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center steering arm and tie rod help needed

Discussion in 'Daihatsu Hi jet' started by archibald tuttle, May 25, 2015.

  1. archibald tuttle

    archibald tuttle New Member

    got a 1991 hijet pickup. i assume from the serial number that it must be an S80 (JDA000S8000307025)

    the center steering arm has worn away the bushing between its bore and the mounting pin on the subframe giving me like a half turn of slop when changing steering directions.

    i don't need highway secure steering. just 15 mph around the farm. but a half turn is a bit out there although we've been doing fine like to tighten it a little.

    had the truck up to the garage this weekend and mirable dictu all the bits came apart. the only parts diagram i've found so far says it covers 1992-2002. The steering box and links look identical to what i've got, but I had a rubber coated bushing inside the center link and the diagram (page 171 of the pdf., i think it is fiche H-13) shows bearings, seals and a grease fitting. i definitely never had a grease fitting. the bushing in mine has a little slop to the pin, maybe 10 thousandths, except at the top the pin gets narrower and the bushing doesn't suggesting to me that it could have been a jury rig. it has rubber formed onto the outside of the bushing as the sacrificial surface and unfortunately it is largely sacrificed at the ends leading to the looseness in the joint.

    but even if this wasn't original, i don't think i could have the setup in the 1992 and up diagram i saw because it shows the same bearing top and bottom and the mounting pin in this hijet would need a bearing with a slightly smaller diameter at the top.

    meantime i got rid of the rest of the rubber on the bushing and pounded a 1" copper pipe over it which is still loose in the bore but not as loose as the worn rubber. so i'm looking for ideas. don't need it to be good enough to spend a lot of money but if i could spec some commone bearings and make a spacer or bushings and drill for a grease fitting i'm willing to go a little sweat equity opportunity cost.

    and one tie rod end is bad. unfortunately it is the left hand thread. i found a right hand thread that is pretty close and i think i could make it work at autozone of all places using the moog select by spec feature, but there does not appear to be a left hand version of this joint. maybe since i don't need to align often the easiest thing to do is just go for two rights, but if there is some affordable tie rod ends i'd save the trouble of getting a new rod threads to 14 x 1.50. only ones i found so far which may be the right ones are $65 a piece which is borderline. for replacing one maybe worth it but I wouldn't think these would be quite so hard -- or expensive -- to come by.

    thanks for ideas

    brian
     
  2. archibald tuttle

    archibald tuttle New Member

    anybody recognize this setup. came out of a 1991 hijet pickup 2WD. the glyphic at the bottom shows a 92 and up parts blow up. maybe it is from right hand drive but the steering box link, instead of being located across the center post is right next to the tie rods. had a parts guy send me a picture of what he has for S80s and it corresponds to the parts blow up rather than to what i have. and the parts breakdown shows bearings, separator and seals whereas what came out was more similar to susuki and honda i think with two steel bushings bonded on rubber.

    and, to complicate matters, the mounting post is turned down from .77 to .71 near the top. but the post looks pristine and its pressed or welded into the subframe with orginal paint on the bottom. so even though parts dealers insists there never was such a thing as a turned down post, what am i to think? so really the bearings or bushing shouldn't be the same ID all the way. that said, i can live with a little slop. and only matching the bottom 2/3 of the shaft and put up with it. this is all slow speed work. i'm just trying to get under a half turn of steering wheel play.

    the bore on the arm current measures 1.160 about but that has plenty of meat. so i could take it out to 30 mm or to an english measure size of 1 and 1/4 if i could find bearings or a sleeve bearing that would fit. right now i'm using a copper pipe that is 1.125 OD pounded on the old collar that is .80 ID so i've got about 30 to 40 thousandths of lash inside and outside. thats a lot better than the 250 of lash i had when the outer metal collar and rubber bushing wore away.

    steeringlinkdhj.jpg steeringlinkpostdhj.jpg Screen Shot 2015-05-24 at 9.42.27 PM.png
     

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