Bounce

[Loz]

So as you know, I got low.

 

But now I am "interested" in why the truck skips and wanders on the highway at anything about 40 mph ish... the chirping noises are less concerning but worth of note.

 

So basically now the car is bouncing around and needing constant steering correction.

 

Any reason?

 

more to the point, any easy cure?

 

does this relate to "indexing" which I have heard mentioned but have no idea what it means.

 

BTW, I don't have blocks in the rear and am wondering how they got it low. could turning the leaf springs over do it?

[hessianben]

Bouncing is blown shocks! if it's lowered (and you didn't do it yourself) chances are- they lowered it by cranking down the torsion bars, but didn't replace the shocks with shorter ones- result: blown.

You can replace with many brands from many different models of car- search 'short shocks'.

I paid extra and got a set of Belltech Nitro 2 drop shocks for my Nissan PU, and IMHO, it was worth every penny. Most guys modify Pinto shocks with great success.

 

If you pull one of the shocks off, you will probably be able to compress it by hand, and if it doesn't rebound instantly, its no good.

[Lordmodelbuilder]

Did you cut or remove the front & rear bump stops when you lowered your truck? The truck will bounce if the suspension is bottomed out against the stops. Brad

[yellowdatsun]

The wandering should be expected, when you lower any car you *totally* screw up the suspension/steering from what the factory engineers designed. Too much camber will easily cause the wandering.

[ggzilla]

A proper wheel alignment should solve the wandering problem. A good alignment engineer can compensate to some extent.

 

The bounce sounds like you have zero or almost zero suspension travel. Probably the bump stops.

[Jester]

I paid extra and got a set of Belltech Nitro 2 drop shocks for my Nissan PU,

 

Were these for your 92?

[Lordmodelbuilder]

Too much camber will easily cause the wandering.

 

I don't believe camber will make it wander. Sounds like maybe the toe is out or the caster. Get it aligned & report back. Brad

[yellowdatsun]

Wrong caster does cause bad wandering too....but....The issue with the camber is that there's not the same pressure on the tread across the whole width of the tire, causing almost all the grip to be on the inside. So when you ride the crown in the road or hit an irregularity with a lot of camber it will cause horrible , almost scary, wandering. It does the same thing in the rear of a 510 when they are lowered a lot, the rear will tend to jump left/right when your going straight.

[Hyphy]

A proper wheel alignment should solve the wandering problem. A good alignment engineer can compensate to some extent.

 

The bounce sounds like you have zero or almost zero suspension travel. Probably the bump stops.

 

You should always have your alignment checked after most, if not all, suspension mods. The steering linkages were set for a different ride height than they are currently at. Plus other tweaks can be made 'worse' (more noticable) when you go lower.

 

The rear blocks, unless they are loose, should not affect either of your issues. A misaligned rear axle would cause a consistent pull in one direction or another.

 

A thinner tire at negative camber could be sliding into ruts in the road aswell. This tends to happen to most vehicles anyway if the ruts are severe enough.

[hessianben]

Were these for your 92?

 

these went on my Frontier- but I want to say that all HB's and Fronty's are the same part #.

 

[Loz]

Thanks Guys!

 

I think i can visible see the wheels pointing in and up at the front. I guessed this was the cause but didn't want to influence responses.

 

I guess it will eat the inside of the tyres if driven much in this set up. So I guess I need that sorted.

 

Could this also affect the drum brakes because my bumdyno tells me that they are binding slightly. Rims feel hot to the touch but not sure if its "normal" hot or 'binding' hot...

 

Guess one problem with not doing it yourself is the details are not attended to in the same way (SOMETIMES....).

 

The tank couldn't have been more carefully cleaned for all the tea in china. But the lowering is a bad advertisment for "family ties". Let me explain:

 

My Sparky friend (electrician) sold me the truck and has worked "with" me on electrickery jobs for free or for little money where parts costs came into play.

But he has 5 brothers all in the trade. Eldest did the shocks and took the tank in and out for me. cheap by western standards, but not really "up country prices" for where I live. Younger brother cleaned the tank, charged the same as if he took it out but I had to pay older brother to take it out... Hmmm..

 

Well, this is thailand and I will just keep schtum. But I might not rush back to big brothers garage for the welding work I want doing soon...