Central WA Baja

[Ol'fogasaurus]

hey, I'm in Levenworth for a couple of days... am I even close?

[CentralWAbaja]

That's a fun little town about 50 miles north of me!

[fusername]

I think you would be safe welding all around those. are they steel or alu? cause if they are steel I would think no matter how much the beam deforms you can just weld a tab on em and slide hammer them out. And ifthe tubing is going to deform so much, don't you want your plug to keep it a bit rounder?

just ideas

[CentralWAbaja]

Yea they are aluminum.

I Just don't want to have to get in there and cut them out with a Saws All later.

Sure wouldn't be the first good idea that did not work out

[CentralWAbaja]

So I think you can all see by now, we are not afraid to build things to save a buck when we can.

So I decided rather than paying shipping on a couple 4 ft long thru-rods I would just make em right?

Down to the steel yard and picked up 1 eight ft stick of 4130 1/2 rod.

But I thought I would rather just order the 4 pinch nuts and a Teflon washers.

So I called Pac customs and ordered them.....








$16.55 to ship them WTF

Good thing I am making the rods and saving the shipping

Man it can be frustrating not being able to walk in to the Off Road VW store and but such an item...Never really have looked but I can probably get them at HD or something?

Oh well at the end of the day these will cost me about half of what they would have from Kartek

[Big Dave]

That's why I always try to place large orders and try to save on shipping a bit, even if it means paying a little more for a couple parts I need so that I only have to order from one place.

[CentralWAbaja]

Yea, I hear ya...Me to. Just simply didn't give it any thought this time. Heck I ordered almost 150 bucks worth of urethane bushings for my truck last week...that guy crammed them in a flat rate box and dropped them in the mail on his way out on vacation...had them in 3 days, 11 bucks.

[petew]

dude I know your pain. parts are expensive and hard to get here. and then there are the cool parts... I got quoted US$30 to ship 4 bumpstops out to me the other day.

[CentralWAbaja]

Well I got to play all day today

Started mocking up the front suspension.

Tacked the beam to the lower cage tubes. After asking around a bit, I decided to lay the beam back about 5 degrees. Some say 5-7 degrees some say not at all...This is what I decided to start with. I am a little concerned that by doing so, the coils may hit the top beam tube, limiting the down stroke. We'll see... it is just tacked for now.



Tacked the rack mount together and then used a couple hose clamps to hold it to the beam so I could rotate it to test for bump steer.



Built my tie rods and got the threaded ends tacked on
Made the thru-rods and got the arms mounted
Shimmed the link pins/spindles and set the camber
Mocked the front hubs up and set the toe-in


As you can see I started with the rack set at about 20 degrees and starred cycling the suspension...making adjustments in 1/2 degree increments. It was getting late so I do not know exactly where I ended up. It was interesting though. I could not get it to cycle completely with 0 bump steer. I could get it all good through the entire mid travel but at the 2 extremes it would it would go in to a bit of bump, in the last couple inches of travel. What was interesting is when I stopped adjusting it (at the best I could get it) and calling it a day. I checked the drivers side and it had 0 bump steer through the entire cycle...full left and full right, full comp and full droop...0 bump? But not the passenger side? It still has some bump.

Any ideas?

Yes, I do have the rack centered, and both tie rods are still very close in length after adjusting the toe.

NO Herbie... I wont just aim for the big bumps with the drivers side

I have read that it may not be possible to get it all to 0 bump steer, but how much is to much?

[fusername]

I would think as little as possible is best, and evenly split between the wheels so that even if there are extra forces on the front end, they will only wear parts and not try to make the buggy jive. not that I know much about the theory here, just my idea on the matter.

[baja5]

I would think that there's possibly a difference in your spindles causing the difference. I just put new spindles on my car and have noticed a considerable difference in the bumpsteer while driving. They are the same spindles as the old ones, probably welded up in the same jig but i definately feel it in the wheel. After the night run I think I will address it.

[trackersteve]

Wow the project is looking great.
I have not started with the bump steer issue yet, you lead I will follow
Like the levels!

[CentralWAbaja]

I would think that there's possibly a difference in your spindles causing the difference. I just put new spindles on my car and have noticed a considerable difference in the bumpsteer while driving. They are the same spindles as the old ones, probably welded up in the same jig but i definately feel it in the wheel. After the night run I think I will address it.

You might be on to something there.

The arms were a bit different from side to side, They measured out with 5.5mm offset on one side and just a hare over 9mm on the other. Both shimmed out to within 1-2 tenths of -1/2 degree on the camber.

But if I get what you are saying is.... That the tie-rod mounting arm of the spindle may be different? That might explain the difference in bumpsteer from side to side.

[Leatherneck]

Nice progress, you have 0 bump on the driver how much on pass side?

[CentralWAbaja]

0 bump through the majority of the range of motion. At the top and the bottom of the arc it turns the steering shaft 20-25 degrees. Starts with a slight movement at about 3-4 inches from top/bottom and then goes fairly quick in the last 1-1/2 -2 inches. The whole thing is cycling at around 16 inches of travel...I am hoping for 13-14 of "Real" usable travel