ZUKIWORLD Online | Suzuki 4x4 Editorial and Forum
ZUKIWORLD Discussion Forum => Suzuki 4x4 Forum => Topic started by: cstello on November 29, 2008, 09:47:40 AM
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My Samurai will turn hard right and the tire hits the leaf spring, but when I turn left it turns really slow. Left side does not hit the leaf spring. What do I do to fix it?
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Sounds like a bent tie rod or something similar. If you disconnect the steering box and manually turn the tires do you get the same result?
Also, how much lift do you have and are you running an over-the-top (OTT) steering setup?
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no OTT steering and it had a calmini lift on it when I bought it. Not sure how high though. Where do I get a new tie rod, and/or can I just bend it back???
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If your tierod is bent, you need to get a replacement.
Aside from a local pick-n-pull or a wanted post here, Hawks Strictly Suzuki is the place to go.
This assumes that the tierod is OEM - the draglink should connect to it near the passenger's side end.
Another cause of Asymmetric steering (I went to college!) is a bent draglink - which is far more common than a bent tierod on a Samurai that has been on the trails alot. I have seen people bend the snot out of a poorly built "Z-link"-style draglink and end up with a truck that turns one direction great but not so well in the other direction.
I hope that this helps!
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If your feeling up to it, you can also cut your tie rod and sleeve it with a thicker tube. But you have to make sure your measurements are good.
Post a picture of your front end if ack's post didn't fix it and we can probably help. :)
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Well, the tie rod was bent. Replaced it and still having the same problem. Do you think the steering arm is in the wrong spot on the steering box splines??
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Well, the tie rod was bent. Replaced it and still having the same problem. Do you think the steering arm is in the wrong spot on the steering box splines??
I am not sure about this, but I think that the steering box has nothing internally that will keep it from rotating as many times as you could turn the steering wheel when the draglink is removed from the pittman arm.
Try this:
Point the front wheels straight forward with the steering wheel.
Check the position of the pittman arm.
It should be pointing straight forwards, too. If not, the draglink is either out of adjustment or bent.
I hope that this helps!
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pulled the pitman arm off. The wheel will only turn a total of 4 turns. Turned it two rotations and put the pitman arm back on. Problem fixed! Thanks for all the suggestions.
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pulled the pitman arm off. The wheel will only turn a total of 4 turns. Turned it two rotations and put the pitman arm back on. Problem fixed! Thanks for all the suggestions.
Thanks for posting your experiment! I learned something from it!