Ridetech A Arms / Stock Steering Arm Qestions

[rogergrubb]

I'm assembling the new Ridetech coilovers with A arms, spindles, and a stock steering arm.

I think I remember reading that the steering arm needs to be modded to be able to turn full lock to lock.

At this moment, the steering arm bolt hits the LCA. I can imagine that even if I shorten the bolt, the very next thing to hit the LCA will be the little ear that hangs down and resembles a steering stop.

The arrows in white are where it hits now.

The red lines are my proposed cuts.

Is this correct?

[marolf101x]

I think we got Roger figured out.
The suspension is hanging at full droop (likely without the coil overs installed).

Once all together it will look more like this. . .with tons of clearance:

[rogergrubb]

I'm starting on the other side tomorrow.

These spare time projects take forever. =-/

[Rod P]

I think you need the steering stop

[rogergrubb]

I must be doing something really wrong.

I think I'm not getting the turning radius I should have. This little steering arm ear is hanging down and hits the lower control arm and it kinda' feels like it hits the stops prematurely.

This picture is of the suspension with load, no droop.

[marolf101x]

What do you have your caster set at?
Looking at your first picture above with the red lines on it, it looks like the spindle is leaning way back. Notice how the ball joint is articulated to one side? Should be a lot more straight than that.
Are the upper arms on the correct sides?
Run your caster and let me know.

[rogergrubb]

I honestly have no idea what the caster is. You mentioned that the spindles looked laid back. I did have the alignment shims on the wrong side of the A arms so I moved them to the front of the A arms. One step closer. =)

This little video probably will answer many questions about if the A arms are on correctly as well as shows at what point the steering arms hit the LCA's.

http://youtu.be/fn-ZnzRW-R8

I know, it's not under full load but also not at full droop. I really appreciate your time helping me work this out.

[marolf101x]

Thansk for the video, that helps a ton!

You have two issues:
#1-Your upper control arms are on the wrong sides. The "bend" in the arm goes toward the rear. At about 0:56 in the vid I can see the "bend" is toward the front. This is causing a BUNCH of caster.
I also noticed at about 0:45 in the vid that the lower ball joint is leaned way back (which lead me to look at the upper arm). When installed properly the ball joint will be very close to being centered in all planes so it has the most freedom of movement.

#2-Ride height is still way too high.
If you look at it from the front you should be able to draw a straight line from the center of one lower ball joint to the center of the other, and the a arm mounting bolts at the frame will be on this line.

Swap those arms, get a good alignment, and you'll get the steering angle back to normal.

[rogergrubb]

The bend in the A arm goes to the rear? Geeeeez! I had a sneaking suspicion it was user error.

Originally Posted by marolf101x

Thansk for the video, that helps a ton!

You have two issues:
#1-Your upper control arms are on the wrong sides. The "bend" in the arm goes toward the rear. At about 0:56 in the vid I can see the "bend" is toward the front. This is causing a BUNCH of caster.
I also noticed at about 0:45 in the vid that the lower ball joint is leaned way back (which lead me to look at the upper arm). When installed properly the ball joint will be very close to being centered in all planes so it has the most freedom of movement.

#2-Ride height is still way too high.
If you look at it from the front you should be able to draw a straight line from the center of one lower ball joint to the center of the other, and the a arm mounting bolts at the frame will be on this line.

Swap those arms, get a good alignment, and you'll get the steering angle back to normal.

[rogergrubb]

These upper a arms are really backwards? Because I could have sworn they tilted back with the stock arms.


No, wait, I'm questioning an Engineer. I will switch them around and report back in an hour. =-)