Maxed Out OME Steering Damper Turning Left (1 Viewer)

[Dissent]

I installed a new OME steering damper today along with a HD relay rod and tie rod. The rod behind the wheels is still 45" like the original. The rod in front of the wheels was 43.5" when I installed it. I centered my steering wheel by adjusting the front rod and now the wheel and discs are nice and straight. I then adjusted my lock to lock stops on the birfs and they were off by about 1/8". The right side hits the stops now and no longer strains the steering components but the left side stop about 1/2" shy of the stops. Turns out the OME steering damper is maxed out. I pulled the truck end off and sure enough, the stops hit fine. The damper is 1/2" too short. I can't believe this is normal.

Now the rod in front of the tire is longer to align the drive wheels with the steering wheel. Originally my steering wheel was about 30 degrees off when the truck tracked straight. This probably has something to do with it but how else is it supposed to be setup?

Anybody run into this maxed out damper before??

 

[Dissent]

I still have to do the alignment, maybe something will become apparent then. Perhaps instead of centering the steering wheel and adjusting the relay rod to track the wheels straight, maybe I should have started with straight wheels and adjusted the relay rod until the steering wheel was straight?

 

[inkpot]

Did you reverse the triangle shaped mounting bracket that holds the dampener onto the crossframe?

 

[Dissent]

Did you reverse the triangle shaped mounting bracket that holds the dampener onto the crossframe?

No. I pulled off a Monroe shock and reused the mount.

 

[-Spike-]

I installed a new OME steering damper today along with a HD relay rod and tie rod. The rod behind the wheels is still 45" like the original. The rod in front of the wheels was 43.5" when I installed it. I centered my steering wheel by adjusting the front rod and now the wheel and discs are nice and straight. I then adjusted my lock to lock stops on the birfs and they were off by about 1/8". The right side hits the stops now and no longer strains the steering components but the left side stop about 1/2" shy of the stops. Turns out the OME steering damper is maxed out. I pulled the truck end off and sure enough, the stops hit fine. The damper is 1/2" too short. I can't believe this is normal.

Now the rod in front of the tire is longer to align the drive wheels with the steering wheel. Originally my steering wheel was about 30 degrees off when the truck tracked straight. This probably has something to do with it but how else is it supposed to be setup?

Anybody run into this maxed out damper before??

There's a measurement in the FSM for the relay rod, it should be very close to that. The important component is the pitman arm/sector shaft, it needs to be lined up correctly. There are marks on the pitman arm that should be in line with the frame rail, IIRC, but that's a very rough indicator. The alignment is important because the sector shaft has a lobe on it that needs to be aligned a certain way inside the steering box when the wheels are centered. If the rod is too long or short that lobe won't be in the right place when the steering is centered. The length of the relay rod will also affect the length of the steering dampener at full lock.

Once you have the relay rod length corrected, if your steering wheel isn't centered you should start by getting it as close as possible by rotating the input shaft at the splines at the u-joint. Then the adjustments you have to make at the relay rod will be minimal. Hopefully your steering wheel hasn't been spun while not connected to the steering box or moved at the wheel-end spline (in the cab), as this can cause problems with the clock spring depending on the year, again IIRC.

 

[mudgudgeon]

Agreed with above. Start with centring string box and see what you end up with.

FWIW, I've been running no steering damper on my current 80 for about 2 years and not missed it once.
Also had no damper on my hzj105

 

[Dissent]

I'll check the pitman arm mark to frame alignment.

The steering wheel didn't spin, I used a bungie to hold it to the brake pedal, the pitman arm mark is aligned. Nothing moved on the steering ujoint spline.

Which way should the triangle mount point? Mine may be off as the peak is more towards the passenger side. PO might have flipped it installing the last damper.

 

[Dissent]

I reset the relay rod back to OEM specs of ~42.91 and found the steering wheel 90 degrees off so I pulled the lower u-joint bolt and loosed the upper bolt to keep the bolt on the flat part of the shaft then indexed the wheel.

The damper is sooooo close to bottoming but it doesn't and the mechanical stops contact properly.