Does anyone know how this custom steering arrangement works?

 

The LH side is the pitman arm. The RH side is an idler arm which is mounted on a pivot and follows.

It is set up this way to gain the most clearance possible. The steering links will follow the axle beams.

That’s a nice set up.

 

Clearance is part of it but the biggest motive is (near) elimination of bump steer.

There's single swingset and double swingset setups out there for long travel TTB/TIB.

 

The parts circled in red are all tied together and are connected to the steering gearbox, so they swing left to right in response to steering input. The two long tie rods follow of course and that makes the wheels turn. The benefit of this design is the tie rods are the same length as the TTB suspension arms with aligned upper pivot points so the steering components follow the same arc of movement as the suspension, this completely eliminates bump steer when travelling straight forward... which is most of the time, and greatly reduces it when turning.

 

Do you have a link to that picture Trac?

I’d like to see the steering gear box and idle arm set up, how and where it’s mounted.

 

Hi Jeff - I stumbled on the pic in a search.

Unfortunately, the link is dead.

Here's a few more pics

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=1997+ford+...2-1&iar=images


Search for

1997 ford F250-HD CCSB TTB sleeper 4x4 7.3

 

Thanks, yeah not much for pics there. Yrs ago I was an active member over at RDC race-desert.com doing an off road build. Never got into to TTB / TIB builds myself. I remember they were popular for guys running in the deserts, mostly TIB, 2wd. I didn’t see much for 4x4. Mostly sportsman class. Goinboarding above, did a TTB build on his 150, there is a build thread on here.

There used to be lots of those type of builds going on at RDC. Might be more pics there if you’re looking, and write ups. I’m not sure how active it is anymore. 10+ yrs ago, it was very active. The tech reps were a little looser in the past, and easy to get on with, it was easier for guys on slim budgets to get into off road racing. Not so much anymore.

Are you thinking of building? If you do, love to see a build thread on that. That would fun just to build it, and get it all working properly.

 

I'm considering a coil over swap from Solo or Carrick. I'm concerned about the on-road handling without the factory sway bar (it gets removed). Presently, I drive down through mountain passes, and I don't want to make it a white knuckle event. The factory TTB front leaf system in my '96 F250HD is not bad. I had it down to Mexico last week.

Swapped out my auto hubs last week.

 

Here's another example of single swing setup. https://www.giantmotorsports.com/pro...teering-arm-2/

If you draw a line from the radius arm pivot through the axle beam pivot and extend that line forward, you want the tie rod pivot to lie on that line. This is what prevents bump steer. Makes the tie rods longer than the axle beams.

Something I've wondered with these setups is, are they daily driver friendly or are they "race" parts that need constant maintenance. I've seen some that have a poly bushing for the idler arm pivot and heim joints for rod ends, that seems pretty marginal for steering parts to me in terms of longevity. Maybe unfounded concern, but I like the simplicity of sealed factory tie rod ends from a low maintenance standpoint.

 

Personally I would not want exposed heim joints for daily driving. Especially in areas that are constantly in winter salt or constantly exposed to the elements, not without constant maintenance anyway or plan for a short life expectancy.

The other thing to consider for daily use, is the weight. Most of the off road builds are focused on a sprung weight that the springs will just hold up, but nothing more. Nice and soft for easy articulation, and the shocks (coil overs) will be tuned for that particular build.

Hard to find that nice middle ground for off builds that you still want to daily drive and use as a pickup truck.

There are quite a few threads on the topic over at RDC. Quick Google search took me straight there.
https://www.race-dezert.com/forum/th...ing-set.38675/

https://www.race-dezert.com/forum/th...mpanies.35317/

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post21572850


You could be reading build threads for a month on this topic. Lots on the bump steer. I always thought they were doing that more for clearance, and having them flow the axle beams, no other way to really do it. I’ve seen more than a few tie rods crushed into the front axles, or snapped. But that was on GM IFS or solid axles. And I’m not pre running and desert racing, I’m out on bush trails here, lots of trees, stumps, rocks, etc etc.

Goingboarding knows more about setting up the TTB than I do, I defer to him.



That’s a nice kit above. It’s actually mentioned in one of the RDC threads i posted above, from back in 2007

 

You mean, the truck actually would go where you steert it?
That's mighty fancy, right there, that is....

t
has never been overly impressed with the swingy axles.

 

You'd be impressed with the experience of riding in a rally truck, flying over terrain, with these swingy axles. Just about any other experience, yea, they are weird. I had an absolute blast in my 20's rallying with them though, rubber frames and swingy axles made for great all-night rally sessions in the mountain dirt roads.