[oohsam]

Hey guys,
Still learning heaps in the 4x4 scene. Read a lot of articles and posts and most of the build threads.

My 96 vit is very very 'lose' on the roads and off road. I wanted to tighten up all the steering.
I am putting a 2 inch lift with dobisons spring/struts/shocks soon and i'll be running some 15x7 sunraysia rims with 29inch tyres, not 100% sure of the tyre profile yet still researching. Dont need super high clearance for the type of off roading that I do so that would be plenty.

What else should I be doing to help the steering and improve driving ability. I come from a background of building motorbikes and owning a shitload of japanese performance vehicles. I always installed things like sway bars and aftermarket adjustable coil overs, and of course bushes were always done. Not sure if the same techniques apply to offered, where a lot of vibration occurs..

I am keen on doing the bushes and getting a new steering damper. What else is recommended when doing the lift, I'd rather knock most of it out at once while I have everything out.

Any advice is welcome. Cheers

[Gwagensteve]

What do you mean by "tightening up" - so you have a lot of play in the steering wheel? if so, you might need to adjust the box or replace the idler arm.

Steve.

[Fatzook]

Gwagensteve wrote:

What do you mean by "tightening up" - so you have a lot of play in the steering wheel? if so, you might need to adjust the box or replace the idler arm.

Steve.

Or the TRE's.

Just buy a TRE' kit from Ebay.

[oohsam]

There's a bit of play in the wheel, that doesn't bother me, The car seems to throw itself around quite a bit while driving, if I hit a bump off road or driving on shakey roads its hard to keep it straight...


Fatzook - sent ya pm about the vit seat rails.

[Gwagensteve]

That's a SWB vitara thing. From 1988 to 1998 suzuki Must have sacked all their suspension engineers and had the guy who designed the ashtrays design suspension.

Put the suspension kit in, have it properly aligned and then see how it is. Lifting the front end and adding some quality shocks will help a lot.

What you are describing is the result of massively mismatched front to rear roll centres and roll stiffness. The front of the car feels "darty" and the rear feels slidey and loose. Lifting the car raises the front roll centre but has no effect on the rear, and this helps to improve the handling.

Steve.

[oohsam]

Awesome Thanks.
I did read of other people complaining aout this and had a feeling it was common/normal, which is fine as my plans are to lift it anyway.

So should I change the bushes while im there or if they're ok just leave em?

[Gwagensteve]

Which bushes? The A-arm bushes? I'd leave them alone. It's a 4WD not a track car - removing all the play is unlikely to improve handling very much.

[oohsam]

Yep the arm bushes, all good, will leave them be.

Transitioning to off road driving from sports car's is a bit challenging on the old ego.

[chazook]

i actually just took my swb vit to Pedders suspension for the same reasons,
$14 to tell me a lot is wrong, i found i have issues with ball joints on control arms, tie rod ends need replacing, drag link f'd, and the trailing arms in the rear need doing.
Have to get it all fixed before the weekend, double island, camping.
I do need help determining the drag link type for my 92 SWB vit.???? Any help appreciated !!!

[Chop]

chazook wrote:

i actually just took my swb vit to Pedders suspension for the same reasons,
$14 to tell me a lot is wrong, i found i have issues with ball joints on control arms, tie rod ends need replacing, drag link f'd, and the trailing arms in the rear need doing.
Have to get it all fixed before the weekend, double island, camping.
I do need help determining the drag link type for my 92 SWB vit.???? Any help appreciated !!!

No way, pedders never do that! It is an old car, but pedders will be the first to tell you everything is wrong.

[chazook]

Hi chop,

Yeah but i do have issues, they said about 2500 bucks to suppy and install lol, worth more than the car.
But i jacked up the passenger front and whilst having all others wheels on the ground i could move the wheel left to right approx 50mm.
or in other words holding the wheel at 9 and 3 oclock. alot of play when they say there should be minimal movement.
do you know of the 2 types of drag links for my vit??

[buzbox]

I've had the same sorts of problems since I've owned mine, I've just accepted that it's shit.

I've replaced Tie rod ends, drag link, ball joints, wheel alignments, even the power steering box but I still have a bit of play in the steering wheel and tends to "tramline" on the road.

From my search's I think it may have something to do with the power steer box, but even after replacing it the problem persists and the mechanical doctor doesn't know what else it could be either.

any thoughts?

[royce]

chazook wrote:

Hi chop,

Yeah but i do have issues, they said about 2500 bucks to suppy and install lol, worth more than the car.
But i jacked up the passenger front and whilst having all others wheels on the ground i could move the wheel left to right approx 50mm.
or in other words holding the wheel at 9 and 3 oclock. alot of play when they say there should be minimal movement.
do you know of the 2 types of drag links for my vit??

Jack one wheel up, get somebody else to move it side to side while you look for stuff moving THAT SHOULDNT BE

note that the tierod ends twisting up and down isnt classed as shouldnt be, they all do it and its jsut cause its a strange design so it will still steer over all suspension movement, Peders and all the other dipshits that only know how to replace parts on a Falcon shit themselves when they see it

my front end is tight and it still does it, all you can do to make em steer ok is put good struts in and add some negative camber, seems to work for me

[Poita]

I replaced ball joints, springs, shocks/struts all round (2" Dobinson) and all bushes (except rear control arms, couldn't get the old ones out!).

Huge improvement, but still a short little car with a high center of gravity. I deal with it as it's my beach/holiday car so not important to have it super smooth or with track car handling. I have an AWD TT for that!