[Tawatree]

Hey all, running into some issues with my beams coily fouling the sump on the steering and panhard. Is there a standard drop pitman arm that will fit the steering box or a different steering box that I can swap to that has a lower output for the arm?

Also wondering what height everyone is running at (ground to top of wheelarch and tire size I guess?) The way I have it mocked up currently the top of wheelarch is about 980mm and would be running 33s. Running Hilux axles so more weight down low and slightly more width but it's only a slightly stretched swb so seems like it's way too high.

The other option if I can't get a lower steering output of some kind is to completely redo the sump, including oil filter housing, relief valves and everything else. It's a 2 piece sump and the lower half was already cut flush but can redo the entire thing if needed.

Last pic is the rough front ride height vs standard 2" lift rear ( wheelbase has not been stretched yet) and as you can see I ended up dropping the upper spring hat 2" to get everything to clear between the first and second half of photos.

Open to all suggestions, cheers

[Tawatree]

Bottom of frame to ground is about 450mm

[BlueSuzy]

Might have to find a rear sump, custom or drysump

A Hilux PS box or Landcruiser PS box might help but on the outside of the chassis

[Gwagensteve]

I’ll park the lack of compression travel for a moment, but it doesn’t look like the panhard is in phase with the drag link(?) and I’d suggest the axle end of the panhard to too high to achieve this.

Nobody says the panhard needs to be straight- it can be bent to clear the sump/ chassis rail.

I run a vitara pitman arm which is flat and provides more room for the tie rod.

[Tawatree]

There is roughly about 130mm of compression travel from memory before the the bump hits and then however much it can compress. The only way I can see increasing that, if I need to, is by running longer or harder springs which would again lift it and I feel like it's already too tall. (Correct me if I'm wrong here because I'm unsure of how high people generally run these) Would love a couple numbers for either belly or top of arch measurments

Draglink was removed for those photos but runs at the same angle as the panhard and is about 10mm longer. (Connects to the tie rod with a 50 series style rod end)
I hadn't thought about putting a bend in it, which if I did that and then flipped the steering arms to the bottom of the knuckles I could probably gain back a couple inches at bump and lower the spring hats again. Great idea, thanks

The only thing is I might need the pitman arm to drop lower to clear the sump ( I'll check first) because I assume that a bent draglink is a big no.

[Gwagensteve]

130mm of compression travel is loads. That would imply retour intended use is high speed work. I run about 60mm of compression travel.

[Tawatree]

They are the softest springs I've been able to find so far, the car will be road driven pretty regularly once finished.
Is 60mm of compression safe to run on road? I feel like hitting a bump going around a corner could easily max that out and cause some weird handling when hitting bump stops. If I can I want to swap to softer springs to drop the height a bit more and enable more droop from ride height.

[Gwagensteve]

60mm is ample for any use unless you’re chasing absolutely maximum speed off road. If the shocks can’t slow the axle enough within 60mm the shock valving is way off.

I have an early Discovery, (no swaybars) with stock springs- a car with excellent ride quality, handling and off road performance. It has slightly less than 50mm of compression travel in the front as designed. Lifting them does not improve the ride quality or handling.

130mm of compression will hurt off road performance as it’s difficult to generate enough force to get the axle onto the bumpstop. This leaves the car sitting too high on obstacles and leads to unloading and instability.

The juggle of spring length and design and spring mount location isn’t easily resolved until the car is at finished weight.

[Gwagensteve]

Also consider the stock sierra bumpstop mounts about 1/2” below the chassis and compresses about 1/2 its height under full load. I’d base my ride height measurements on that rather than the vitara bumpstop. Also I can’t quite see if you’re using the vitara spring hat on the axle. That has a raised section for the bumpstop land.

[Tawatree]

Cheers, I had a remeasure of the bumps and it's sitting at 80mm now, still no front bar, radiator and what not so I think it will end up sitting around 70 once all that's on. The 130mm must have been without the engine in. And I am using the Vitara hats on the axle.

Are the stock sierra bumpstops the same between the leaf sprung and coilys? Because I've got the original coily bumpstops that I can use to set it from.

I've also realized that the stock lwb springs can't get anywhere near fully compressed before the bump hits that raised section of the hat. I assume after the bumpstop fully compressing there would be about 20-30mm of travel left so would it be a silly idea to have a 10-20mm shorter bumpstop to maximize the compression of the spring or would you run into issues if you have to fit "lift" srings in the future?