Suspension Redo

[Melg44]

I agree with most of toyotaland66 says. I would probably look at using the drop pitman arm and use the proper gm tre. You would need a custom drag link. Having the drag link closer to parallel to the tierod is usually better. Looking at your pics, ot looks like you have a stk fj40 tre attached to the pitman arm. That arm most likely has a larger tapered hole than the taper of a stk fj40 tre. In the past some folks have installed a bushing to take up the difference between the 2. It could be a sloppy fit and contributing to your steering slop. There are vendors on here that also offer drag links and tre's to cure this connection.

thank you both for all your assistance. I'm going to figure out what I'm doing with the body lift and rough country lift and once that is settled redo the sterring conversion, probably all at the same time. If you now of anyone good in the Northwest Florida area let me know.

 

[Toyoland66]

@cruisermatt is in Orlando maybe he could recommend?

 

[cruisermatt]

I don’t know anyone in the panhandle area, my shop is in Orlando if you want to just drop it off and pick it done right

 

[macdaddy59]

Melg44

Where are you located in Northwest Florida?

 

[Melg44]

I don’t know anyone in the panhandle area, my shop is in Orlando if you want to just drop it off and pick it done right

Melg44

Where are you located in Northwest Florida?

 

[Melg44]

I'm in Navarre. May look up Matt but transport may be an issue.definitly not comfortable driving it that far as is

 

[macdaddy59]

I am in Freeport. I do not know of anybody locally that knows these vehicles and can work on them. I have trailer you can borrow if you wanted to haul it down to Orlando.

 

[cruisermatt]

I took a closer look at your pictures now that I'm on my desktop. That twisted up power steering hose
Yes, that is a strange way to do a saginaw box mount, however for a short term fix short of cutting the entire frame horn off and redoing it with the typical 4-bolt box (or a FJ60/FJ80 box up towards the shock mount which is what I typically do in my shop) it looks like simply putting high-steer (or "medium" high steer, flat steering arms) on it would correct your drag link angle and you should have adequate clearance for that with how much lift you have, even SUA. However that drag link angle is really only going to contribute to bump-steer.

The wandering you are feeling is because there is probably zero or negative caster. This can be easily corrected with shims between the axle and spring or a shorter shackle if you'd like to lower the lift height a bit. IT looks like you have pretty long shackles.

 

[Melg44]

I took a closer look at your pictures now that I'm on my desktop. That twisted up power steering hose
Yes, that is a strange way to do a saginaw box mount, however for a short term fix short of cutting the entire frame horn off and redoing it with the typical 4-bolt box (or a FJ60/FJ80 box up towards the shock mount which is what I typically do in my shop) it looks like simply putting high-steer (or "medium" high steer, flat steering arms) on it would correct your drag link angle and you should have adequate clearance for that with how much lift you have, even SUA. However that drag link angle is really only going to contribute to bump-steer.

The wandering you are feeling is because there is probably zero or negative caster. This can be easily corrected with shims between the axle and spring or a shorter shackle if you'd like to lower the lift height a bit. IT looks like you have pretty long shackles.

Matt, thanks. I'm highly suspect of the work the po did and really want to get this is good operating condition. I've never gone over 50mph as it just doesn't seem to want to. I'm going to check out your recommendations for short term but would like to connect on potential permanent updates.

 

[pb4ugo]

I personally prefer the FJ60/80, Scout steering. Especially with how butchered the frame rail is. I had a similar issue yrs ago when the PO adapted/butchered a sag box out frt.
I had to replace the frt crossmember and fix the frame rail too. Scout was the option that I did, to take the pressure off that part of the frame. After I change to Scout, I decided that's the only way to do P/S on a FJXX, IMO. FJ60/80 is the same type of set up, with the FJ80 parts still relatively available.

 

[Melg44]

Thanks all for your assistance. Got the castor shims CruiserMatt recommended and it's like driving a different vehicle.! Went from approxmately 6 degrees negative to 1 positive. So much better.