Offroad-Express

I just broke my torque rod-connecting the chassis to the top of the front diff
The welds on the bracket where it meets the diff have broken!
does anyone have any advice on how dangerous it is to drive it like that-weather i can drive it to a garage or should trailer it there?
It feels very loose under braking!

Trailer it buddy. Nothing worse than having an accident because of something that was preventable, especially if someone gets hurt.

Yeah,I think thats prob a good idea,it does feel pretty dodgy-especially under braking,
cheers

just drive it and don't go hammering it and don't slam on the breaks. I drove mne without one for a while just before I did my crossover steering

mine doesnt exist on the truck at the mo, it wasnt there when i brought it, and its a handful while driving ecspecially under breaking, likes to go left:?

It is OK to drive like that for a while but it will bump steer, you may want to pull the whole thing out or tie it up to keep it out of the way.

It is one of the things that you can remove if you go to crossover steering, and is only there to give good driving habits (for a hilux) on road and prevent the hilux steering linkage from disconecting (restricts front diff articulation (droop) on steering side) when offroad.

You can drive it I would but unless you do a crossover steering mod it needs to be fixed, Imagine loosing steering off road because the steering linkage "fell" off the ball joint. Drive slowly and be prepared for the diff to wander around under brakes (pivots on the power steering).

reattaching it is a bit of a trick tho, not sure I would attempt it myself I think I would take it to someone who can weld better than me or put that towards a crossover setup and call Jaffa? SNR? for the bits.

Its all been said but the torque rod eliminates brake-steer. Effectively the axle rotates forward when you brake, and the harder the braking the more roll it gets forward.

With the single-side steering system on your hilux when the axle rolls forward the drag link from your steering box to your J-arm becomes the surrogate torque-rod, and it ends up pulling the steering to the left, and as above the more it rolls, the more it steers. IF you have to emergency brake, you'll almost certainly do a hard left turn off the road (I know, I've done it)... especially if your springs are old and flexy.

Get it welded back on ASAP by someone who knows what they are doing... or take the opportunity to go crossover steer

Steve

cheers for the info guys ,Shes all fixed now!
My boss gave me a hand welding it up-big job,took 3 hours all up.
Much better welds now than original ones.they must have been cracked for a while-there was a bit of rust in places where it let go!Had trouble getting the torque rod back in,I had it shortened a while ago to move the axle forward and it seems a bit too short-maybee thats why it broke the bracket?the eyes arn't lined up right either!
I've noticed some lifted lux's dont have a torque rod,spose they must have cross over steer!
Is it expensive to do cross over steer and is it as safe as having a torque rod?
Cheers
Jim

Crossover steering is used on most 4x4's now and I am not sure why Toyota did not do this to the hilux in the first place.

As I understand the torque rod is only there to help you under brakes and to limit articulation of the front diff to what the power steering rod can achieve. With crossover steering the torque rod can go because the movement in the diff is in parallel (or bloody close to) the steering rod and unaffected.

Crossover is also much more positive steering and removes a lot of the permanantly correcting the steering the std design has (you can hold the steering straight at 100kmh and not have to adjust every 20-30 seconds)

SNR over < have gone throught the process and build high quality raised and crossover steering arm's torque rods and all. All I want is crossover steering, new tires and a locker for the rear. Then my 4x4 would be about perfect (it already has the Toyota badge)

Cheers for the info steve,
Looks like crossover steering is the way to go!I checked out the SNR website-seems bloody expensive,might have to save up for a while or look for a cheaper option!
The old lux does wander a bit on the road,especially with 12.5' tyres,so anything to help that would be good!
Toyota did have some interesting ideas designing the hilux it seems-torque rod,two piece drive shaft etc.
I spose they never meant for them to be modified tho

Cheap x over steering
starts here...

http://www.offroadexpress.co.nz/modules ... pic&t=1453