PMF OBS Dana 60 Dual Steering Stabilizer Kit

JSchuricht · Jan 17, 2015

Bump for some updates. I have a heck of a lot more faith in you than asic bitcoin miner preorders but it's still nice to see some progress once in a while.

NotStock · Jan 22, 2015

My apologies, it has been busy around here. Here is a pic of the stabilizers mounted in the lower position which would be for low lift amounts. Im adding 1/4" more clearance to allow the stabilizers to flip to the top side for higher lift amounts. There wasnt quite enough clearance on the draglink.

GO BIG OR GO HOME · Jan 22, 2015

:-D

Sent while doing burnouts somewhere in the country

JSchuricht · Feb 3, 2015

It arrived!

Guessing on how assembly will go, too cold and wet to get under the truck right now.

GO BIG OR GO HOME · Feb 3, 2015

That looks amazing. I'm sure mine has been delivered by now but I'm in Texas working so I'll just drool over yours for now

Sent while doing burnouts somewhere in the country

NotStock · Feb 3, 2015

Outer brackets flip opposite of what they are in your pictures. Shocks can mount on either the bottom or the top side of the middle bracket depending on what size of lift you have. The higher the better as it will avoid road debris more.

JSchuricht · Feb 6, 2015

Well, I have some bad news. There are clearance issues on several parts. For reference, this is a 95 F-250 with a 93 Dana 60 on a Sky RSK with SD springs and a drop pitman arm. All steering components are Moog and were purchased mid 2012.

On the passenger side if the bracket is held parallel to the round, it hits the drag link. This may just be a positioning issue, looking at the pics perhaps the bracket needs to be mounted more toward the center but that still doesn't account for the other issues.

With the shock in the upper mount position, the boot rubs the drag link. I think the fix could be having one bracket 1/2" longer than the other.

Then there's the main mount. It sits extremely close to the tie rod with the wheels straight ahead but turning the wheels results in binding long before full lock. Perhaps dropping the center section 1/2" or creating a bend would fix it. On the plus side, it does mount up to a Crane cover.

ncollins64 · Feb 6, 2015

May have to add this to my obs since it doesn't have one at all. Nice work Trevor

NotStock · Feb 9, 2015

John, I just left you a message. Call me back when you get a chance and we can go over how you have everything mounted. The kit we installed had more clearance than what you have and we even added a little more for variance between vehicles. The outer mount needs to be moved toward the center of the truck as well.

Tom S · Feb 10, 2015

I am thinking the issue is different knuckles on the dana 60 between a 93 model axle and the later ones. Seems to me that there is difference in the brakes between those axles.

In edit this kind of helps http://www.thedieselstop.com/forums...nuckle-92-94-95-97-interchangeability-226589/

Tom S · Mar 1, 2015

Did you get it worked out? Still want one of these for my truck.

JSchuricht · Mar 1, 2015

Trevor has a new version with a bit more clearance that he is sending me. I will post some pics as soon as it shows up.

Tom S · Mar 1, 2015

Excellent!

JSchuricht · Mar 6, 2015

I took a few pics before shipping the old parts back.

Here are the brackets that clamp on the tierod. The new ones are about 1/4" longer. They also have shorter bushings presumably to help keep the shocks level with the new center bracket.

New center bracket on right, old on left.

Top down view of the old center bracket.

Top down view of the new center bracket, notice the gap difference.

Much more clearance.

With a Crane cover, the driver side bracket was just touching at full lock so the corner had to be ground down slightly.

Ran into one new issue, likely from using bolts from the original brackets with new brackets. The bolts are way too long.

Fortunately I had some thick washers laying around.

Random picture of the center before tightening everything down.

The sun was not at a good angle but here's a pic of everything installed. There is a larger pic behind this one if you click on it.

NotStock · Mar 7, 2015

I'm glad V3 passed your exacting eye. I'm still intrigued by how different trucks can be. We work within 1/16" tolerence and yet the OEM's are regularly out 1/2" or more.

JSchuricht · Mar 7, 2015

I didn't realize you were up to version 3. I hope you don't take any of this personally Trevor. I know your reputation and I have a ton of faith in the work I have seen from you. I merely intend to post as much factual information as I can because that's what I love to see when I am looking for info on something and in reality, seeing you solve an issue vs chocking it up to a customer issue like a lot of manufactures do goes a long way. In my line of work, everything is measure in angstroms and nanometers so I tend to look for the small stuff. If anything, I hope you take it as constructive criticism.

One thing I had been wanting to test but ran out of time is deflection of the axle. I wanted to put a dial on the axle and see how much it has deflected in relation to the pumpkin when jacked from the center as I had done. I didn't need the clearance to get under the truck, but it makes it much easier to turn the wheels wile underneath to check for binding. That may have had some effect on the tolerances that caused issues.

I am also amazed by the difference between trucks. The knuckles are cast so there should be minimal difference between units, my best guess is in the mounting of the C's and the milling of the knuckles after casting. This was a 93 axle so it was likely done with jigs that wear over time vs a modern computer aided system that can correct for variations.

Out of curiosity, do you cut these out on a waterjet? It would be great to seem some shots of your equipment in action. I'm a geek and seeing how stuff works is practically porn to me.

NotStock · Mar 9, 2015

We released the second version which was what you first received. There is always going to be slight variations and if there is any way we can change a product to make it work better, fit better or anything else, we will do so. All of our parts are laser cut inhouse with a 3.2 KW laser. Waterjet is too slow and expensive for the materials we run. If we were running super thick stuff or non metallics, that would be the way to go. We have considered getting a small one just to do flanges and such with.