So I was on a quest to eliminate or minimize Bump Steer. To me, I've noticed two different types of Bump Steer,
#1) When cresting a rise in the road, the steering will move as the axle moves up and down and
#2) When off-roading and hitting a rock with one tire, it will jerk the steering wheel around.
So I needed to figure out how to eliminate those two situations.
Bump-Steer #1
Supposedly if the Panhard bar on a 3-Link system is setup correctly I should not get the First type of Bump Steer,
First I thought if I could lower the Panhard bar angle and Drag link angle that it would reduce the degree of angle as the axle moved up and down.
So I extended the panhard frame mount bracket down about 1/1/2" and I rotated the steering box as much as I could to drop the drag link angle.
That worked a little bit but not good enough. So to the Drawing Board I went to really see what was happening. I input a few different scenarios and found one that had the least distance in movement between the Panhard bar and Drag link.
I found a winner combination and all I needed to do was rotate the steering box back to the original location.
This made a big improvement in the #1 Type Bump Steer. Now on to the second type.
Bump-Steer #2
The second type of bump steer should be able to be corrected by a good steering stabilizer I believed. (but probably a better way would be getting a wider front axles and housing so I can eliminate the wheel spacer leverage, but maybe another time)
So I started with the steering stabilizer that I bought with the Cross-Over Steering kit from Marlin Crawler.
It didn't do much, the steering wheel was still getting jerked out of my hand when off-roading and hitting rock and such.
So I tried a top of the line FOX Adjustable Steering stabilizer.
That didn't do much either, but luckily I was able to return it after a couple days only.
So my last hope was Ram/Hydro Assisted Steering that not only helps with steering large tires in tuff off-road situations but also acts like the ultimate steering stabilizer. But of course this was a little more involved installation than a regular stabilizer.
I bought the Trail Gear Kit and also the Trail Gear Steering Box that was already tapped for the hydraulic lines connections. And also a PSC MotorSports Tie Rod Clamp.
I had to notch a part of the inner front body panel so the Hydraulic line would fit nicely.
Next was mocking things up to find the proper place for everything.
Then weld the tab on.
Next was getting it all hooked up.
I hated adding more lines in the engine compartment but whattaya gonna do.
After a test drive I quickly noticed my power steering pump was not keeping up with the added volume (it would turn fine slowly but when I turned the steering wheel fast, it kind of locked up and was pretty scary), so I did a little research and I could buy a universal high capacity pump or try a little trick on my pump. I chose the trick first since it wouldn't cost me anything :)
I needed to remove a fitting on my pump and drill it out a little bigger. The internet said to drill a certain size hole (can't remember) but I chose to go a little bit smaller because some people were complaining of the pump making noise after they did it.
It's hard to see but there are two small holes that let the oil pass through. Most people just drill a big hole right through it but I just drilled down a little and the two small holes started opening up and I left it at that.
Before:
After:
After that tweak everything worked great, no noise either.
I've gone off road now a few times with the new setup and I gotta say I'm really impressed with it all, steering is breeze and no kickback in the steering wheel. It's really amazing (so far), two thumbs up.
