Front suspension and Dana 60 redo

[TomsBeast]

Originally Posted by boywonder

You're killin' me!!! .........and you forgot Morse.... ;-)

wonderboy, you've cracked the code

[MadScience]

Thank you for documenting all this!! The amount of useful information in this thread is significant. Not the least of which is the pointer to the folks in Livermore. I've been looking for a place like that closer to the bay area for a while.

My steering setup is very similar to what you started with, probably with even more lift and travel. That high steer conversion sure looks enticing. Although I think we've mostly mastered the art of keeping a loose grip on the wheel and letting the wheel move with the bumps....

On the alignment, I've already accepted that it probably has to be a DIY operation. This isn't a race car, a tape measure will do.

Congratulations on getting this far!

[TomsBeast]

Originally Posted by MadScience

Thank you for documenting all this!! The amount of useful information in this thread is significant. Not the least of which is the pointer to the folks in Livermore. I've been looking for a place like that closer to the bay area for a while.

I'm happy to help

Originally Posted by MadScience

Although I think we've mostly mastered the art of keeping a loose grip on the wheel and letting the wheel move with the bumps....

LOL! I was doing exactly that since I bought my rig. It's not terrible by any means. But while sitting behind the wheel for long highway stretches, my engineering mind wanders "Hmmm ... this is not bad, but I should be able to improve this..."

Originally Posted by MadScience

Congratulations on getting this far!

Thanks!

[TomsBeast]

After a small set back, (forgetting to refill the power steering pump reservoir, having it lock up) I got this thing off the jack stands and on the road!

I went thought my typical 'brake pad bedding' procedure, which hasn't failed me yet. The brakes work great, no more pulsating pedal. Power steering doesn't moan and groan. The wheel bearing squeal is of course, gone. No more squeaks, rattles and clunks from the front sway bar ends or bushings, all fixed. We'll see how the delrin bushings I made hold up over the long haul. No red oil leaks, no radiator drips, everything normal. The new TYC headlight assemblies (from RockAuto) went in fine, but the beam pattern sucks! I'll have to take a closer look at this, this can't be right.

Time to get it up to speed over a bumpy road!

After the smell from my oily fingerprints burned off, I settled in for a ride down my favorite Northern California levy road, highway 4 between Brentwood and Stockton. If you've ever driven levy roads, you know that this is a good test for higher speed wavy and bumpy, transitions as there's a couple draw bridges on that stretch as well.

What was noticeable right away, was the slightly annoying bumpsteer was gone. That is, before the rebuild, the van would steer slight right, and the steering wheel would pull slight left, when going over a medium sized bump in the road, highway overpass transition, etc. You learn to anticipate bumps, and let the steering wheel slide over the palms of your hands, then make a steering correction after the suspension settles down. It didn't bother me much, and wasn't a safety concern, and afterall, most lifted 4x4 trucks have this. Now it's absent, void, unnoticeable. Maybe having spent so much time and money to reduce bumpsteer made me notice more (definitely)... I never said I could be completely objective.

At higher speeds, pre-rebuild, not only was the bumpsteer taking away from ride quality, but it seemed the front shocks were topping out. I addressed that by making new shock mounts and adding much longer shocks, to let the suspension go through it's cycle, without harsh restrictions at either end. It worked like a charm! No more harsh bump during suspension extension, when the body pitches upward a little. The same with suspension compression, I'm real happy with the feel of the relocated and softer urethane bumpstops. They come in gently, you don't even know you've hit them.

I've since taken my van on a 200mile trip, down to Mercy Hot Springs and back, and I'll say that the steering tweaks I made seem to reduce driving fatigue.

Thumbs up to the UJOR high steer kit, a welcome addition to my 4" lift

Thumbs up to relocating and adding new bump stops, and the longer shocks, well worth the effort. Retained the pleasant riding Atlas/UJOR front leaf springs, my modification now lets the suspension cycle through longer travel. I can hardly wait to evaluate the changes offroad!

Thumbs down on the brand new replacement TYC (aftermarket) headlight assemblies. The beam pattern blows... there's a primary beam that projects forward, and some secondary beam at 45 degrees, both left and right sides. I will have to take a closer look.

Thumbs up to the homebuilt front bumper I picked up from forum member polishadam. It was no surprise I needed to modify my custom front tire carrier, which I built around the factory Ford bumper. Cut-off, grind, cut, weld to fit, paint to match. Not the 'plate bumper' I wanted, but a big step up from the Ford bumper it replaces.

[UJOINT]

Nice upgrades, thanks for sharing! Big difference between the old steering and the x-over.

[TomsBeast]

I couldn't have done it alone, Chris. Thanks for taking my calls to discuss, the quick turnaround on the knuckle machining and shipment of the other UJOR parts, and the no-hassle return on the couple things I didn't end up using

[TomsBeast]

Over the last year, I've towed my 32ft enclosed race trailer 1600 miles to Bonneville and back, another 1600 miles to Seattle and back since my last installment. Mostly highway 'super slab' miles. Towing is where the old steering and short shocks showed to be lacking.

I have to say, I'm loving the steering, lack of 'bump steer' from the new high steer set up. The taller, longer stroke shocks also worked out well. The homemade delrin sway bar bushings are holding up nicely.

I had this rear 'jiggle' over bumps, that I thought was an out of balance tire, a bad rear shock, or both. I finally tracked it down to a loose lower shock bolt. I guess it had been loose for a while, as it 'ovaled out' to bolt holes by 1/8". I made some square washers w/close fitting thru holes, welded them into place onto the factory lower shock mounts last weekend, all fixed

[TomsBeast]

bump steer and what it is. Roadkill's Mike Finnegan does a good explaination about 10 minutes into this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuQf4PQL1EU

[boywonder]

thanks for posting...this thread is timely....

Just re-read this thread...will be stealing a few ideas....my Advanced Dana 60 setup needs attention/upgrading.....hopefully nothing of the magnitude above (already has high steer!).....but it needs some work.

I'm having issues with brake shudder......when the rotors are turned and fresh pads it's fine but over time gets progressively worse. I do a proper bed-in after doing the brakes, etc....Thinking about trying a more aggressive pad compound.

I'm also going to redesign the lower shock mounts and I have some Fox shocks purchased from another member here to replace the tired Ranchos....and likely now replace the bump stops with something else.

Another challenge will be determining what drag link/tie rod/tie rod ends I've got.....

...and perhaps steal a leaf from my old rear springs and add it to the front pack.....what size U-bolts do I need for a kingpin Dana 60? 3 1/4"?

[TomsBeast]

Originally Posted by boywonder

thanks for posting...this thread is timely....

Just re-read this thread...will be stealing a few ideas...

steal away

Originally Posted by boywonder

I'm having issues with brake shudder......when the rotors are turned and fresh pads it's fine but over time gets progressively worse. I do a proper bed-in after doing the brakes, etc....Thinking about trying a more aggressive pad compound.

Beyond a warped rotor, Chinese junk or improper lug nut torque sequence, brake chatter can be tough to track down. Like chatter experienced on a lathe, it's usually something 'weak and bendy', or something 'loose and rattley' in the system. Sounds like you've eliminated the obvious stuff, shims behind the pads, the best pads you can buy... I'd start lookin gat ball joints, suspension pivots. Yours isn't on eof those leaf spring conversions where they put the shackle in the front I hope?

Originally Posted by boywonder

I'm also going to redesign the lower shock mounts and I have some Fox shocks purchased from another member here to replace the tired Ranchos....and likely now replace the bump stops with something else.

Another challenge will be determining what drag link/tie rod/tie rod ends I've got.....

...and perhaps steal a leaf from my old rear springs and add it to the front pack.....what size U-bolts do I need for a kingpin Dana 60? 3 1/4"?

I made new lower shock mounts that eliminate u bolts altogether, partly because I needed the room taken up by the Ford lower shock mount/U bolt cradle (see pics on page 1)