Setup: 2" Xroads lift with 23" all trails on "99 Suzi Carry with limited slip front diff. I've been driving the mini for a couple months now and this las week it feels like i'm have some bump steer if that is what it is called. I took it out slow today off road to feel out the steering. When I came to a hump or bump and crossed off camber to the obstacle the steering wheel wanted to turn in my hand when the front tire travels over the hump. I have also noticed that the steering has become less responsive when driving on the roads between 15-40 mph. Has anyone experienced this. In an attempt to head off the standard answers of; "They were not made to be lifted and run bigger tires". I am wanting to know if I need to look at beefing up the steering system or adding a steering shock if possible. And rather than you having to spoon feed me, is there a sight that addresses steering problems and how to physically check for failing steering components? Thanks Guys and Gals.
Your kit from xroads doesn't have any camber adjustment in it's design I am pretty certain. Camber might not be the cause of your steering issues but it certainly won't help either.
Though the dealer installed lift may not have any camber adjustments, the cv, and camber angles are said to be left stock.
Shrimp Daddy, Can you take some close-up pics of your truck's front end for us? Include a nice shot of the front of the truck at bumper-level so we can see both front tires. I'm curious about a couple of things and Steven touched on a big one. Pictures might answer some of our questions and let us help you out with some suggestions. I'm not familiar with X-roads 2" lift so I want to see things installed with my own eyes before I comment on anything. I find it very hard to believe that you have a strut-spacer type lift installed on the front without ANY change to drive line angles! This is the key to reliability with lifting the trucks. You made a good choice in the lift height (no more than 2" for this type of lift), but the type is a factor as well.
not sure what kind of steering set up you have on there. but typically speaking if your tie rods are the same length and coming off a centrally located rack and pinion you will have very little bump steer.... don't get me wrong, you will have some... but it is more common to see a lot of bump steer in a vehicle with a "Y" steering configuration (where one tie rod comes off the steering box and the other connects to it). the only way to completely eliminate bump steer is to have a "crossover" steering set up also known sometimes as "high steer". this set up runs a drag link to one steering knuckle and then one tie rod runs from the right to left steering knuckle. that way no matter where your wheels articluate to they always maintain the proper "toe".
Agree. I think in this case the bump steer is coming from the extreme angle of the radius rods that position the lower control arms. The lift is causing the control arms to move forward and backward more than they should.
