Pictures of D44 front steering

[Way]

Thought you guys might like the modification to the pitman arm. I am using a GM end now. It is bigger and stronger. Also gets rid of the wierd tie rod thread that rovers use.

[Way]

Here is a picture of the entire front. One of these days I will paint the bumper, however wouldn't do much good as it hangs out so far. My friends call it the shovel bumper because it moves a lot of earth . Wish I had that purchase to do over!

Way

[Old Scout]

I choped it for a better view I'm getting old

[Way]

Sorry about that here is a higher resolution larger in size cropped picture.

[RockRover]

NICE!

Very nice work Adam...I might have to haul your ass to Santa Fe for a weekend prior to the full-pen weld-up.

BTW, are you running bump-stops in the front? If so could you snap a pic with the location relative to the springs and links?

--D

[Way]

My springs bind prior to hitting the front bump stops. However I still have on the energy suspension 4.5" bump stops up front in stock location. This still works well for me as the axle is in the smae location as before.

Way

P.S. Have you thought about the race runner hydraulic bump stops. Seems to be a popular choice amongst the local rock crawlers in Farmington. Suoer easy to make adjustable mounts for those. The concept for those of you who are not familiar is similar to the way a seatpost is held into a bike frame. I will look for a picture.

[Way]

Here is a picture of John Gillelands old ride.

[dcrover90]

Very nice! Have you broken many rover axles?

[Rover Addiction]

Brendon Loveday Has some of those super trick bumpstops on his coilover D90. Unfortunately, I don't have any good pictures of how SG mounted them, but they looked great!

Anybody have a good pic of that setup to post? If you can't post, e-mail to me and I'll post it.


Btw, Adam, that looks awesome! Quite the setup. I hope to see your rig in action someday. Are you going to put together drawings and parts listings so others can duplicate your efforts?


-John

[Way]

I have broken a lot of rover axles. Especially the expensive GBR ones.

I promise that in the next three weeks I will have a report on how to go about the modification. It is sitting at 4 pages right now. It is mostly informative information about dana axles and how to measure for the install. I will have the u-joint part numbers for my Rover driveshaft etc. ,so that you can reuse your exsisting driveshaft. To keep it simple I will list a earls dealer I used to order my brakes from wont bore you with the little stuff. I will also add a third picture page on my web site of the final product. I will post some pictures in a few weeks of it flexing in Farmington. until then maybe a few pictures fo the vehicle flexing on urban obstacles

Way

P.S. I will also post the report in microsoft word format or adobe acrobat reader so that you can download it and print it. I really do not want to make a website page and deal with the formatting. The report already has tons of pictures.

[Old Scout]

Hey Lance is always looking for good hard core tech. I bet he would be happy to put it up here on POR.

[Jtisdale]

Way- funny you should mention the hydraulic bumpstops in relation to a bike seatpost. Brendon uses Salsa seatpost skewers(sp?) to locate his hydro bumpstops.

Johnathan

[Strange Rover]

Looks good Adam. Great to see some American iron under a Land Rover (especially since you live in America anyway).

Just curious as to how it drives on the road. Looking from the front on picture it looks like your steering link (from the pirman arm to the knuckle - drag link??) angles down from left to right and your panhard rod angles up slightly the other way (ignoring the kink). How much bump steer does this produce?? On my rig before I changed my pitman arm I had a similar difference in angle between the drag link and panhard rod (actually mine was probably worse) and it had really bad bumpsteer The thing would do almost a complete lane change when going through a big bump (where both front springs were compressed).

Looking at the angle of yours if you mounted the chassis end of the panhard rod more forward (in front of the steering box) and above the pitman arm then the angles would be almost identical (zero bumpsteer) and you also wouldnt have to have the kink.

Also how does it behave under brakes with the wheel spacer only on the left hand side. I would imagine that it will pull left under brakes and to the right under power. Does it do this to any extent or isnt this noticable?

Sam

[Way]

The vehicle does not have bump steer. I did the alignment myself, and I am going to have it professionally alligned along after replacing a lower ball joint that is going. It drives significantly better now than it ever did with the rover axle steering set up. Just got back from Moab a few minutes ago. Because of the lift it sways a bit around the mountain curves, but on the straight aways it does 65 MPH just fine. That is the max speed limit from Durango to there, so I am not sure how it handles above that. I will report back after I put a steering stabilizer on it and get the ball joint replaced. The alignment is scheduled for next Friday.

Way

P.S. When the report is finished a will give it to Lance. I would love to see other go this route.

[Strange Rover]

Originally posted by Way
The vehicle does not have bump steer. I did the alignment myself, and I am going to have it professionally alligned along after replacing a lower ball joint that is going. It drives significantly better now than it ever did with the rover axle steering set up. Just got back from Moab a few minutes ago. Because of the lift it sways a bit around the mountain curves, but on the straight aways it does 65 MPH just fine. That is the max speed limit from Durango to there, so I am not sure how it handles above that. I will report back after I put a steering stabilizer on it and get the ball joint replaced. The alignment is scheduled for next Friday.

Way

P.S. When the report is finished a will give it to Lance. I would love to see other go this route.

Excellent to hear. Theory can only take you so far but it is how it works in the real world that counts.

You say it drives better now, you have got more caster dialled in I guess than the lifted rover setup??? Do you know know how much caster??


Sam

[Serious One]

yeah Adam, definitely sounds like a caster problem.

I felt the same way about the Serious One until we re-did the radius arms.

Timm did mine, but he doesn't bend them, nor does he cut/plate them. If you want more info you should call him.

Michael

PS After we re-did mine, it feels like a Porsche (and damn near as fast).

[Serious One]

OH wait, I'm an F-in' idiot!

YOU *don't* have radius arms do you????

Well, then I can't help you.

I'm into the little face thingies today if you can't tell.

Later,

M

[Way]

Vehicle has a new drivers side lower ball joint. After the alignment and prior to the steering stabilizer there is absolutely no bump steer and only minor vibrations in the front end over bad road. Drove straight without my hands on the steering wheel for both acceleration and braking. I installed a fox steering stabilzer with heims on the end of it. Had a long throw which I like. However the stabilzer is charged and is adding a little resistance when on the road. It pulls the steering wheel a little to the left because it wants to expand. I just installed it this morning, so I am not sure if it will become better after I drive on it for a few days. However, either way I am happy with the way it handles. Especially on washboard at high speed.

Corners are still a little strange with the difference in off set between the front and the rear. My new plan is to get a custom backspaced wheels and possibly go with a rovertym 1" spacers. That will be in a few weeks though.

Here is a picture of it on top of a rock. That concludes the install. I will answer any additional questions over email, but I think the list is probably tired of this long ongoing D44 modification discussion.

Way