pb4ugo
SILVER Star
You want positive caster, it helps in handling, helps eliminate wandering and a feeling of over correction/twitchiness. B4 you add shims you need to know what the current caster is, so you know what shims you need.
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deteriorated spring bushings will also make the steering loose
middlecalf
SILVER Star
Looks to be shimless
brian
SILVER Star
wtf is with that steering "damper"?.....they're not supposed to be spring loaded.
- Thread starter
- #25
Thanks for the help and I wouldn’t be shocked if the spring bushes are perished. I have changed the damper to a 50/50 the old one was also bent. The steering is light and gets lighter the faster you go and any pot holes make it impossible to keep in a straight line even at only 35mph.
I think I will also take the earlier advise and jack her up and see if there is still visible play and see if there is any bearing play.
brian
SILVER Star
remove your steering spring
- Thread starter
- #27
I took the damper off with the spring and just put a standard 50/50 one back on but it didn’t make much difference unfortunately
What is your toe-in setting? Another thing to consider is tire pressure. To much pressure and you are only riding on the center of the tread which will make it feel loose. As an example, with my 33x12.5-15's, I run 17 PSI rear and 21 PSI front. This is with SBC (lighter than factory 6 cyl) and Warn 8274 up front.
Why doesn't anyone go to the alignment shop first thing when there is a handling issue? Back in the day, you took the vehicle in once a year to get the alignment checked and tires balanced. These questions always pop up and they never have their alignment checked before posting. Is this a failure of high school auto shop? Do people buy 40's to learn how to work on cars?
Maybe because we can check and set our toe-in with a tape meaure and a piece of chalk just as well as they can with their laser beams? Maybe because 'Mud knows a heck of a lot more about LandCruiser steering than any tire shop ever? Maybe because some shops are forbidden to work on "modified" vehicles because lawyers? Maybe because an alighnment shop will just try to sell you stuff you don't need?
I still go to my tire store once a year for a tire rotation because mine are too heavy for me to lift by myself and i always have them rotate in the spare...
Wow….my rig is modified with springs and non original steering, lesser extent disk brakes and shocks…never had an alignment shop ‘Turn Me Down’ or try to sell me things not needed…..
If an alignment shop did an alignment on your truck, they already sold you something you didn't need. As Pighead mentioned the only parameter that a shop can adjust is toe, and you can adjust that yourself for free. Pig uses a tape measure and chalk. I use a tape measure and two push pins.
Alignment shops don't see many solid axle leaf sprung vehicles anymore. Most of the shops that I've been to were run by kids. They rely 100 percent on what the computer tells them, and while the computer does spit out the numbers for caster, camber and toe, the only thing that actually gets aligned on a 40/55/60/70/80 series is toe. You pay for the caster and camber measurements, but they don't physically do anything to affect those numbers. Things like caster shims, checking the condition of the leaf spring bushings, rod ends, etc. are outside of the norm for a typical alignment shop. If they did look at theses items (which they don't), and if they found a problem with any of these items, it's guranteed that they would not have parts on hand to correct the problem. They'd either lie to you and tell you everything's good and aligned and they fixed it, or they'd send you on your way with a list of items to have corrected elsewhere with a credit toward another waste-of-time follow-up alignment with them once you fixed the issues.
On an old leaf sprung cruiser, the best alignment money can buy consists of freshening up leaf spring bushings, checking your caster with a magnetic angle finder and correcting as needed with shims, checking the play in items like rod ends and center link, and adjusting toe to 1/8" toe-in using a tape measure.
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If you take your rig to a big box store (Costco, Walmart, Les Scwabby), yep, I can agree with you 100%. If you take your rig to a Big Rig shop, Kings Truck Stop in my part of the country, or even a commercial tire shop, those hands aren’t kids, most are in their 60’s (like me) and know there way around solid axles, leaf springs and generally have 2” wide caster shims in stock or can get them in short order, plus longe headed spring bolts to poke up through the axle centering cleat.
However, for the beginner, just discovering the intricacies (or antiquity) of an FJ40, and wanting to get an accurate indication of where he’s at….so he can make it safe to drive, I’d tell him to put it on a rack to see what you got before making changes…..and shop around for a ‘truck’ service center that will support your effort. Believe me, you tell them you have a 50 year old rig that needs a little TLC…and you need help understanding the ins and outs of leaf springs and king pins, most will jump at the opportunity to help. DIY is awesome…and you should try and do as much as you can….however, if you’re a newbie….living without a shop, or tools to do the job and make sure it’s safe for you to drive, or the people you share the road with, it may be worthwhile to get a second objective opinion.
- Thread starter
- #34
I am not sure if this is the issue but it can’t be helping. One the tie rod ends is only just in the rod and I can feel it rock a bit when I hang on it. The tie at the other end has no thread showing, I guess is should even them up a bit.
- Thread starter
- #35
So had a bit of a breakthrough one of the tie rod moved in the rod (the smaller front rod ) and the rod itself was slightly bent so swap them out, took for a test drive and it’s a thousand times better. It’s still not right, when it’s park and you move the steering you can feel a notch, wheel moves a good inch or more before the wheel moves, so still have more to do I guess.
Could be that the steering box has been adjusted too tight?
One inch (25mm) of play at the steering wheel is less than spec IIRC.
One inch (25mm) of play at the steering wheel is less than spec IIRC.
- Thread starter
- #37
45Dougal does that mean 25mm is ok, still feels vague but just in 4th.
PS I don’t really have any spares left apart from a very good diesel tank and the bars over the doors of that BJ45
From memory, around 50-75mm of rotation at the rim of the steering wheel is the target when you adjust the steering box. I can't find the diagram right now but it's in the chassis repair manual.
It may be that other factors are causing instability (tracking, tyre pressure, etc etc).
If the box is too tight then it can be sticky/ lumpy, which sounds like what you have.
