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Crossover steering necessary?

kenaik5

kenaik5

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Hey guys&gals, i'm new to both this site and to owning a 72 Blazer. I really like the site so i thought i'd pick your brains. My Blazer has 4 lift with 35"s and it seems to want to wander alot on the road? My question is do you think crossover steering would be a good addition to the vehicle? The truck will mostly see on road use. Thanks, Kenai :confused:
 
Its really only neccessary for wheeling , or if you want things engineered the way it should be .

With the suspension and steering you have , something is wrong , and if its anything to do with tie rod ends from knuckle to knuckle , or ball joints , crossover won't fix that .
 
I have had the same lift and tire combo on three different trucks and blazers of this vintage and I have never had a problem with the steering, and they were all stock steering. I think that you have something else wrong with it.
 
Generally, unless you are running REALLY soft front springs you should be able to use the standard push-pull steering setup on a moderately lifted K5.

You may have worn draglink ends (an easy fix) or worn balljoints... any loose or worn front end components will cause the wandering you describe.

From there, you might want to explore raised steering arms, dropped pitman arms etc... Depending on how well the lift was performed on your truck, these things may or may not actually be there (yet). Having bad steering angles in your stock steering setup will cause nervous steering also.
 
make sure everything is tight. I have/had a similar configuration and the darn thing wandered all over. i got home and started checking the suspension. turned out the bolts at the spring hangers were very(hand tight) lose. I did torque them when i initially put them on, i guess time and a little vibrations loosened them up.

ARQ.
 
Also you may want to try and get an allignment. Had a prob. simular to yours and had an alinment and problem fixed.
 
I use to daily drive my K5 and even after doing a front rebuild of all steering parts & shocks I still had sway on uneven paved roads. One time I was cranking DIO Holy Diver and was on a back road and the pavment being way uneven my rig's front was bouncing side to side while I white knukels the steering wheel straight...that Monday I bought an after market sway bar from thease guys http://www.addco.net/index.htm I had to make longer end links for my 4" lift but after I got that bar in my rig only bounces straight up and down now not side to side like before. If you do any kinda twisty wheeling you will want to disconnect it before the trail as it limits travel...but for on road..it solved all my sway issues.
Good luck and Welcome to CK5
Burt
 
When I purchased my 71 it wandered all over the road. I installed a steering stablizer and it fixed the problem. About a month later I purchased new tires, took it out to play in some rocks and broke the stablizer. I removed the stablizer drove home without any wandering.It was the old cheap *&% tires that were causing the problem.
 
Yeah, I had a similar experience with tires. I replaced everything on the front of my '72 after I lifted it to correct the wander. Ended up just being the crappy 33s I had on there.

Make sure your tires are good to start with.
 
So did you find out what the problem was? If so what was it.?

Oah yeah Crossover steeing Rules If you ever decide to actually use your rig offroad.
 
Hi Greg,

I know this is an old post but I wanted your advice on springs. I have just replaced nearly everything up front, Ball Joints, Tie Rods, Drag links, Steering Pump & Gearbox and got an alignment (it all needed to be done) and now my steering is more responsive but the truck does wander quite a bit.

I assume that my springs are old, they look flat and who knows how old they really are, would that cause my truck to wander.

Also, I have 35" Mud Terrains, not sure of the brand off the top of my head but I have seen other posts about crappy tires, how valid are those thoughts?

Also FYI all of my angles are good, I have a 4" lift with the raised steering arm and the Drag links sit just about level.

Thanks
 
rag joint in steering
leaf spring bushings
u-bolts
center pins

if everything else has been replaced


PS> where'd the OP go hahaha
 
The rag joint is a huge contributor to wandering steering. Also, even new steering boxes tend to be loose.

A easy way to tell if those are a problem is to just watch for how long it takes the pitman arm to start moving when you turn the steering wheel back and forth.
 
jeremywrags said:
Hi Greg,

I know this is an old post but I wanted your advice on springs. I have just replaced nearly everything up front, Ball Joints, Tie Rods, Drag links, Steering Pump & Gearbox and got an alignment (it all needed to be done) and now my steering is more responsive but the truck does wander quite a bit.

I assume that my springs are old, they look flat and who knows how old they really are, would that cause my truck to wander.

Also, I have 35" Mud Terrains, not sure of the brand off the top of my head but I have seen other posts about crappy tires, how valid are those thoughts?

Also FYI all of my angles are good, I have a 4" lift with the raised steering arm and the Drag links sit just about level.

Thanks
Click to expand...


Did the alignment shop give you a printout of the final alignment settings that they achieved? If so, post them up.... I'd be most interested to see the front caster and toe settings.

Tires might be a contributor, but if the toe or caster are way off those should be addressed first. Sometimes an alignment shop will use the "factory" values to align a lifted truck which may not always give you satisfactory results.


:usaflag:


ps. Sorry for the slow response....lately it's all about diaper changes and power naps! :D
 
I am there my self with 2 sick little ones at the moment...

I don't have the printout but the shop that did the work was recommended by several people and has been doing work on these trucks for 30 years.

That said you never know right...

Anyway, my springs are totally flat and from what I can see the bushings are blown so it's probably time to replace those anyway. When I do the lift i'll probably have it realigned again just to be sure everything is still cool.

I am piecing together my lift order in the next few days, I'm going with parts from both ORD and DIY4X my only question is which springs to go with and what size for the rear, ORD says 3-4 in the rear diy4x says 2, what to do? You have any thoughts? I am going 6 inch spring in the front and 4.5" shackle flip from Kert
 
jeremywrags said:
Anyway, my springs are totally flat and from what I can see the bushings are blown so it's probably time to replace those anyway.

I am piecing together my lift order in the next few days, I'm going with parts from both ORD and DIY4X my only question is which springs to go with and what size for the rear, ORD says 3-4 in the rear diy4x says 2, what to do? You have any thoughts? I am going 6 inch spring in the front and 4.5" shackle flip from Kert
Click to expand...

Do the spring bushings and make sure you look at the upper shackle hanger on the rear (in the frame). Those bushings were completely blown out on mine. Drives much better after replacing them.
 
Bad bushings will definitely lead to problems.... and factory rubber bushings are 40 years old and will be dry-rotted.

Are you staying with a 35" tire? Any plans to go to a D60 front? The only reason I ask is because the D60 will give you some free "lift" vs a D44 due to the springpad height. If the truck sat level with a D44, it will sit higher if a D60 is swapped in.

The rear springs are the hardest to guess. Blazers typically need more lift spring in the back than the front to compensate for the extra weight that the Blazer has vs. a pickup truck. It seems that a 2" rear spring along with a 4" shackle flip will get you close, and if you still need more to level things out, you can add a 1" zero rate and/or a longer rear shackle to give you up to 2 additional inches of lift...

Unfortunately, there really isn't such a thing as a "soft" 6" front leaf spring... it's just too much arch across a short span to really keep the spring rate low.


:usaflag:
 
I like the look of the 35's but I have a set of 33's that I am going to try before spending the $ on the lift. They are brand new and may make a big difference in the driveablity of the Jimmy, we'll see. Probably do that this weekend and if I don't notice much difference stick with the 35's and order all the lift components.

So far I have a quote for the following

6" Front Springs
3" Rear Springs
4.5" Shackle Flip With Heavy Duty Greaseable Shackles from Kert at DIY4X
1" Zero Rate
U Bolts

Does that sound right? Am I missing anything?
 
I'm curious why you want a 6" lift for only 33-35" tires. I've got 4" lift springs in the front and can only rub the fenders at the most extreme axle movements. I haven't trimmed any of the fenders. You could easily get away with a 4" lift and have better flexing springs along with it.
 
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