Should I be able to compress and pull apart the stabilizer while it is off the vehicle? trying to track down some steering woes.
Jon
Jon
OME steering stabilizer
- Thread starter devildogcruiser25
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OME ones, yes.
You shouldn't even need a stabilizer on these 99% of the time.
What problems are you having?
You shouldn't even need a stabilizer on these 99% of the time.
What problems are you having?
- Thread starter
- #3
I feel like my steering is very sloppy. At speeds of 40 and higher, the slightest bump will throw me off course and I will have a death grip on the wheel. It makes for kind of a stressful driving experience. I bought the rig with the lift on it, I think it is an OME 4". It has 863J's in the rear, not sure about the front. I recently replaced a bent tie rod from slee with OEM ends hoping that would cure me, and just ordered a budbuilt drag link thinking maybe that will help since it seems bent. Also taking it in for an alignment tomorrow. My power steering pump is also leaking, pretty good. could this be related?
What's your caster?
My guess is your caster is negative.
My guess is your caster is negative.
It should be very difficult to push and pull the stabilizer and the pressure needed should be exactly the same in both directions. If you compare a worn stabilizer to one that is good the good one will be much stiffer. I posted a write up on stabilizer theory recently and why they are used on solid axle front ends. I just replaced my OME stabilizer after talking to someone who obviously knew what they were talking about and my steering improved. If you are running big tires the stabilizer will wear more quickly.
Bottomline is they are cheap. So try it. But keep in mind that tired tie rod ends or steering boxes will also contribute to loose steering so your problem might be multi-fold.
Bottomline is they are cheap. So try it. But keep in mind that tired tie rod ends or steering boxes will also contribute to loose steering so your problem might be multi-fold.
- Thread starter
- #6
good question. I have seen caster correction mentioned a lot, however I do not know what it means. I don't know if anything was done to change it after the lift was installed. In short, I don't know that answer to your question.
Understanding Steering Quality
THE THEORY OF STEERING DAMPENERS
Steering dampeners are found only on parallelogram steering systems or I-beam front axle assemblies. The old I-beam front axle assemblies are especially susceptible to wheel shimmy because, as the spring bushings, steering gears and steering linkages wear out, the wheels tend to steer independently of the steering wheel.
A wheel shimmy occurs when one of the front wheels begins fighting with the other front wheel for directional control of the vehicle. So, as the wheels strike a bump or washboard condition in the road, the front wheels begin to violently oscillate from left to right. In most cases, the shimmy can be controlled only by slowing down or by firmly applying the brakes to dampen the vibration.
Although steering dampeners were originally designed to dampen the resonances causing steering wheel shimmy, it became apparent that they would also reduce the tendency of a pothole to tear the steering wheel from the driver’s grasp. Most important on late-model vehicles, a steering dampener also dampens inputs to the steering wheel caused by minor irregularities in the road surface.
Although steering dampeners seldom fail outright, they do degrade over time from wear and fluid leakage. In some cases, the dampener might even develop more resistance to turning in one direction than the other, which again causes an annoying, but hard to diagnose, steering quality issue.
A steering dampener should be visually inspected for physical damage or fluid leakage. If the damper passes a visual inspection, remove the dampener and test it by hand for equal resistance on its compression and extension strokes. If in doubt, compare these dampening qualities to those of a new dampener.
THE THEORY OF STEERING DAMPENERS
Steering dampeners are found only on parallelogram steering systems or I-beam front axle assemblies. The old I-beam front axle assemblies are especially susceptible to wheel shimmy because, as the spring bushings, steering gears and steering linkages wear out, the wheels tend to steer independently of the steering wheel.
A wheel shimmy occurs when one of the front wheels begins fighting with the other front wheel for directional control of the vehicle. So, as the wheels strike a bump or washboard condition in the road, the front wheels begin to violently oscillate from left to right. In most cases, the shimmy can be controlled only by slowing down or by firmly applying the brakes to dampen the vibration.
Although steering dampeners were originally designed to dampen the resonances causing steering wheel shimmy, it became apparent that they would also reduce the tendency of a pothole to tear the steering wheel from the driver’s grasp. Most important on late-model vehicles, a steering dampener also dampens inputs to the steering wheel caused by minor irregularities in the road surface.
Although steering dampeners seldom fail outright, they do degrade over time from wear and fluid leakage. In some cases, the dampener might even develop more resistance to turning in one direction than the other, which again causes an annoying, but hard to diagnose, steering quality issue.
A steering dampener should be visually inspected for physical damage or fluid leakage. If the damper passes a visual inspection, remove the dampener and test it by hand for equal resistance on its compression and extension strokes. If in doubt, compare these dampening qualities to those of a new dampener.
If you are taking your truck in for an alignment they should be able to tell you where your caster is at. Should be around +3 or +4.
Do a search on caster correction plates or caster correction bushings so you can look to see if the PO used caster correction. If he didn't with a 4" lift you will want to do that.
As jamisobe said, go get an alignment done.
My money would be on negative caster. I found that once I broke 0* caster (headed south) the handling went to crap. Up to 0* was fine.
Yeah, negative caster will definitely add to or cause wandering. It would probably be your worst problem related to steering if none of the other parts have completely failed.
My steering had progressively gotten worse to the point that my wife refused to drive the truck. At that point I got serious about fixing it. Checked alignment first and, as usual, everything checked out. Tie rod and it's ends were replaced several years prior due to frozen threads. More recently I replaced the relay rod and it's TREs (the drag link TRE and relay rod were bent) and had an immediate improvement, but still experienced wandering on rougher roads. I brought it up with a guy driving a lifted Dodge and he mentioned that he replaces his stabilizer every 30K miles and it stops the wobble. At $75 bucks for a new stabilizer I figured it was worth a shot (30k miles is probably a bit soon for OMEs, but I've had my original OME for 100K). When I first took the old one off I questioned my decision since there still seemed to be good resistance and there were no leaks, but when I got the new one I knew before I even put it on that it would help. I was much stiffer to the point that I could barely move it in either direction. The truck steers like new better than I can remember at this point (I bought the truck in original configuration when it was 3 years old) and I am still about to change the steering box.
Steering gets tired as an entire system especially with large tires and the best way to see accuracy return is to replace everything. If you only do one thing you may be content with the improvement, but may still be missing out on ultimate steering bliss.
Wandering on the road can be the worse thing because it always takes you by surprise.
Things to check:
Wheel bearings. Make sure there tight with no play.
Tie rods. Check them for excessive ware/movement as well as for torn grease boots. If grease-able is the boot full?
Drag link. Is it bent.
Knuckle arms.
Steering gear box. Check it for free play left to right. Leaks as well.
Steering dampener. Is it easy to push and pull, same pressure on pull and push and or leaking?
Bushings. Check your axle arm bushings for ware.
Caster bushings. The color yellow is 2* blue is 3* for OME, plates should also be used to further adjust caster with a lift over 3" IIRC.
Caster on a lifted rig is key to staying straight down the road.
Having a good alignment done should cover all the above fore mentioned.
Just some things to check before you align to save money on replacement parts and labor.
Things to check:
Wheel bearings. Make sure there tight with no play.
Tie rods. Check them for excessive ware/movement as well as for torn grease boots. If grease-able is the boot full?
Drag link. Is it bent.
Knuckle arms.
Steering gear box. Check it for free play left to right. Leaks as well.
Steering dampener. Is it easy to push and pull, same pressure on pull and push and or leaking?
Bushings. Check your axle arm bushings for ware.
Caster bushings. The color yellow is 2* blue is 3* for OME, plates should also be used to further adjust caster with a lift over 3" IIRC.
Caster on a lifted rig is key to staying straight down the road.
Having a good alignment done should cover all the above fore mentioned.
Just some things to check before you align to save money on replacement parts and labor.
- Thread starter
- #12
Ok sounds good, l'll make sure to ask about caster when I drop ol girl off for an alignment.
I seem to have gotten conflicting info on the stabilizer, some saying that I should be able to extend/compress and some saying that I should barely, if even be able too. Ill do a little more research and report my findings here.
I seem to have gotten conflicting info on the stabilizer, some saying that I should be able to extend/compress and some saying that I should barely, if even be able too. Ill do a little more research and report my findings here.
When I replaced my stock/original steering stabilizer with about 160k miles on it I could extend and compress it with a little effort. The brand new OME stabilizer took about the same effort to extend and compress....
What size tires?When I replaced my stock/original steering stabilizer with about 160k miles on it I could extend and compress it with a little effort. The brand new OME stabilizer took about the same effort to extend and compress....
Still, the OME stabilizer should be more stiff than the original at 160K miles.
The truck had stock sized tires for those first 160k miles. Now it has 33s and I replaced the steering stabilizer at roughly the same time as putting on the new tires.
I was surprised in the lack of difference between the resistance in the stock vs. OME stabilizer, as well. The OME may have been a bit stiffer, but there was not a significant difference.
When I first took off my first OME stabilizer I thought it was ok until I compared it side by side to the new one (I have run 35s for close to 100k and ran 33s prior to that). I was about to send the new one back, but then said what they hay it's only $75. When I pulled it out and worked it by hand it was much more stiff. I would say it took about twice as long to move it and where the old one was easier on one side the new one was the same both ways.
- Thread starter
- #17
So just got it back from Firestone. Looking at their report, my caster is at -2.7 so it seems that is a pretty good indication where my problem is coming from. If I use slee's kit does anyone know where that will put me? Any more options out there?
You likely want to explore caster plates. Bushings would get you positive, which would be better, but not enough. You want around 3-4 degrees positive caster.
Sounds like the PO threw the lift on without making any adjustments. You might want to look at your pan hards to see if they have been modified. Although it won't have any real effect on your steering your axles are probably not tracking in line. Also, your brake lines are stretched if he didn't put on extended lines.
- Thread starter
- #20
jamisobe said:
Panhards are the bars that go from the frame to the axles? Lines are probably stretched I'm sure. PO was a good guy but not a mud guy by any means..
