Hey everyone. I'm trying to figure out If my Steeroids setup (and bump steer) is the culprit of some erratic steering behavior in my 75'. I feel like I'm constantly fighting with the wheel when driving over uneven surfaces and it will. A bump in the road will send me into the next lane. I've been doing some research here on the forum and came across this post which recommends:

" What IS required is for the tierod to be kept parallel to the lower control arm. That way, as the suspension moves, the arc of the ball joint and the arc of the tie-rod end do not transfer any steering input to the spindle. As the car is lowered, the tie-rod end and the lower control arm move together, staying parallel."

Attached are some quick photos I took this evening. To my untrained eye it looks as if the tie-rod is not parallel with the control arm, but I could be wrong. I have a set of adjustable QA1's on the car, so would the simple fix be adjusting the ride height so that everything lines up? Thus eliminating my bump steer issue? Or is a more precise method of measurement required?

Any help is greatly appreciated. I have a lot to learn about suspension and alignment.

 

The camera might have distorted your pic, but to me it loks that the outer ends of the tyie rods are 1&1/2" higher.

 

Bad bump steer would do that.
If it has that much bump steer it is not properly engineered.

You can measure bump steer by measuring toe-in at all heights as the suspension moves2-3 inches up, and down. Obviously takes some effort. And needs the front spring out. Might not be too hard if you have coil-overs.

Your photo perspective is off, at an angle, so this is obviously not correct.
Another photo from "head-on" level would work much better.


The first pic/perspective would work better, but we need to be able to see the lower ball joint.

 

Thanks guys. Is it worth taking another photo? Or should I move on to taking measurements? I beginning to think the solution might require a trip to the alignment shop. The car isn't un-drivable, just uncomfortable.

 

Another pic from the perspective of the first one would help. The first one is just missing the ball joint in the pic frame.

OTOH...you could just stop by....You are all of like 6 miles away!

PM me.

 

Deleted picture.

 

You could space the outer rod mount down with a longer bolt/spacer for a temporary trial. If it corrects it, I'd get a custom machined bolt with a nice large diameter shoulder on it to handle the side load.

Or better, if you have the room, would be to fab an offset mount for the inner rod end to move it up vertically.

I'm surprised Steeroids doesn't have this adjustment engineered in.

 

I don't think this is a bump steer issue. I have a flaming river rack in my 78 and my tie rods are not parallel wheel side is lower than the rack side. My car doesn't wonder over bumps etc.

2 things to check. These are hard to check for because it does require a large amount of force to confirm. Bushing in all your control arms / trailing arms. And play in any tie rod joint.

Other thing is to check wheel bearing clearance. This is easy to check on the front, much harder on the rear with half shafts still in place.

But if you believe everything is solid try taking these measurements. Place a laser pointing to the rear wheel and record the distance. Then steer the car left and right in place and take the measurement again. If it varies a lot you have play somewhere in the control arms / bearings / suspension joints. Try to center the steering to the same position after turning left & right. Then bounce the suspension and take readings again.

Do the same placing the lasers on the rear wheel pointing to the front. Also when measuring the rear to front they should be equal side to side. If not then rear alignment rear thrust is not aligned correctly. This will cause the rear axle to steer the car.



Then place skid plates under the wheels like this

.

And measure again. If you have loose suspension parts this will vary vs dry pavement measurement.

I usually drive the car in place, take measurements, then place the skid plates under the wheels and compare readings. Best way I found to find suspension wear.

 

Imagine a line through the center of the lower control arm inner bushings back to the inner tie rod end. Now, imagine another line parallel to this line at the center of the ball joint. The centers of the ***** in the tie rod ends should ideally also be on these lines. That way, any movement in the control arm is mirrored by the tie rod and there is no relative motion between them. If not on the lines, then look to see if both ends are offset the same amount and direction from these 2 lines.

If anything, I'm thinking the tie rod outer ends are too low.

I would certainly look for any possibility that the brackets and such can allow the rack to move. Bump steer would have to be crazy bad to be moving the car a lane just hitting a bump.

The tie rods certainly do not have to be level to the ground. Please disregard that bad advice. Doing that to the tie rods would just completely mess things up.

 

wwiiavfan....I gave the wrong info...but your solution was good...sorry about that.

 

Tool to measure,
https://www.maximummotorsports.com/B...auge-P193.aspx

 

Thanks so much for the picture of the bumpsteer measuring tool.
I'll be building one like it myself.

 

Loose control arm bushings
loose wheel bearing as previously stated
alignment
aftermarket strut bar adjustment

I put a steroids kit in my stock suspended car, but with new control arm bushings and an adjustable strut bar and had zero bump steer issues, for whatever that's worth.