I'm wondering if the leak in my steering shaft doesn't come from the shaft cocking from running against the end of the teeth on the rack. Also, I think I reported that with as much "relief" as I ground (badly, lol) in my lower a-arms, I was having a brake problem when I went to full lock.

Basically, at full lock, with all the relief, the brake caliper contacts the lower a-arm and gets compressed. Then when you straighten out -- whooops! -- your brake pedal goes WAY down because you have to pump the caliper back up. Very disconcerting.

I've also noted that because the a-arm itself is not the " steering bump stop" that the sharp edge of the spindle was cutting further into the arm than even I'd ground -- making the problem even worse.

So, last night I made some improvised steering bump stops. They are grade 8 1/4-20 bolts. Using a 7/32 drill, I drilled the a-arm below and just outboard of the stops I ground down. Then I tapped the hole for 1/4-20 threads.

First I merely threaded a bolt with a nut on it until it was at the correct depth, and used the nut as a "jam nut" to lock it down. This didn't work so well as there was enough force applied to bend the small bolt.

I noticed that the depth I chose left just enough thread to put another nut on, so I put TWO bolts on the nut, tight to the head, and screwed the resulting assembly tightly into the tapped hole I created. Success!

Not sure how durable it is or if it'll snag some on full travel, but I'll figure that out later. For now it's enough that my steering has reasonable limits (still as good as before the change) and the brake caliper no longer hits so the brakes are consistent after tight turns.

Just passing this along in case any of you with the Doetsch spindles have these problems.

 

looks ugly but functional...

bd

 

lol! That about describes it.

 

John, Don't you mean you put two NUTS on the bolt?

It does sound like a good idea and great diagnosis.

 

Ha-ha-ha! Yes, I must have been lysdexic there for a second or something.

Thanks! I guess I'll leave it that way since you posted before I fixed it. And thanks for the other comment too.

 

that looks like a good fix and it should work for a while anyways

 

Yeah..
I ground most of my stops down and I am still having brake probs...sometimes my pedal is extremely stiff. Looks like I may have to add new stops...this is becoming a pain in the butt!!!!

 

Modding never ends.

 

john what did you end up doing for this i know i know OLD post but im in the middle of my lift instal and need to know.....

 

Hi, Doug. They didn't work out long term. I'm living with watching how I steer. Somebody on here got new steering stops that go where the old ones did and they are for Fabtech spindles. I don't know if they work with the Doetsch or not, but I've considered looking into them.

The stops I made eventually got "hooked" by a protrusion on the spindle and broke. It needs something shaped better than what I tried.

 

ok thanks john i guess ill just watch how i steer lol