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Land Cruiser de-evolution

I Lean

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
Vendor
Location
Utah
I was OK living with the occasional VSC beeping at me--but today it applied a front brake while going around a freeway cloverleaf. That's it--you only get one chance to try to throw me off the road. I grounded the wire going into the ECU as detailed in Scott Howe's thread on Mud...not worried about adding a switch or anything.



This is sorta satisfying right now, but I might have to pull the bulb out of the cluster eventually. Maybe it'll burn out first--that would be nicely convenient. :D

 
Herzog

Herzog

somewhat damaged
Admin
Location
Wydaho
I Lean said:
I was OK living with the occasional VSC beeping at me--but today it applied a front brake while going around a freeway cloverleaf. That's it--you only get one chance to try to throw me off the road. I grounded the wire going into the ECU as detailed in Scott Howe's thread on Mud...not worried about adding a switch or anything.

This is sorta satisfying right now, but I might have to pull the bulb out of the cluster eventually. Maybe it'll burn out first--that would be nicely convenient. :D
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I actually wonder if that's part of your "not tracking quite straight down the hwy" issue that you mentioned yesterday. Thinking about it now, my parents were having issues with 'VSC' on their jeep causing it to not track straight. Curious if related.
 
I Lean

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
Vendor
Location
Utah
Herzog said:
I actually wonder if that's part of your "not tracking quite straight down the hwy" issue that you mentioned yesterday. Thinking about it now, my parents were having issues with 'VSC' on their jeep causing it to not track straight. Curious if related.
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I'm going to say no...simply because I changed the front springs, which lowered the front end about 5/8"...which would give it around another degree of caster. Just that change made it drive nice and stable, like it SHOULD have been this whole time. :D
 
DAA

DAA

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Location
West Bountiful, UT
I once just stopped at a gas station and bought a black Sharpie and dulled the glow. That particular light on that particular rig stayed like that for another 18 years. Had to freshen up the marker once or twice.

- DAA
 
I Lean

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
Vendor
Location
Utah
Since my caster adjustment was maxed out, I decided to modify the radius arms. I cut a wedge out with a bandsaw, stuck them in the press to bend the bottom plate, welded them back together and added a fishplate on top. That added about 4 degrees of caster.

Previously, I hadlowered the front ride height about 5/8", which would have given me approximately 1 degree of caster--moving from 3.5* to 4.5*, which completely took care of the little bit of twitchy steering it had on the highway. With this change to the radius arms, I added another degree, so I should be pretty close to 5.5* now, AND the adjustment is right in the middle of its range, so i can now add or subtract caster easily. I can also bring the front ride height back up if I care to, without compromising road manners.





In this pic, the caster angle is the same as before, when the bolt hole was all the way at the top of the slot.
clear.png






The added caster made it even more rock-solid on the highway, although it does seem to want to pull right or left due to road crown a little bit more than it did before. Not necessarily in a bad way, just a change.

I originally planned on adding a swaybar to the front, but haven't taken the time to figure out how to fit one. I have nearly 4000 miles of living with it as is now, and I don't feel any need to add one. I think the natural radius arm binding, combined with the wider spring/shock spacing on the axle makes it nice and stable even without the swaybar.
 
I Lean

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
Vendor
Location
Utah
Minor update: I replaced the Ford hubs with these. I like that they are much lower-profile than the old ones...I don't really like how shiny they are. Unfortunately, I can't find any hubs that are black.



I also removed the bulb from the dash cluster, that used to be the VSC idiot light. It was surprisingly easy to get the cluster out, and the bulbs are labeled right on the back. :)
 
Trate D

Trate D

Well-Known Member
I know what’s done is done on the radius arms. But do you think some old man emu offset caster bushings would have gave you enough additional caster?
 
I Lean

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
Vendor
Location
Utah
Stephen said:
Paint them?
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I've never had good luck with paint sticking to aluminum, long term. Half-peeling paint would look worse than just leaving them alone. ;)

nnnnnate said:
I'll wait.
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I followed people's posts on Mud. :) It's 4 screws to take the gauge cluster out, and I had to remove 4 more to take the clear lens off. That made it just small enough to fit through the steering wheel. I think I read at some point, that LX clusters use LED lights that are different from the LC's bulbs....you'd have to remove your cluster to find out for sure though. Just pull the lower trim piece off, and you can see the screws. One on each lower corner, plus two larger screws that hold the wiring, and it'll be loose.

htrddzl said:
I know what’s done is done on the radius arms. But do you think some old man emu offset caster bushings would have gave you enough additional caster?
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Not a possibility. I didn't use 80 series bushings. I changed it about 4 degrees though, which I think is about what you get out of the offset bushings IIRC--so if I had used 80 bushings, the answer would have been yes. :D
 
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