return to centre steering dampers

[bda4130]

hi, has anyone had any experience with return to centre steering dampers? thinking of trying one. i have just done a solid axle swap on a ln130 surf running high steer off the ifs box, all geometry is spot on, truck drives really nice... but steering doesnt self centre as well as i would like and i get a bit of quirky bump steer on bumpy roads. im only running the standard ifs damper at the moment which is probably totally screwed. oh and i have power steering and my steering is quite light at the moment so if it gets a bit heavier its probably not gonna cause me to cry myself to sleep at night. cheers for any suggestions. daniel.

[Smurf]

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[redz driver]

Have you had a wheel alignment done on the front axle?
Also incorrect caster can cause light steering and the non self centering

Yip x2 First thing I thought of

[bda4130]

Yup, wheel alignment has been done, and all is spot on. The steering is not too light but will cause no harm if it's a bit heavier. I'm just being a bit anal and wanting to get my steering as dialed as humanly possible. It was ifs before so I'm used to real nice on road steering. Gonna try get it as close to that as possible

[Smurf]

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[GotFlex]

hey mate i just put my rtc on. its the tits, centres like a car now, got mine off trademe from 4wd1 they awesome to deal with aswell. as for the wheel align i had mine spot on as well.'
definatly like them

[bda4130]

as i said before, the wheel alignment is all sorted including castor, have got 2 degree wedges on leaf springs.

[bda4130]

hey mate i just put my rtc on. its the tits, centres like a car now, got mine off trademe from 4wd1 they awesome to deal with aswell. as for the wheel align i had mine spot on as well.'
definatly like them

awesome, cheers mate, that was the response i was looking for

[darinz]

And the spring won't last! They have a habit of failing realitively quickly.

As said early do you actually know what your castor angle is? It sounds a lot like it isn't enough as the self centering is caused by the castor angle.
Try taking the wedges out and seeing what that does?

The damper will just be masking the problem so much better to figure out the problem first.

[tallsam66]

And the spring won't last! They have a habit of failing realitively quickly.

As said early do you actually know what your castor angle is? It sounds a lot like it isn't enough as the self centering is caused by the castor angle.
Try taking the wedges out and seeing what that does?

The damper will just be masking the problem so much better to figure out the problem first.

I agree ...you need the front diff to be leaning back a little ...if its too upright it will wonder all around the place.

[rokhound]

And the spring won't last! They have a habit of failing realitively quickly.

As said early do you actually know what your castor angle is? It sounds a lot like it isn't enough as the self centering is caused by the castor angle.
Try taking the wedges out and seeing what that does?

The damper will just be masking the problem so much better to figure out the problem first.

Totally agree with this. What angle is the castor running at? A wedge tells you shit all, you need to actually measure the angle.

[bda4130]

okay you drongos are obviously not listening. my alignment is fine!!!!!!!!!. im just looking for a way to make my steering feel really nice on road. i started off with zero castor (which is obviously no good) i then fitted 2 degree wedges, so now i have 2 degrees of castor, i was running ifs which has amazing steering, so all im trying to do is make solid axle steering as close to ifs steering as possible. ive already done the research and found that my current damper is way too light which causes excessive feedback through the steering wheel when fitted to a solid axle... case closed.

[rangimotors]

not gona get very far on this site by calling some of our most technicially able long term members "drongo's" mate..
These guys are taking there time to help you, not the other way around.
Maybe you could go back to ifs if you'd like it to feel that way

[meatc]

okay you drongos are obviously not listening. my alignment is fine!!!!!!!!!. im just looking for a way to make my steering feel really nice on road. i started off with zero castor (which is obviously no good) i then fitted 2 degree wedges, so now i have 2 degrees of castor, i was running ifs which has amazing steering, so all im trying to do is make solid axle steering as close to ifs steering as possible. ive already done the research and found that my current damper is way too light which causes excessive feedback through the steering wheel when fitted to a solid axle... case closed.

Not sure what hilus axle king pin is off the top of my head, and given your attitude cant be arsed looking it up but 2* ain't even close try like 7-9*

[Smurf]

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[rokhound]

okay you drongos are obviously not listening. my alignment is fine!!!!!!!!!. im just looking for a way to make my steering feel really nice on road. i started off with zero castor (which is obviously no good) i then fitted 2 degree wedges, so now i have 2 degrees of castor, i was running ifs which has amazing steering, so all im trying to do is make solid axle steering as close to ifs steering as possible. ive already done the research and found that my current damper is way too light which causes excessive feedback through the steering wheel when fitted to a solid axle... case closed.

Go fark your self

I'm over wasting my time on dropkicks on this site

[bda4130]

the factory specs for my axle are 1 to 2 degrees of castor which is exactly what i have. it has been checked by a wheel aligner with 30 years experience. end of story. my steering does self centre, drives fine and has just been certified. as ive said mulitple times already, im not looking for some boffin to solve a problem that doesnt exist, just wanted some opinions on what damper to run.

[UBZ]

okay you drongos are obviously not listening. .

, im not looking for some boffin to solve a problem that doesnt exist, .

If you ask a question on a public forum , expect to get peoples opinions not just what you want to hear!

But then I be surprised if any one will help you know ,
considering your blatant disregard and disrespect of people who are very experienced and well respected on here.

But obviously you know best so why ask a question in the first place!

[De-Ranged]

your a twat.... since we arn't telling you what you want to hear ... I suggest you pm gotflex and ask him about wheel allignments and how many times his has been stuffed up

2 degrees of caster is not enough, thats what I'd expect for a small hatchback... not a truck

Just to prove a piont Im currently CAD'n up my caster vs travel for a shop project that I'm converting to 3 link... over 12" of travel it has 6 degree's of caster change... could be a bit scary if it started at 2 degree's

hey just had a random thought what ever happened to the darwin awards... kind of appropriate.. go hard mate, drive fast... just not near me

[JR]

okay you drongos are obviously not listening. my alignment is fine!!!!!!!!!. im just looking for a way to make my steering feel really nice on road. i started off with zero castor (which is obviously no good) i then fitted 2 degree wedges, so now i have 2 degrees of castor, i was running ifs which has amazing steering, so all im trying to do is make solid axle steering as close to ifs steering as possible. ive already done the research and found that my current damper is way too light which causes excessive feedback through the steering wheel when fitted to a solid axle... case closed.

Go fark your self

I'm over wasting my time on dropkicks on this site

way to go muppet, why not just piss off some of the last people on here that have helpful knowlage for the rest of us.

[Mud Hog]

the factory specs for my axle are 1 to 2 degrees of castor which is exactly what i have. it has been checked by a wheel aligner with 30 years experience. end of story. my steering does self centre, drives fine and has just been certified. as ive said mulitple times already, im not looking for some boffin to solve a problem that doesnt exist, just wanted some opinions on what damper to run.

And you expect people to give there opinions after the comments you have just made insulting people that were trying to help you. You piss off Members that are valuable to this site so they won't waste there time here anymore . As said it sounds like you (think) know it all so why ask?

[bda4130]

so, fitted my return to centre damper and it is awesome, was also running my front tire pressures a bit low which was contributing to funny steering over bumps. tweaked my front end to 9 degrees castor as someone suggested(just out of curiosity to see what it would be like) and shat my pants with laughter.... the drive shaft coupling was almost touching the ground.

[Furgus]

of course you were right all along.....it's the rest of the world that's wrong eh? tosser

[bda4130]

i only ever asked if anyone has run a return to centre damper and what theyre like.. thats all. you bitches bite like a bunch of 14 year old girls with synchronized periods!!!!! bahahahahaha!

[crazyclark31]

piss of you twat.
People on here have given me heaps of valuable info and i have learnt heaps.
All any of the guys that given you info are only tryin to help solve a problem.
Show some farkin respect to those that offer advice. Moron

[GotFlex]

Good to hear you like it, makes a difference ae!!

[darinz]

I had written a reply that explained the things you don't understand (and your wheel alignment guy) but I can't can't be arsed helping you out because of your attitude. The reason this site is good is because we have people from all over the country with different experiences sharing ideas to help each other out.
The funny thing is there is ALWAYS someone out there who knows more about something than you do. As soon as you forget that you will make a complete arse of yourself like you just have.
I'm fairly knowledgable about offroad vehicle design and mechanics but I always respect other people's ideas and opinions because of the above statement.

[bda4130]

Decided to post up a couple of things I've found on my sas journeys incase anyone else finds themselves in the same boat, my truck handled mint, untill i hit the open road and some high speed off camber bumpy corners! after being told my castor was wrong I started second guessing the info I had found, but after further research I found that for a leaf sprung hilux 1 to 2 degrees is in fact correct(a lot of this info I have found on this site, which seems to contradict a lot of the abuse I have been given) i have a pretty standard setup on 33s and was noticing slightly quirky steering, on closer inspection found that the second hand springs I was running had had an extra ghetto leaf added in( maybe to make them firmer or increase ride height???) anyway, got rid of them and steering and handling was greatly improved. Pretty odd thing to come across, but who knows what they're getting when ya buy stuff from pick a part! I'm bound to get given more shit but that's okay, I'll just roll it in glitter and sell it on trademe.

[bda4130]

Another quick point, with a leaf sprung sassed surf running minimal lift there is bugger all upwards travel on the front end which creates very little caster variation during compression.

[GotFlex]

Did you use rear hilux springs upfront? i did and mine invert somthing crazy!! that extra leaf helps with getting the truck level which i spent haours trying to get mine to sit right, we then welded a 10mm spacer on the passengers side leaf mount pad and ran the same amount of leafs both sides and its been good since, i run the load leaf up front now as it helps on road driving and when off road they drop right out.