Kinarfi

Anyone know what the setup for the steering assembly, specifically the distance between the stops?

My story continues under the topic of Laser Alignment

Found an interesting fact, the check for the fuel pump pressure is 300 kpa or 43 psi, in my opinion, that's quite a bit.

I think I got rid of some of play in the steering system, I put a .025" shim between the Gear Rack and the Capping Plate, heated the ends and bent them up so they stay with the cap and the Gear Rack slides against the shims, I'm hoping the shim metal makes a better bearing material than the Alum Cap.

Kinarfi

What are some of the factors that need to be looked at when it comes to how tight our buggies turn? While working on my steering, I wwondered if we replaced the 10 inch bar (That's a guess at length) with a 12 or 14" bar, would we have tighter turning radius. If we did that, what else would we run into? Click on the photo! then go full size

Answered my own question, I extended the Hook on the steering assembly as much as I thought possible and found that it WOULD bind up the CV. My assumption is that we are getting as much as the CVs allow. Guess I'll just live with it and have fun doing so.

Kinarfi

What are some of the factors that need to be looked at when it comes to how tight our buggies turn? While working on my steering, I decided that if we replace the 10 inch bar (That's a guess at length) with a 12 or 14" bar, We would have tighter turning radius. If we did that, what else would we run into? Click on the photo! then go full size

Very Bad Idea - Kinarfi

edited 2-22-09

I think I used the search function properly but I couldn't find the pros and cons of using truck tires vs ATV type tires....

Would you all post your thoughts on this please ??? Along with your performance experiances ???

I have used Bighorns on a Rhino in the past and was very pleased with thier performance and abilities.....

I am in need of new tires for the desert (Las Vegas) and mountain trails (Duck Creek, UT area)........My stockers are leaking out the sidewall.....

Kurt G

Yea, had the side wall leaks on my FarEasts also, now have General Grabber AT2 8.50X27X14 tire on now, but I haven't used the very much yet. My driving is mostly trails and road, rocky, sandy and if possible NO MUD, hate mud. I like them so far, but that's only about 50 miles so far. Only got 2836 kilometers on the fronts and they were trashed, I think these will probably last the rest of my life.

Kinarfi

Went surfing for oil cooler, found this http://perma-cool.com/Catalog/Cat_page07.html, and this http://perma-cool.com/Catalog/Cat_page15.html looked cool

Kinarfi

Very good stuff, the link will be copied to Parts and pieces for our Troopers

Thanks,

Kinarfi

I couldnt figure out how to get the pictures on this site so i posted them on webshots...got pictures up of the 09 camo trooper with the 30 inch mudlites in my profile...still waiting on my hard enclosure

Maybe this will help!

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/57010...host=good-times

I plan to drill thru and bolt both shafts together,above were Lenny placed the clamp

Don't know what size bolt you have in mind, but you might consider small hole with a rolled pin, leaving as much original metal as possible. and place it about a 1/4" below the outer shaft, in case there needs to be some movement as the wheel turns. That way, it shouldn't be able to fall apart.

In my very recent work to center my steering wheel and make my buggy tern left or right equally, which it never has, I rotated the spline one notch and re tightened the bolt better, but will keep and eye on it. I plan on adding the shim and hose clamp as Lenny did.

i noticed when i was planning on running the full enclosure that in both floor boards and the front of the cab around the diff lock levers there is alot of room for dust to enter guess ill have to look into this more as my cab comes in. Any ideas would be great.

One of the very first things I did was glue air tight fabric from the bar in front of the dash down to the fire wall panels. The air in front and under the hood is probably very dusty from the front wheels, and probably comes through the holes in and under the dash. When I was buying mine, I foresaw the possibility of water and mud splashing through those holes and put in the barrier. I'm now changing it over to wedging flexible foam blocks from bar to bar in front of the dash area. Photos when I'm done.

Kinarfi

http://www.mcmaster.com/#95210a170/=o9g3u

I don't know if your skip plate went on like mine, but now I have the head of the bolt down and use the above speed nuts, a lot better and easier

kinarfi

Lenny, you showed me what you did to eliminate the rattle in you steering column, can you post a photo of that in this topic, the hose clamp you used would also keep the shaft from collapsing, prevent this problem, or at least slow it down.

Kinarfi

Copied from another post.

EVR JR wrote in another post:

Ok here is the story, I was running about 40 mph down a wash bed at night making a slight right when it felt like the car was sliding then it took a sharp left and i tried to correct it without any response, I wound up into a dirt wall that was straight up . I hit with the left side of the car and flipped onto the right side of the car. We had to start walking in the dark to fing help.

It turned out that the steering shaft bolt that holds the shaft to the coloum some how stripped in the center were the bolt hangs out of the splined portion, the coloum has a flat notch that the bolt goes thru and is supposed to be held in place since the bottom of the coloum is round. My right lower control arm wound up getting and one of the hiems pulled apart, when the car flipped it landed withall the weight on the right front wheel before landing on its side.

The next moring we drilled out the coupler and put a longer grade 8 5/16 bolt and lock nut. The longer bolt alloys more surface contact on the coloum shaft since its engaging the shank of the bolt rather than the threads.

I also plan on drilling thru the shaft and putting a 1/4 bolt in it which will not allow the shaft to collaspe,. I found that even with out a bolt in the couppler the splines stay engaged but the shaft will collaspe. This will be a saftey feature if the coupler ever has a problem.

sorry for the long response. the problem with the steering shaft is pretty much the same as the problem with the ball joints, the bolt doesent engage far enough. But a larger bolt and lock nut and a bolt to hold the shafts to gether wil fix it.

Thanks for sharing, something we will all look at since steering the thing is kind of important. Someone else had a steering shaft issue a few months ago and took care of it. With two now, I am definitely looking more closely at the shaft again as I did give it a passing look last time.

rocmoc n AZ/Mexico

ERV JR, Thanks for the good and important tip. I'll be redoing mine before any more driving. I think you should start a new topic on this board and repeat what you posted about the steering problem. It's just too important to have it hidden down within another topic.

Good Job

Lenny

Another possibility is that they need bleeding, if you have access to a power bleeder, try that and pump the handle as you bleed. My hand brake works good and has been a life saver, so to speak, I use it to hold me still while I rev the engine prior to letting the clutch out.

I ran into the same problem, when I pump grease in, it comes out the top from coming out through the threads. I think that the pressure of the grease going in pushes the ball down and it seals against the mount. After I reassembled mine, I pumped grease in as best I could and packed more grease around the ball under the rubber. I did notice the wear on the cap seemed to be in the area around the outer edge, so I anticipate that as it wears, it will create some room for the grease between the ball and the cap.

I considered putting some polishing compound on ball and spinning it a drill, holding the cap against it to remove the machine marks, but decided that would be excessive. Any way, I know it is well lubed and that the cap won't unthread ever again.

jeff

When I got my Trooper, I sent some photos of the rubber on the ball joints to Joyner and they sent me 4 new ball joints and 2 tie rod ends, one of lower ball joint had fallen out so I replaced the lower ball joints. While working on the steering, I noticed one of the upper ball joints was coming in screwed. Each ball joint has 3 major parts, the ball which is attached to the spindle, the mount which is attached to the A arm, and a cap which is screwed down over the ball, into the mount and tack welded so it doesn't come unscrewed. The weight of the buggy is all borne by the cap in the upper ball joint. The lower ball joint just bears the weight of the lower A arm. This makes the upper ball joint very important and it needs to be watched closely.

My upper ball joint cap has broken the tack welds and unscrewed about 3/16 inch, so I have cut the tack welds on the last 2 spare ball joints, unscrewed the caps and drilled and tapped them for Zerk fittings, reassembled, very good tack weld cap to mount, pumped grease through the Zerk, packed grease under the rubber boot, cleaned, and now I'm ready to replace the upper ball joints.

If I have mistakes in my statement, please correct me.

Kinarfi

Got my Trooper in June 08 and made a few changes so far

1 5 volt mini usb power for GPS and power outlet for spot light and such

2 Glove box with lid

3 Trunk box on the rear deck, to hold canes, jack, blankets, coats, food, etc

4 Changed all tires over to 27x8.5x14 General Grabbers AT2 on 6" rims

5 Changed out lower ball joints because one fell out and the rubber seals were crap

6 Hinged the hood at the front

7 Put another storage box under the hood.

8 Modified the fuel system so it does NOT run out of fuel going down hill **I HOPE** + other stuff

9 Quick Oil drain valve

10 Easy remove bolts on skid plates - still changing things there - remounted brake line junctions

11 Moved the radiator fan backward 3/4 inch so air can be draw from more area of the rad

Currently working on

1 Centering the steering wheel and working on the steering box, changing boots and making it turn the same amount left and right

2 Changing out upper ball joints and adding Zerk fittings - One of them has broken the weld and backed out about 1/8 inch - (Done)

3 Put a block in front of the dash to keep dust & splash off the front wheels from entering through all the holes there

Future projects

1 Add cruise control - tied to engine rpm

2 Add muffler

3 Change seat belts - Probably just 2 point and modify the shoulder straps

Putting a bunch of My mod photos at http://good-times.webshots.com/album/56833...host=good-times

The source of the air is the higher fuel outlet, the suction from the pump is pulling enough volume to pull from both sides, IMHO, because my tubing is not large enough. The return from the regulator goes into the tank, I don't know what the regulator is doing with the air, but I suspected this might happen and is the reason for suggesting the air trap that vents back to the tank.

If you click on my first picture and back track through the previous photos, you'll see how it is actually plumbed.

Kinarfi

Finally got a chance to run the Engine on a slope, the fuel never stopped flowing, however, it was full of air, so the looped fuel lines works, but needs to be larger or the air needs to be ignored, I will choose to ignore the air until it become a problem, which I doubt because of the volume that is pumped to the pressure regulator.

I could see the air in my prefilter strainer next to my fuel level sender.

Here's a VIDEOhttp://good-times.webshots.com/video/30209...host=good-times

Interesting point, the the video is before the pump, after the pump, the air bubbles were smaller and very few, oxygenated gas?????

How often do you think the diff lube should be changed, every 500 miles while your changing engine oil sound good?

Cinda,

My brother in law lives in Marshall TX and his son rides, but he says there are no place like the Paiute trail system or the wide open areas to ride on, mostly things like a park with acres, not square miles to ride.

kinarfi

Here's how I fixed my seat belt attachment point problem.

Take your camera this time and post photos, if you need any help, PM me.