steering box drop arms

[jericho]

Having fitted disco axles to my 2a,I now have plenty of clearance between the tyres and chassis,so my steering is limited by the movement in the steering box.

I would like a longer drop arm to give a smaller turning circle.I could make a longer one out of two standard ones with a little bit of creative welding,but are there any alternatives?

I should think a custom made arm would be jolly expensive.Can anyone recomend an engineering firm who I could speak to about it?

What about arms from other vehicles? Unlikely to fit,I know,but its worth asking.

As an aside - Do all landrover arms have a 'master spline' ,so that its not possible to put them on in the wrong position?

Thanks, Jerry.

[GBMUD]

Don't try welding it unless you know EXACTLY what you are doing. They are made from something that does not weld well. It should also fail MOTs if it is welded.

Chris

[western]

IIRC the drop arm is either cast them machined or drop forged then machined, if welded it'll certainly fail MOT test.

have you fitted Disco 1 axles or Disco 2 axles, try a Disco1 or 2/RR/90/110 drop arms, not sure if some of these are common but some maybe different length between centres.

[Les Henson]

A longer drop arm won't improve the turning circle - the lock stops will dictate that. Drop arms are made from cast iron and then machined. If you need to clear the springs then you need a shallower angle than original.

Les.

[simonr]

It wouldn't surprise me if LR used the same spline on Series as on at least some Defenders, RR's or Disco's. It may just be my recollection at fault, but the latter might also be longer than a series arm.

The master spline issue can be resolved with a file.

I'd be crawling under trucks in my local car park or scrappy with a measuring tape to see what is longest.

I think a cut-n-shut is a fairly poor idea. However, with a bit of help from a machine shop you could extend it! I'm imagining a bar with a tapered hole in one end to take a standard track rod end with a boss in the middle which is a tight fit into the hole normally occupied by the ball joint, secured with a bolt from the other side. The other end of the bar has a pair of arms which 'hug' the sides of the original arm to prevent it rotating about the original ball joint hole. The arms could have locking bolts on either side for a belt & braces approach. If you were to mill it out of 60mm square bar EN8 steel and leave a reasonable amount of meat on it, it would be strong enough I reckon.

Si

[jericho]

A longer drop arm won't improve the turning circle - the lock stops will dictate that.

Les.

A longer arm will help with lock stops wound in.

Western - disco 1 axles.All rover arms seam to be the same length;haven't looked at disco 2 or new shape RR.

I should add,I have a defender steering box fitted.

General thumbs down to the cut and shut method.

[Daan]

I wouldn't go for the cut and shut idea myself. The 2 different droparms are either the defender/disco 200 arm, or the disco 300 arm (which takes a standard ball joint), but their length is the same.

There is another possibility though, which is to redrill the steering arm on the knuckle, bringing the draglink closer to the kingpin.

This is what the Simbughinis run.

Daan

[western]

Western - disco 1 axles.All rover arms seam to be the same length;haven't looked at disco 2 or new shape RR.

I should add,I have a defender steering box fitted.

OK, was a thought, wasn't sure if any of those would be different lengths.