[burls]

Chasing measurements of steering damper to fit a jimny or if anyone knows if there is a ome steering damper that fits

[Jezza86]

I can get you mesurements for the jb (procomp) setup.
What ya gunna put it on?

[burls]

Procomp measurements will be fine if it is the one for the jimny

It is going on a 2000 model incase there is any difference

[Jezza86]

dont think there is any difrence. ill measure it when i get ome, was going to do it this morning but was late for work as it is.
i took my damper off FIY, they dont stop death wobble but can take out a minor shake from slightly out of balance muddies

[Jezza86]

shock open is 52cm, closed is 37 cm
mounting point between pin mount bushes open 64cm closed 41cm
tip to tip length open 67cm closed 48cm

[burls]

Jezza that info is fantastic - perfect even.

Mine has minor wobbles and I assume because of the wheels. I hope this will mask it until I get able to go through everything 100%. Most of it feels very tight at first inspection but there will be something I can tweak I am sure.

[Reubs]

burls wrote:

Chasing measurements of steering damper

Measurements alone and just a generic damper are no good. A Jimny needs mounting brackets to fit the damper - all the kits I have seen use the put it between the draglink and passenger side chassis rail.

[Jezza86]

^ yarg. also makes it harder to adjust the drag link. 4 more bolts to undoo isnt much of a problem though.
another option is to pop your tie rod ends and see how easy it is to turn the wheel while its not touching the ground.
if its really easy, like takes no force at all then your king pins need shimming up to 4kg of force when pulling from the tie rod hole. more shims for jim.

[burls]

Reubs

I know how it mounts and thats no problem to fabricate. What I didnt want to do is pay 200 bucks when I may be able to get and equivalent product for say 80
jessa86

Long story short I cant do all the other checks atm, they will get done later though

[Jezza86]

Yeh fairenuff the closer to stock the rubber is the more the dampner covers up

[jtayl153]

I've ordered one of these:

http://www.suzistore.com.au/onlinestore/four-wheel-drives/sierra/sierra-sj80-13l-1996-98/steering/DAMPENER-RTC-3613-detail.html

Handling is pretty good, but I just get annoyed on bumpy roads when the steering shakes so bad. Amazed Jimnys dont have one as standard.

[Reubs]

burls wrote:

I know how it mounts and thats no problem to fabricate. What I didnt want to do is pay 200 bucks when I may be able to get and equivalent product for say 80

Buy a Sierra damper then. They are about $100 cheaper for the same damper without the additional brackets. Failing that you could just put a tape measure across you draglinks range of movement to compare other models.

[Jezza86]

^ shims between the bottom king pins and the bearing run at 30 cents, that makes it pretty cheap to fix the root cause and not mess round with dampners to deaden a wobble no one should have

[burls]

is there anywhere local to get the shims. I have found them at bigjims but thought there may be a local supplier?

[Jezza86]

mechanic might have a generic set
.2 and .5mm are usefull , 4 of each should cover what you need. when the car is at rest the weight is siting on the lower kingpin so IMO shimming the top one would take the play out where it occurs.
theres one other option

adjustable kingpins

[burls]

Thanks Jezza

I thought about that option but didnt like the fact that unless you got two sets, you wouldnt keep the shafts central. (thats if in fact the knuckles are good) So night before last I ordered the shims from BigJim and the socket from bent. Now hopefully with a bit of time we can get it all right.

[Jezza86]

my theroy, jack the car, pull the wheel off, remove tie and drag rod ends, support the hub with a block of wood to take the weight, remove the top king pin, shim it (shim will stick to grease already on king pin if there's grease in the knuckle)
replace king pin, tighten without gasket goo /silicone sealant

test the starting torque with a fish scale. repeat till at 4kg with scraper seal, cv, and everything together.

is this as accurate as the FSM and FSM update? no, but the scraper seal and cv provide minimal friction and if you set the preload right the initial torque will be less then the prescribed 4kg limit. you also dont have to replace the scraper seal with a new one, or the king pin bearings. some would say your better off replacing the scraper seal and bearings regardless but if their not the problem replacing them is only going to increase their life expectancy. the old ones could be part of the problem and shimming them could cause them to fail, but i know mine are new which is why i use this method to set up the front end myself. also cuts the time between test drives a lot shorter. it allows you to shim till you don't have wobble rather then just shimming to 4kg and accepting replacing bearings more frequently as a given.

i use 4kg as a limit, not a goal. anything above 4 kg you'll have excessive tension on the king pin bearings and if you still have wobble with 3.8kg of initial torque per side there's something else going on.

[burls]

Just an update, I know this is really death wobble related but anyway, I found the top RH king bearing rusty and replaced it. I'm still waiting on the bearing socket from BenT and the shims and will replace the LH bearings and do the shimming. While waiting I had the wheels balanced and alignment done. ATM it is pos .2 on camber and the car drives sweet although very very light in the steering. I hope after the shimming it will be heavier and we will check the alignment etc again
cross fingers all good.