turning radius
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Freshman User
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turning radius
I would like to improve the turning radius on my truck. Its an 89 f-250 with a dyna trac 60 front axle. The previous owner had the aftermarket axle installed and its a little bit wider than stock. (my front tires stick out about an inch further than my rear ones) I am thinking this is why my truck turns so poorly. I mean it is very hard to pull into a parking spot or make a turn on down town streets. I will soon be using it for my business to pull a trailer and really need to correct this problem. I was thinking maybe a drop pitman arm might help the situation since it seems to sit higher than stock. Any suggestions?
More Turbo
Joined: Mar 2008
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The stock axle probably won't be much better. I have the f250 with the stock IFS (4x4) and the thing hardly turns at all. My buddy with the same year f350 with a monobeam can turn on a dime (for a full size truck), but the axle chews up the front tires... You could swap it with the stock monobeam axle....
Elder User
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 651
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From: northeast, KY
My bronco turns tighter than any other car I've drove, but it only has a D44....I'm looking for something bigger, ya wanna trade? 
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pedant
Joined: Jan 2008
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From: EXTREME southwest CT
Originally Posted by jchilcot
So what can be done to get more range how far the wheels turn before lockout?
You have a 133" wb, right?
gweeds is right.
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Originally Posted by gweeds
The stock axle probably won't be much better. I have the f250 with the stock IFS (4x4) and the thing hardly turns at all. My buddy with the same year f350 with a monobeam can turn on a dime (for a full size truck), but the axle chews up the front tires... You could swap it with the stock monobeam axle....
Post Fiend
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 6,214
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From: New Jersey
If you shorten the steering arms on the front spindles, you will have more rotation of said spindle for a given amount of tie rod/pitman arm movement, and if there is enough clearance between the tires/frame and the crosslink/rods and the various chassis components, you can increase your turning ratio that way.
Truck bits are cast iron - fun to cut and weld as compared to other materials.
I did this on my 1993 Continental - the spindles were cast aluminum thus much easier to cut off the arms, shorten, then TIG weld back in place. Noticably decreased the turning radius, though my purpose in doing this wasn't specifically to decrease turning radius, but instead make the front end more sensitive to steering wheel movement. Seemed to be less work (at the time) than engineering a different steering rack ratio in a car with absolutely zero aftermarket support of any kind.
Truck bits are cast iron - fun to cut and weld as compared to other materials.
I did this on my 1993 Continental - the spindles were cast aluminum thus much easier to cut off the arms, shorten, then TIG weld back in place. Noticably decreased the turning radius, though my purpose in doing this wasn't specifically to decrease turning radius, but instead make the front end more sensitive to steering wheel movement. Seemed to be less work (at the time) than engineering a different steering rack ratio in a car with absolutely zero aftermarket support of any kind.
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Originally Posted by frederic
If you shorten the steering arms on the front spindles, you will have more rotation of said spindle for a given amount of tie rod/pitman arm movement, and if there is enough clearance between the tires/frame and the crosslink/rods and the various chassis components, you can increase your turning ratio that way.
Truck bits are cast iron - fun to cut and weld as compared to other materials.
I did this on my 1993 Continental - the spindles were cast aluminum thus much easier to cut off the arms, shorten, then TIG weld back in place. Noticably decreased the turning radius, though my purpose in doing this wasn't specifically to decrease turning radius, but instead make the front end more sensitive to steering wheel movement. Seemed to be less work (at the time) than engineering a different steering rack ratio in a car with absolutely zero aftermarket support of any kind.
Truck bits are cast iron - fun to cut and weld as compared to other materials.
I did this on my 1993 Continental - the spindles were cast aluminum thus much easier to cut off the arms, shorten, then TIG weld back in place. Noticably decreased the turning radius, though my purpose in doing this wasn't specifically to decrease turning radius, but instead make the front end more sensitive to steering wheel movement. Seemed to be less work (at the time) than engineering a different steering rack ratio in a car with absolutely zero aftermarket support of any kind.
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Originally Posted by waynaferd
Get a slightly narrower offset for the rear wheels. That seems to help, if you don't mind the look.
