Improving steering?

[83kid]

Hi,
So i have an 83 k10 with what i believe to be a 4 inch lift & 33's on it.
The turning radius sucks. The smaller circles at the end of neighborhoods it cannot make unless i drive onto people lawns. Newer trucks can make it easy enough, but i have to stop in the middle and back up to turn to get out.
I'm not very familiar with suspension and lifts, and ive seen sometimes people mention steering correction blocks or something, i think below the steering arms?
Not sure if i have them, how bad should the steering be if you didnt with a 4 inch lift?

Is there anything other than that that you'd reccomend to help out the steering a little bit?

Its not too bothersome to me, just if its possible i'd like to have a little better turning radius, but if theres nothing that can really be done ill just leave it how it is.

Thanks!

 

[highdesertrange]

do you have better turning radius one way? when making a left or right. if so either your drag link is out of adjustment or you don't have a steering arm installed. you must install a new steering arm with a lift or your steering will never be right. this also puts additional stress on the frame and it will crack. let me say this again you must put a steering arm on when you lift a chevy. I also reinforce the frame at the steering box no matter what. post a pic of your steering arm and we will tell you if it has been changed. highdesertranger

 

[VAL]

do you have better turning radius one way? when making a left or right. if so either your drag link is out of adjustment or you don't have a steering arm installed. you must install a new steering arm with a lift or your steering will never be right. this also puts additional stress on the frame and it will crack. let me say this again you must put a steering arm on when you lift a chevy. I also reinforce the frame at the steering box no matter what. post a pic of your steering arm and we will tell you if it has been changed. highdesertranger

X2, agreed!

 

[flyboy1100]

my truck has the stock suspension and 31's, my turning radius also sucks, i just figured it was how the trucks are

 

[350runner]

Prob just need a good alignment.

Sent from the dust in front of you!

 

[Greybeard]

There is a simple work around although HIGHLY inadvisable if you are not familiar with the steering geometry of your truck. Do this at your own risk.

On the rear of the d44 knuckle, and I believe the 10 bolt also, there is a simple bolt that acts as a stop to the system. It is set at the factory to presumably the maximum amount of turn angle the axle u-joints will take at full lock. I'll stop there.

With a four inch lift the turning radius should not be effected drastically in both directions, just one. But you should notice your steering wheel will be way off too.

As highdesertrange mentioned the steering arm needs changed when a 4" or more lift is installed and a dropped pitman arm included for a 6" lift to possibly 8" but I wouldn't count on it at 8" this would be where a 2" lift block would be placed under the steering arm, after that there are as many backyard fixes as there are lifts. Very few of them are truly safe but most are functional to some degree until the two most expensive are used which is fluid or crossover.

Most folks seem to think that by bending the connecting arm all will be good. Not true. take a string between the steering arm end and the pitman arm end and if the string is not level or very close to it the truck will suffer with bump steer at the worst or reduced steering radius at best. Bump steer sucks big time because it goes way beyond annoying, it can be down right dangerous at highway speeds.

ETA-

The combinations that I would be comfortable with on the interstate at 90 mph would be:

Stock height- stock steering geometry
2"- a 2" dropped pitman arm or a 2" steering arm block
4"- a 4" raised steering arm
6"- a 4" raised steering arm and a 2" dropped pitman arm
8"- a 4" raised steering arm, a 2" steering block and a 2" dropped pitman arm
10" plus - crossover steering or hydraulics.

I would NEVER use a bent connecting rod. There are many different ways to accomplish crossover steering depending on the axle in use. There is a high setting one (above the spring) and low setting one (below the spring).

 

[HotRodPC]

There is a simple work around although HIGHLY inadvisable if you are not familiar with the steering geometry of your truck. Do this at your own risk.

On the rear of the d44 knuckle, and I believe the 10 bolt also, there is a simple bolt that acts as a stop to the system. It is set at the factory to presumably the maximum amount of turn angle the axle u-joints will take at full lock. I'll stop there.

With a four inch lift the turning radius should not be effected drastically in both directions, just one. But you should notice your steering wheel will be way off too.

As highdesertrange mentioned the steering arm needs changed when a 4" or more lift is installed and a dropped pitman arm included for a 6" lift to possibly 8" but I wouldn't count on it at 8" this would be where a 2" lift block would be placed under the steering arm, after that there are as many backyard fixes as there are lifts. Very few of them are truly safe but most are functional to some degree until the two most expensive are used which is fluid or crossover.

Most folks seem to think that by bending the connecting arm all will be good. Not true. take a string between the steering arm end and the pitman arm end and if the string is not level or very close to it the truck will suffer with bump steer at the worst or reduced steering radius at best. Bump steer sucks big time because it goes way beyond annoying, it can be down right dangerous at highway speeds.

ETA-

The combinations that I would be comfortable with on the interstate at 90 mph would be:

Stock height- stock steering geometry
2"- a 2" dropped pitman arm or a 2" steering arm block
4"- a 4" raised steering arm
6"- a 4" raised steering arm and a 2" dropped pitman arm
8"- a 4" raised steering arm, a 2" steering block and a 2" dropped pitman arm
10" plus - crossover steering or hydraulics.

I would NEVER use a bent connecting rod. There are many different ways to accomplish crossover steering depending on the axle in use. There is a high setting one (above the spring) and low setting one (below the spring).

Good Info there. I'll add, on the 10" plus, and hydraulics.... Hydro steering is illegal in many states for on street driving, so I'd only consider that for off-road use only. Of course most, but not all, most 10"in or more lifts are off-road only use anyway.

 

[Greybeard]

I hadn't even considered the legality of the fluid systems. After all, every vehicle with power steering uses fluid. The 10" lift is legal by itself; however, there are headlight height laws, bumper height laws, etc. that one must contend with. They make it even tougher by specifying that the lights in question need to be the stock headlights in the stock position. This might only be a law where it doesn't snow since most pickups with a plow necessarily have to extend an aftermarket set of lights up over the top of the plow. YMMV

A lot of these laws went into effect back in the eighties when the 73-87's where being lifted to nosebleed heights and used on the road. Everyone wanted a truck that rivaled Bigfoot and others in height. The ram steering started as rear steer and was made illegal very fast. It then seemed to morph to the front in response to higher lifts. The problem is that since the factory has never offered ram steering on a GM truck there is no baseline for the DMV to base it's safety on. THEY aren't going to spend the money to prove one way or the other, so it was likely just frowned upon. Home fabricated systems may be deemed safe if it can be proven to be safe by the fabricator in real world conditions, but the cost is probably not worth the trouble to do so.

Besides, by the time a 10" plus spring is bolted on a truck the truck may as well just have a strut from the frame to the axle like a pull truck does. There probably won't be much flex to it. In order to get any flex a the flat length of the spring need to be known and then the length of the shackles would need to be calculated to allow for it. My best guess without breaking out a slide rule (like I even know how to use a slide rule) would be shackles in the 12"-15" length range. Scary! Just a wild guess though.