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Adjustable Panhard Rod and Castor correction


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Re the above

At what point / how much lift / if you increase axle articulation

/ Bigger tyres / or any other reasons ??

do you need to consider a Adjustable Panarod rod, and how exactly do you

"Set it up" ? :blink:

Re Castor Corection arms, same Q as above

Lastly, where best for both of the above should you need them ?

And any to aviod ?

Nige

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I don't know whether there's a technical method for this, but the way I had the panhard rod explained to me was "look at the truck from the front, under normal load. If the axle is off to one side, get an adjustable rod. Adjust until the axle is central." Also, when you adjust it, bounce up and down on the bumper a bit, to "settle in" your adjustments.

It might be tricky to gauge whether or not you need one without an axle on though :P

Hope that helps.

Jake

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You need neither

arms are for cars lifted but only to help steering self centre

Panhard rod the axle moves something like 2mm sideways on cars lifted 50mm plus

hardly a L/R tolerance measurement!

Been thee done it

and refitted standard parts with a lighter wallet at the end of the experience.

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More accurately you could measure the distance from the hubs to the chassis rails or similar, and if they're not equal, then you need an adjustable bar.

From memory, the landrover geometry means that each inch you raise the vehicle you'll lose 1.5degrees of castor. The stock castor is +3 degrees, so by the time your at a 2" lift your down to 0. I'm not sure if this stays linear with more lift though.

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I'm with Tony - don't bother!

Even for 3" lift, your axle is only a couple of mm off centre. Unless you have a secret life as the Stig - I think you'd notice a bigger effect on the handling by painting red stripes on the side of your truck!

Castor correction is more noticeable, however, castor correction arms tend to make your front prop shaft vibrate - so you need to factor in the cost of a cardon jointed prop which makes them kind of expensive.

Castor corrected swivels are the best option as they do not result in vibration. Since you've got a mill, you could weld up the bolt holes in the swivel and bore a new set rotated 3 degrees.

Si

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:)

and at what sort of level of "Lift" does CC arms become needed ?

Nige

In theory 'any', because 'any' change to the height makes a change to the steering geometry, however slight.

In practice, I doubt a couple of degrees is going to make much difference, given the LR tolerances elsewhere I wouldn't be suprised if the castor wasn't 100% anyhow.

Thinking of giving it a lift then Nige?

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Fit the standard parts then take it to an alignment shop who will computer measure all the relevant angles for you and give you a printout. Compare these to the stock values and then determine if you need to make adjustments. Land Rover tolerances are rather flexible, but flexible both ways so even though the changes may only shift things a little, if they're already out in that direction the cumulative effect might become an issue.

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Fit the standard parts then take it to an alignment shop who will computer measure all the relevant angles for you and give you a printout. Compare these to the stock values and then determine if you need to make adjustments. Land Rover tolerances are rather flexible, but flexible both ways so even though the changes may only shift things a little, if they're already out in that direction the cumulative effect might become an issue.

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Its not just about the self centering, it affects the stability and feel of the vehicle at speed.

As i said each inch of lift will reduce castor by around 1.5 degrees. Your average 2" lift will alter castor from the +3 the default to 0, which isnt good imo.

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Stability & Feel are the self-centering effect. :) When I lifted (and I didn't check this before) my front pinion angle went up a fair bit so I'm fitting a DC shaft (only because my front shaft splines were destroyed and seized really) but fitting corrected arms in this case would also push the pinion back down a bit and make a standard UJ shaft run smoother.

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I wouldnt use castor correct arms myself, because of the prop problems you get. You can clock the swivels, use a 6 bolt swivel on a 7 hole axle, weld up the holes and redrill (I believe Jez done a few this way). But all the means of castor correction have a problem with landrover: more castor means less groundclearance under you draglink. So what it actually means is more castor means more draglinks bust. As a result, I never bothered.

Daan

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fit the lift you want and drive it.

if it drives like carp, fix it with clocked swivels/castor corrected arms + DC prop.

if it doesnt drive like carp (or no more carp than before!), then leave it alone.

as the meerkats say - simples.

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