Toyo Beam Axle Hilux Hi Steer Questions...

[pradon35s]

Hi

Took a few days off work to make it a extra long w.e and what better way to use it than fit all my new TrailGear Hi Steer !
(if i had the $$ spare i would get tomsoffroad to do it but im young and shits tight plus i like trying stuff myself)

Im all ok i have ripped out all the standard crap and have mount my arms etc, about to start on my front crossmember extension..

The question i have for you is, when you guys who have done it do it, im guessing you no longer run the Torque Rod? on top of diff housing to chassis mount anymore? as its in the way of where im going to mount the ifs box..
Am i required to run one of these another way? also what steering shaft do you use? ifs surf one? or original lux one?

any help or pics would be awsome..

cheers

[rokhound]

Thye torque rod is only there for the stupid factory steering system. when you go cross over with or without Histeer arms, the torque rod is no longer needed as the braking force does not affect the steering geometry any more.

Short answer, NO you don't need it anymore

[pradon35s]

Thank You! so il just cut all the original chassis mount for it off..

cheers

[pruggerdore]

so why do you think your going crossover steering then? Is it just because everyone else does? main reason for doing it is to get rid of the torque arm which massively restricts suspension travel

[J_Dub]

so why do you think your going crossover steering then? Is it just because everyone else does? main reason for doing it is to get rid of the torque arm which massively restricts suspension travel

Theres about 6 big reasons why high steer is done and thata only 1 reason

[3VILC]

I find the draglink far more restricting than the torque rod. Cant even raise suspension height or increase drop at all on mine. Although I imagine the torque rod would be particularly limiting when the axles are crossed up and trying to twist

[pradon35s]

I'm simply asking advice and questions on the mod. please don't comment if you feel your the man and think I have no idea..


exactly guys I'm going hi steer for a few reasons, the factory draglink / j arm set up is crap especially when lifting, I tried flipped jarm ball joint and ended up smashing my rf shock with the draglink when flexing(trying to flex), also have adjustable draglink but I went higher than 2" lift and it tries to twist and bend which will end badly in the middle of no where one day, and lastly I went hi steer to eliminate the possibility of breaking a j arm, mate did this in middle of no where once, and without a spare he was f'ed

[tomsoffroad]

also what steering shaft do you use? ifs surf one?

Yes use a whole ifs steering box. You have a couple of options for the pitman arm. You can either use the standard ifs pitman arm (built in ball joint) with an adaptor, or find a prado pitman arm. The prado arm is 10mm longer than the ifs arm so you'll need to factor this in when working out your clearances. Also when you mount the ifs box you want to tilt it back as far as you can to get the pitman arm as close to the chassis as you can. Otherwise you'll end up with the leave spring touching the pitman arm and limiting up travel. You can also buy flat pitman arms from trailgear but these require crack testing to get thru cert.

Are you going to put rear leaves in the front while your at it? Another very good mod. Seeing as you are already making a dropped front x member anyway

[pradon35s]

Thanks Tom, great info.. i want to do RUF and falcons in the back but i thought id set it up with standard springs at the moment and see how i go, definitely want to change springs some point tho as the standard hilux ones are such a hard ride aswell as poor flex, what length shocks do you guys use when you change the front crossmember? as I understand im going to need to change the top shock mount onto chassis, can i just lower it and use original 2" lift shocks? or better to go longer? also is flipped U-Bolt conversion necessary? as i wasnt planning on doing it..

[tomsoffroad]

Best you do the ruf now otherwise your drop x member will be in the wrong place. All you need is to extend the shackles about 50mm. No you dont need to do a u bolt flip if you dont want too.
As for the shocks, all I do is cut the mount off the diff and fab up a new (this is for ruf) so the front shocks are on abit of an angle. Cant remember what shocks I use they were Raw ones. Get every thing else done then flex it up without any shocks, measure extended and compressed then call Autoline Raw shocks seem to be good quality and they are reasonably priced.

Have fun

[pradon35s]

The man, il track some rears down now then, iv heard IFS surf rear springs are best to use not my hilux ute rears? also will 2" lifted rear springs be too much or what i need? arrrrggghh so much more than i thought i was doing haha love it.

[rokhound]

If you can afford the time with it off the road, do all your suspension mods in one go (it's also only one cert fee). If you were thinking of rear disc's, do that now as well.
You will be bale to fine tune it still as you go, but these are major cert requirements, so you may as well do it in one go.

[GotFlex]

The man, il track some rears down now then, iv heard IFS surf rear springs are best to use not my hilux ute rears? also will 2" lifted rear springs be too much or what i need?

Dont waste your time with ifs leafs, they are all generally stuffed by now, chuck your lifted rears and lose a leaf or two to get it flexing nice and sitting right, i kept my load leafs in the front so it handles awesome on road and suzpension drops down when offroad.

Picture 9 is of my setup

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing ... 57&ed=true

[tomsoffroad]

Just use the rears you've already got. Keep the top three leaves and ditch the rest. Then take the bottom two leaves from your now homeless front leaves and bolt em together.

[pradon35s]

sweet as cheers.. iv been thinking about it but not sure what you mean by if I set up the front drop cross member with standard front leafs it will be wrong for rears up front? what needs to be different?

[tomsoffroad]

iv been thinking about it but not sure what you mean by if I set up the front drop cross member with standard front leafs it will be wrong for rears up front? what needs to be different?

True. Having a brain fade I clamp the drop x member to the front x member with the axle bolted to the leaves and the shackels in place then put the weight back on the axle. This allows you to get the shackle angle right