differential. I agree that Luke is 100% good guy and will make this work for you.

That 1 inch clearance is never going to work. You will need a bump stop to prevent any upward deflection of the spring. Curious, why did you do high steer without a spring over?

On my spring over, my high steer arms made the drag link too close to the spring-Luke bent that arm in his Ironworker and now the fit is perfect. Luke may be able to bend the rear of the arms down for ArmyFJ, but at some point it will interfere with the differential. I would re-think the whole set up-consider going back to regular steering arms, and heavy duty tie rods. That will accomplish 99% of what you want.

 

[ArmyFJ]

I went with it because I thought it was a better design and would get the tie rod out of the way of stuff in the front. I am beginning to wonder if I should have gone with this at all though. Esp. since when I go with spring over...which will probably happen I will need new arms because these are to low for spring over. I still am more interested in making this work, mostly because I bought it and put it on. I am not going to try to return it due to buyers remorse. I know Luke is a good guy, and thats exactly why I would not try to pull something like that on him. I am sure he will be able to figure it out with me. Thanks for the help guys.

67azcruiser - your tie rod ends are flipped compared to mine. The ends go in from the bottom, while on mine they go in from the top. I am sure that will solve a lot of my problem.

Matthew

 

[67azcruizr]

Yeah, those GM 1" tie rod ends are probalby at least 2"s from top to bottom. That would make up about 4"s right there, and once you place it on the bottom of the knuckle arm that's at least onother 1 1/2". Good luck, Sean

I went this direstion for three reasons; 1) to remove the tie rod from the front of the vehicle 2) after doing a FJ60 knuckle swap it seemed like the cleanest, strongest and hassle free option I was aware of 3) I like the way Luke has the knuckle arm raised. It makes for a nice angle of the relay rod without a big drop in the pitman.

And an added bonus, even though I won't be doing any track racing with my FJ40, there's this:

The Ackerman Steering Principle defines the geometry that is applied to all vehicles (two or four wheel drive) to enable the correct turning angle of the steering wheels to be generated when negotiating a corner or a curve. If both the wheels were turned by the same amount, the inside wheel would scrub (effectively sliding sideways) and lessen the effectiveness of the steering. This tire scrubbing, which also creates loss of traction and wear in the tire, can be eliminated by turning the inside wheel at a greater angle than the outside one. Aligning both wheels in the proper direction of travel creates consistent steering without undue wear and loss of traction in either of the tires.

 

[ArmyFJ]

Sean,
Thanks for your posts. What were your clearance issues with your third member if any?

Matthew

 

[67azcruizr]

With my tires maxed out in a turn, the tie rod comes about an 1 1/2" away from the third member. Never thought of it as an issue though cause there isn't any articulation between the tie rod and axle.

 

[greenfox]

Yes your drag link is way to close . Mine Was about 6" from the from and hit the frame and bent the drag link. Luke's arms work good with shackle reversal but if your not reversed it will take some work to get it right.

 

[67azcruizr]

Yes your drag link is way to close . Mine Was about 6" from the from and hit the frame and bent the drag link. Luke's arms work good with shackle reversal but if your not reversed it will take some work to get it right.

Come again?

I wouldn't go judging the merchandise based on these photos. It seems there was a mix up with the knuckle arms and application.

 

[motoloco]

if the arms are already tapered for the tie rod to be on top, it looks like someone made a big misteak, that said, the only thing you can do if you want to salvage those arms, is drill out the taper and run 3/4" hiems ends instead. if you buy the hi-quality heims it should be tight and very stout.

 

[ArmyFJ]

Yeah I am sure it will work out. I have heard nothing but good things about 4x4labs. I am not worried that he wont try to work with me, just wanted to see what others had to do and if it was just a mix up with the arms. It seams that it is and I will be calling Luke tomorrow. I will let you all know how it goes.

motoloco - Never had experience with hiem joints but that seams like it might make these work with out putting them in a break. I will run that by Luke as well.

Matthew

 

[Cruiserdrew]

Careful here army-Heims are illegal in most steering applications so don't go drilling the arms. The Tie rods are supposed to go into the arms from the top. Your arms just need to be flatter. You may have gotten arms meant for a spring over. I would seriously consider scrapping the idea of highsteer until you go SOA. Just for reference, I have run many trails including some very tough ones like Rubicon and Dusy with a standard tie rod and drag link.