Steve's '94 Toyota x-cab mild build

Is it possible to find a tre with a longer stud? Then you could have ric or Carl cut you a tapered spacer to match the tre. You could weld it on the knuckle to make it safer and permanent. It's just a thought. Let me know if that is idiotic.
 
Is my idea stupid though or would something like that work if you didn't want to lose your stance and the shims don't work. Hopefully your shims work. Just wondering.
 
that might work. Rather than trying to find a TRE with a longer spindle, I'd probably drill out my current steering arm so the nut can be countersunk into it, then weld a new steering arm on top of it. I'd probably have to do it for the drag link as well.
 
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Remind me how much caster you started with before the shims were added? Did you have ~+12*?

I'd vote cut/ turn, get the pinion and you want, the caster angle you need and no shims, etc.
 
It was at 9* before the shims.

Kurt, are you able to cut and turn these? The welds are pretty beefy and I just assumed they couldn't be cut without messing 'em up.


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Every axle including the trail gear ones can be cut and turned steve. Its the proper way to adjust caster, some are easier than others, but its the only way in my opinion to do it
 
Steve, if I were you, I would cut the your current front hanger flat, and buy a new hanger, and weld it to the bottom. Then shorten your front shackles a bit. That is what i think the easiest solution is. What the problem is is that you frenched the front hanger, so to fix the problem, make it a drop hanger again.
 
This is what I think is causing the majority of your problem.
sixstringsteve said:
then I hung the springs. Pay no attention to the disaster of a garage.

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Mocking it up to make sure it's at the right forward/back location.

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Frenched and ready to tack into place.

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Once it was tacked in, I could check the shackle angle at full compression (or close to full bump).
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Perfect. I like my shackles laid back more than most, especially when going for a low stance.

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skippy said:
What if you went with heims joints on the tie rod and just ran a small half inch spacer to raise it a bit???
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heims are not road legal but that would be a great solution, maybe just put tre on for saftey and heims for the rest of the time? Personally id just take a leaf out and see how that goes and so on, or like i said cut and turn the axle
 
Cutting the knuckle won't do any good, since you'll still be rotating the steering arm down.

Lower the front spring mounts down, if you really want to correct the problem.
 
trailridgeoffroad said:
heims are not road legal but that would be a great solution, maybe just put tre on for saftey and heims for the rest of the time? Personally id just take a leaf out and see how that goes and so on, or like i said cut and turn the axle
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I didn't know that. I have had several rigs with heims on the steering and they all passed safety every year.
 
BCGPER said:
Cutting the knuckle won't do any good, since you'll still be rotating the steering arm down.

Lower the front spring mounts down, if you really want to correct the problem.
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BC is right, while the cut/turn will dial in your pinion angle and caster angle, if your interfering now with a ~3* angle, nothing will change in the cut/turn in that respect. What about lowering your spring perches on the axle? You could likely get them ~1/2" lower on the housing, that buys you the same 1/2" between your tie rod and pinion. I've done some that literally have the top of the spring pad resting on the top of the axle housing. While it requires you to trim your spring center pin to the thickness of your spring perch, its never going to move and you can re-set your caster to the desired amount thus buying you the ~3/16" or so that your shim is adding to your spring height. All say you could easily buy yourself a half inch or more of clearance.
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Some great feedback here everyone, thanks.

I went with 4* shims, removed a 4" leaf, and it clears just fine. In fact, I could put the tiny little leaf back in the bottom if I wanted to. I took it on the freeway yesterday, and its driving great. No more weird steering wheel shimmy. Thanks again to everyone who helped me diagnose this problem.
 
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trailridgeoffroad said:
Every axle including the trail gear ones can be cut and turned steve.
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Has anyone ever heard of a rock assault bring cut and turned? I'm not saying it can't be done, but I think the offset axle tube could prevent the inner shaft from lining up with the thirdmember. That would suck to have them cut, only to have the inner axle not line up.

I do agree with you that cutting and turning the knuckle balls is the right way to do it, but I'm done throwing money at this project. a set of $25 shims did the trick for me, and it feels very stable now.

thanks for the tips everyone.
 
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