Hey all. I am looking at doing the crossover steering for my crewcab. It has an 8 inch lift and sways pretty bad without the sway bar. What are my options? The drop arm and block arent cutting it. Stopping is scary. Any advice or info would be greatly appreciated.
CK5
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Crossover steering and sway bar, what are my options?
- Thread starter stoney126
- Start date
Your sway bar and stopping are completely unrelated. Your sway bar (or lack thereof) controls how much your truck leans in a turn. Especially with 8" lift springs, your sway bar is completely useless IMO. If you ask me, 8" of lift in general is probably scary on the street if you are still using the stock steering regardless of whether you are using any kind of steering correction (drop pitman arm, raised steering arm, etc.). You should elaborate on what kind of problems you think you are having but I am 99% sure that the sway bar is not the issue.
sorry let me clarify. I know the sway bar isnt an issue. Im going to crossover to aid with pulling to the right when braking. My question is when I go to the crossover I will not be able to use the stock sway bar if I understand correctly. So im looking for options as far as getting the crossover and having a sway bar as well.
Again, any problem you are having with braking should not be related to your steering regardless. The sway bar should not affect braking in any way. AFAIK, it is not possible to use any kind of stock Chevy sway bar with crossover steering. If you have 8" lift springs, your truck probably leans less in corners than it did stock.
redneckdude
1/2 ton status
the steering/braking issue are DIRECTLY related. Its called bumpsteer. I had it. Lots of other people had it. When you step on the brakes, the front springs compress and if there is any angle on the drag link, it either forces the truck to turn right or the steering wheel to go left. I got used to compensating for it, but X-over is well worth it.38377k5 said:
And yeah, you are gonna have to have something custom fabbed for the sway bar to run crossover, but even when i ran 6" TC springs (2nd softest off the shelf, next to BDS) i never had a sway problem. Its not a race car and should be driven accordingly.
Desert Rat
Fetch the comfy chair
I have 6" front TC springs and crossover. I wanted to retain a sway bar but other than booty fabbing up something that probably wouldn't work that well anyways, I was out of luck. So, I am running it without a swaybar. Does it lean more in the curves? Yep, but not dangerously so. Make sure you go with a good set of front shocks and you should be fine.
LOL imnot taking it road racing or anything. But I do plan to tow with yes with the 8 inch lift. Well I guess i may just have to bite the bullet and ditch the sway bar. Perhaps with the crossover the better stering capability will comensate for the extra roll. Goona pop the sway off and take some turns in it, then load some weight in the back and still see if it's tolerable.
Yes and no - This absolutely could be bumpsteer, but it may be a seperate problem. In my case I have to rebuild the brakes. First hard brake application, it pulls. If I get off the brakes and reapply right away, straight stop. You should get bumpsteer everytime you hammer the brakes if bumpsteer is the problem, correct?redneckdude said:
sounds like a caliper is sticking.just fixed a k5 that would turn right when u applied the brakes.replaced the calipers and it stops nice and straight.
Sometimes the complaints about braking ARE related to the stock push/pull steering setup.
When I swapped in a set of really soft front springs in my truck my truck would dive to the right under heavy braking.
What I found initially was a small spring "stop" on the drivers side behind the shackle (It's a 1st Gen thing!
). It was originally put there as a recall item, to prevent that spring from getting too far out of position if the bolts ever broke on the springs....
The "effect" with the new springs was that I was able to hit that stop on the driver's side under braking as the springs flattened out.....BUT, since there wasn't a stop on the passenger side, those springs continued to flatten and the wheel was able to move deeper into the wheelwell. The result was that the front axle was not pointing straight ahead, and was in fact pointing the vehicle for a right-hand turn!!
Once I figured out that the stop was preventing the rearward travel of the spring, I removed it and was able to get the truck to stop straighter again...
The reality with the push-pull steering is that as the nose of the truck dives (heavy braking and/or soft springs) the axle moves backwards, the shackle rotates and the spring flattens out.....this WILL move the steering arm as a result and will cause the steering wheel to move (classic bump steer).
When I swapped in a set of really soft front springs in my truck my truck would dive to the right under heavy braking.
What I found initially was a small spring "stop" on the drivers side behind the shackle (It's a 1st Gen thing!
). It was originally put there as a recall item, to prevent that spring from getting too far out of position if the bolts ever broke on the springs.... The "effect" with the new springs was that I was able to hit that stop on the driver's side under braking as the springs flattened out.....BUT, since there wasn't a stop on the passenger side, those springs continued to flatten and the wheel was able to move deeper into the wheelwell. The result was that the front axle was not pointing straight ahead, and was in fact pointing the vehicle for a right-hand turn!!
Once I figured out that the stop was preventing the rearward travel of the spring, I removed it and was able to get the truck to stop straighter again...
The reality with the push-pull steering is that as the nose of the truck dives (heavy braking and/or soft springs) the axle moves backwards, the shackle rotates and the spring flattens out.....this WILL move the steering arm as a result and will cause the steering wheel to move (classic bump steer).
Everyone says a swaybar & X-over can't be done. I think they're wrong. It may not be easy, but it can be done.
With 8" to work with I would think that you can build a pair of links to connect the ends of the bar to the spring plates or axle housing. If that can't happen b/c the X-over needs that real estate, then consider mounting a bar to the housing and running links down off the frame.
If none of that works out then look at routing the bar btwn the t/c cover & the trans pan or btwn the t/c cover & the oil pan. Can even put the arms towards the rear off a housing mounted bar.
Search "Speedway Engineering" for swaybar components.
With 8" to work with I would think that you can build a pair of links to connect the ends of the bar to the spring plates or axle housing. If that can't happen b/c the X-over needs that real estate, then consider mounting a bar to the housing and running links down off the frame.
If none of that works out then look at routing the bar btwn the t/c cover & the trans pan or btwn the t/c cover & the oil pan. Can even put the arms towards the rear off a housing mounted bar.
Search "Speedway Engineering" for swaybar components.
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There was a guy on PBB that used a torsion bar from a Toy to fab a rear sway bar a while back. It had discos for offroad.
Desert Rat
Fetch the comfy chair
It isn't that it can't be done, it's just a PITA. Anything can be fabbed with enough time and money. Although I'm not one to be reticent in spending money on something worthwhile, it seems many on here prefer the more inexpensive or home built route and so many aren't willing to put the time and money into a solution. Somebody a while back did something with an aftermarket swaybar, maybe Helliweg, and I think ORU offers something as well.
Yeah, It can be a PITA fitting it in there but my point was that it's possible and well within the fab abilities of a large number of forum dwellers.
For a pure crawler I see not a lot of point in going to the trouble, but for a truck that sees a lot of hiway miles they really are worthwhile.
For a pure crawler I see not a lot of point in going to the trouble, but for a truck that sees a lot of hiway miles they really are worthwhile.
I junked the sway bar (I've only got around 5 1/2 - 6 inch lift though) but found with the x over that I was getting too much steering 'sway' for my liking so I made a Panhard with quick disconnects. Although it doesn't control sway as such , it keeps the axle under the truck so it doesn't pull on the steering arm.
You need to disco it for wheelin as it'll bind but it works for the street pretty good.
You need to disco it for wheelin as it'll bind but it works for the street pretty good.
contacted oru, and they dont carry anything. I was wondering about what ford used on there early 2000 superduty's. There leaf spring with crossover right?
Were there any problems with the panhard? Got any pics
This is also going to be a school project for me as well, im taking chassis fab and this falls into that realm.
Were there any problems with the panhard? Got any pics
This is also going to be a school project for me as well, im taking chassis fab and this falls into that realm.
SD's have their swaybar down behind the front axle where you can get hung up on it.
Have a look at the Speedway Engineering parts. They are modular, you buy the bar seperate from the arms. That way you can vary both the arm type & length and the bar OD.
Have a look at the Speedway Engineering parts. They are modular, you buy the bar seperate from the arms. That way you can vary both the arm type & length and the bar OD.
Unless you are running REALLY soft springs up front (52's, 56's, Ford 57's, custom) I think the sway bar is worthless.
