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Octaneforce's avatar
Octaneforce
Explorer
Jul 31, 2022

Who has removed bell cranks?

My coach (in sig) drives absolutely terrible. All p30’s drive bad but mine is becoming dangerous despite the thousands of dollars ive put into it. I was under it while a helper was turning the steering, and noticed the driver side bell crank appeared to have a ton of play where the bell crank L shaped arm meets it. I thought this was an overlooked issue and ordered a supersteer bell crank. I removed the old bell crank today and to my surprise it doesnt have any play. It actually seems perfectly fine. So im left with these questions:

How much pressure is on the bell crank? Is it possibly that i just cant apply enough force to replicate the play i saw happening while it was assembled?

Is the super steer part really worth all the money? Im about to put it back together and return the new one.

Has anyone been able to tangibly hold and observe the play on an old bell crank after doing this upgrade? I was hoping the old one would be a wobbly loose mess.
  • The ones I have and help replace were coming apart and yes the replacement was needed. You should be able to move it and see the shaft move. Check all the links including the steering one. When we did our neighbors and replace everything that was loose it really tighten his front end up. Don't forget ball joints, and the bushing on the A-arms.

    Did you drive it with the new one installed.
  • Those OEM bushed bell cranks were a piece of junk from the start. Bushings need a little clearance to perform properly. The bearing bell cranks from Henderson have no clearance (play).
    There is a lot of pressure on those bell cranks to change the steering motion 90°, thus slop in the steering wheel.
    You did a good thing spending a few $$ with Henderson.

    Richard
  • MountainAir05 wrote:
    The ones I have and help replace were coming apart and yes the replacement was needed. You should be able to move it and see the shaft move. Check all the links including the steering one. When we did our neighbors and replace everything that was loose it really tighten his front end up. Don't forget ball joints, and the bushing on the A-arms.

    Did you drive it with the new one installed.


    No i have not driven it yet. Its still apart because im debating putting the old one back in
  • RLS7201 wrote:
    Those OEM bushed bell cranks were a piece of junk from the start. Bushings need a little clearance to perform properly. The bearing bell cranks from Henderson have no clearance (play).
    There is a lot of pressure on those bell cranks to change the steering motion 90°, thus slop in the steering wheel.
    You did a good thing spending a few $$ with Henderson.

    Richard


    And the pressure when turning steering wheel back and forth while sitting still is even greater than when driving down the road.

    It takes plenty of effort to move a rolling wheel to steer but when the tire is gripping the floor/pavement while checking for play it takes even more.
  • I installed the Henderson drivers side bell crank many years ago. Also 1-5/8" front sway bar, Rear trac bar and Bilstein shocks Front and back, Drives great.
  • You will never be able to move it by hand. If it was moving with the steering wheel, then it’s bad. Replace it and drive it!
  • So i did a trip after i installed the new bell crank. It visually has no play anymore. It does drive better. Its still very very bad, but its a moderate improvement. I’ll be doing an oversize swaybar before my next trip. Heres a video of the steering components;

    https://youtu.be/jBAPbfvtxlk