nicks90 Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 I dont know about the rest of you - but I think its fairly widespread and commonly agreed that landrover steering bars are about as much use as a chocolate firegaurd. Now being a Yorkshire person, its against every strand of DNA in my body to pay for things if i can get it for free/cheap. I used to run a sleeved drag link (the one behind the axle) and it was great and never bent it. However it was not without some design flaws. 1) it rattled ...... ALOT 2) I made it full width of the steering bar, which meant if i needed to adjust the tracking I had to pop a tre off the hub (as the sleeve just spun on the bar) and then manually turn one tre in/out and refit and recheck tracking. proper ball ache. 3) When the tre's died, i had to scrap the whole thing, as I couldnt grip the drag link to unscrew the bloody tre's - see point 2 - and both of them had siezed in the bar and i got angry and threw the thing in with the pile of metal recycling. So for a while i just stuck on a standard drag link with new tre's and ran with it. that meant i bent the drag links on the first section of the trials and by the end of the day having been bent back into shape 3 times it was totally unsafe...... luckily someone lent me a strengthened bar wth tre's on so i could get home safely. so i happened to have a day off yesterday and decided to have another crack at a stronger bar without having to pay any money. I took a standard bar and had a dig around in my garage and found some 3.2mm walled galvanised tube that fit fairly snugly over the standard bar (no idea where it came from and its a strange thickness at 3.2mm). I cut it to length and then welded the ends to the steering bar - so i can now get a decent set of stilsons on it to adjust tracking and removal of stubborn tre's in the future. Also doesnt rattle. I know it aint rocket science, but it amused me for 45 mins and thought I;d stick it up here. Please dont zoom in on the welds, they aint structural - they are just there to prevent it rattling and to 'grip' the inner drag link - as i ran outta gas for the mig and only had really big rods for my arc and didnt want to melt everything. Last picture it compared to the retail HD drag link I borrowed off matthew. hope this is of some help and a possible inspiration to other tight fisted gits. nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynic-al Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 3.2 is an imperial gauge, but I can't remember which without looking. Been thinking about doing this for a while, couldn't decide between a tube sleeve or a piece of angle welded the full length. Good to see someone else do it and save me some of the thinking time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzza Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 3.2 is an imperial gauge, but I can't remember which without looking. Been thinking about doing this for a while, couldn't decide between a tube sleeve or a piece of angle welded the full length. Good to see someone else do it and save me some of the thinking time Its one eighth or close to 10swg (.128") Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GW8IZR Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 I always thought it was an MOT fail if you welded to the rod ? I used to drill and tap the outer tube and just nip a bolt up to the standard rod. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicks90 Posted October 4, 2012 Author Share Posted October 4, 2012 ooooh, didnt know that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GW8IZR Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 dont take my word for it - but I think the mot manual says something about steering components and welded "repairs" which I thoughthad been cited in the past. worth checking though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 'Welded repairs to highly stressed components such as steering/suspension arms, rods, levers etc are not normally acceptable, other than where the component is made up of sections that are welded together. In these cases the repair should appear to be as strong as the original design.' Taken from http://www.motinfo.g...tdocs/index.htm Appendix C section 6 also from section 2.2 'e. inappropriate structural modification or repair by welding to a steering linkage component, or signs of excessive heat having been applied' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GW8IZR Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 This from the test manual. inappropriate structural modification or repair by welding to a steering linkage component, or signs of excessive heat having been applied HTH (sorry other post beat me to it) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 Hopefully one of the MOT testers who frequent these forums will comment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bishbosh Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 Also, [pedant mode] it is the track rod that you have modified - the drag link is on the front [/pedant] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicks90 Posted October 5, 2012 Author Share Posted October 5, 2012 track rod then - sorry i can never remember which is which! Its the one behind the axle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daan Posted October 5, 2012 Share Posted October 5, 2012 I use 1 1/8 x 10 swg, which is a very snug fit, you need a hammer to slide it all the way over. I usually fishtail the ends before welding (2x 45 degree cut). I know it is not structural, but technacilly, you weaken the trackrod where you weld. with a fishmouth the section change is much better and less abrupt. I also put a slight twist in both ends of the trackrod, to move it upwards. This saves about 1/2 an inch in groundclearance, and brings the trackrod inline with the axle. I also use the devon bracket that bolts on the diff. These days, I only ever bend a trackrod when I reverse it onto a rock or suchlike. I would be surprised if an mot tester would pick you up on this; 10 years of MOT testing at various stations and testers and an SVA test have not given me any problems. Daan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sean f Posted October 5, 2012 Share Posted October 5, 2012 I always thought it was an MOT fail if you welded to the rod ? I used to drill and tap the outer tube and just nip a bolt up to the standard rod. This was they way we used to do it for comp motors, scrutineering allowed that but would fail anything that had been welded, this was before sumo bars came out as replacements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moose Posted October 5, 2012 Share Posted October 5, 2012 it all bends in the end.. the stronger you make it the harder it is to bend back Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zim Posted October 5, 2012 Share Posted October 5, 2012 The issue i used to have was when you bent the track bar with a QT sytle diff guard. It would get to the point where you can't turn the wheel because it's all jammed up. I then went onto using a guard to go around the track rod. This helped a lot as you could land the vehicle on it and all was safe. I then removed the bar when i went hydro Problem solved G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pat_pending Posted October 7, 2012 Share Posted October 7, 2012 Hopefully one of the MOT testers who frequent these forums will comment If the sleeve has a couple of tack welds to stop it rattling, pass and advise "steering mod not effecting strenth". Deep penetrating welds into the original bar, Fail ! Other testers may see it differently. Aside from the MOT there are other issues. The trouble with these things is it just transfers the force of any impact into into the track rod ends. If a TRE on a strenthened or "heavy duty" bar let go and caused an accident, plod may well take a dim view of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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