Tie rod or BeatTracker

[Jester67]

Tie rod or BearTracker

I had plans to replace all my tie rod ends with new Moog ones. But I was doing some research on bump steer and found these http://www.baer.com/Products/BaerTracker.aspx. It looks like these replace the outer tie rod and the connecting sleeve, I was also thinking of replacing these with the GW ones. I know one of the pros to this is the ability to correct for bump steer but are there any more. And what are the con’s are there any durability issues or other problems with these? It will mostly be hard street driving; daily driver, but it might make it to a track in the future. Anyone run these on a daily driver? Thanks for the advice

 

[Jester67]

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[HistoricMustang]

Jester, hang in there as someone here will help you. I am not a believer in that type of set up...............but that is another story.

Someone help Jester out.

HistoricMustang
www.historicmustang.com

 

[Hack]

I apologize if this is a hijack, but I think this would help Jester with his decision on what to buy.

Anyone out there with a recently rebuilt STOCK front suspension that has ANY bump steer problems? I know my '70 is somewhat different, but I had bump steer with worn out suspension parts. Now that I've replaced the worn out parts, no bump steer. The car drives great.

 

[Opentracker]

Our '65 coup track/street car with the Baer bump steer kit, Street or Track strutts, LCA W/screw in ball joint and spherical bearing inside pivot, vario-camber kit, roller bearing idle arm kit and brake coolers.



Bump steer isn't as much of a deal on a street car. Bump steer at 100mph+ is a big deal. I wouldn't think this would be a set up for a street car, it looks like it would wear sooner than a tie rod and I plan on replacing the heim joint sooner than I would a tie rod. The rod end that comes with the kit doesn't have a grease fitting. I got a steering rod end from AFCO that has a grease fitting. We deal with bump steer on the track cars but not on the street cars. We ran our first three years of open track with stock tie rod ends. The kit looks neet but it's for a track car in my opinion or a hard driven street car that goes over the speed limit at times.


John

 

[GT2K]

John,
Do you have a part number for a replacement steering rod end from AFCO that works with these? I'd like the option to grease it too.

 

[Opentracker]

John,
Do you have a part number for a replacement steering rod end from AFCO that works with these? I'd like the option to grease it too.

Link

They have a right and left hand rod end.


John

 

[mdjay]

Just for arguement sake, take a look at the Pro Motorsports set-up. They make one that is a little more sophisticated. Read it!

http://www.mustangdepot.com/OnLineCatalog/Steering/bump-steer-info.htm

 

[Opentracker]

Just for arguement sake, take a look at the Pro Motorsports set-up. They make one that is a little more sophisticated. Read it!

http://www.mustangdepot.com/OnLineCatalog/Steering/bump-steer-info.htm

That is a good kit but it's not adjustable.


John

 

[mdjay]

What are the tie rods for? Isn't that the same adjustment as on the Baer?

 

[Snail50]

man, I'm looking at the same issues. I've found that my 67 bumpsteers like a ****** now that I have it realigned after lowering it. although the car is low and stable, every bump in the road sends me off on a tangent, and when I brake hard the front end gets all kinds of squirrely.

can anyone give objective opinions on which bumpsteer kit is better? Baer or Pro M? Like Jay said, the ProM seems more comprehensive than the Baer.

sorry for the personal hijack, but I think it's relevant to the topic.

 

[Jester67]

Hack I agree that the stock suspension might not have a bump steer problem but I have plans to add a GW UCA and springs for a total drop of 1” and I am afraid that this will generate a bump steer problem.

John thanks for the input I value your opinion. You say you don’t address bump steer on the streetcars do you change / modify the stock suspension on these cars?

Mdjay I have also looked at the PMS system I was trying to think ahead and if I was going to replace parts why not just put the tracker on. The price of all parts was comparable between the stock parts and the tracker; the PMS cost a lot more.

Snail50 It looks like you are running a setup very close to what I am going to be installing. It is stories like yours that have me thinking about bump steer now. Have you checked you car to make sure it is indeed bump steer and not something else. The check sounds like it is pretty easy to do.

Thanks guys I love this place.

 

[mdjay]

The thing I like about the Baer set-up is the improved strength of the adjuster sleeves. While the Baer set-up is an improvement, the PMS one definately addresses other geometry issues that pertain here.

The cost is definately an issue with the PMS set-up, especially if you consider going with billet adjuster sleeves.

By adjustability, I realized you were talking about the amount of drop

 

[Snail50]

Jester: I haven't "checked" to see if my problem is in fact bumpsteer. However, I have lowered the car quite a bit from stock & added wider tires, and the currents symptoms seem to be a clear case of bumpsteer.

I've checked all the front suspension components for tightness, and everything (most of which is brand new) seems to be in order. When I had it aligned, the shop showed me that there was some slop in my stock strut rods bushings, which they tightened up (as a temporary fix, because I plan to replace the strut rods with adjustable/spherical rods shortly). Other than that everything seems fine.

Aside from the front end being prone to dart & veer on rough surfaces (the same when I brake hard), and a bit of a loose feeling from the rearend on hard cornering, the car handles and drives very well and is a lot of fun. I just need to get a few bugs worked out and the car will be a sharp handler, which is what I want.

 

[bnickel]

Jester: I haven't "checked" to see if my problem is in fact bumpsteer. However, I have lowered the car quite a bit from stock & added wider tires, and the currents symptoms seem to be a clear case of bumpsteer.

I've checked all the front suspension components for tightness, and everything (most of which is brand new) seems to be in order. When I had it aligned, the shop showed me that there was some slop in my stock strut rods bushings, which they tightened up (as a temporary fix, because I plan to replace the strut rods with adjustable/spherical rods shortly). Other than that everything seems fine.

Aside from the front end being prone to dart & veer on rough surfaces (the same when I brake hard), and a bit of a loose feeling from the rearend on hard cornering, the car handles and drives very well and is a lot of fun. I just need to get a few bugs worked out and the car will be a sharp handler, which is what I want.

snail, it is very possible that the strutrodes are your entire problem, i would fix that before doing anything else, then if you still have some bumpsteer isues you can consider a bump steer kit. i had the same problem with my 70 cougar and a completely stock suspension, also made it difficult to align.

 

[bnickel]

That is a good kit but it's not adjustable.


John

john, i believe you can actually adjust this kit with washers or sapcers if i remember right, i could be wrong though so please nobody take this as gospel, but i do seem to remember reading that is how these are adjusted. however i believe the improvement in geometry negates the need to adjust them much, in other words, the geometry is already improved to the point that adjustment is no longer necessary. remember that bumpsteer correction is about getting the bumpsteer within an acceptable range, it is almost impossible to completely eliminate it. i also beleive this kit accomplishes the same thing as the granada spindle mod on the randalls rack website as well, so you should also see an improvement in turning radius with this kit as well. i plan on using this kit when i do upgrade to the randalls rack rack and pinion kit, so i should see almost no discernable decrease in turning radius, i'll have a better bumpsteer curve and rack and pinion all at the same time. and with all the mods you've already done that i'm going to plagiarize , i should have one hell of a low budget corner carver when i'm done ok now that i've given away most of secret arsenal of early model weaponry, let's see what everyone else has to say.

 

[Opentracker]

john, i believe you can actually adjust this kit with washers or sapcers if i remember right, i could be wrong though so please nobody take this as gospel, but i do seem to remember reading that is how these are adjusted. however i believe the improvement in geometry negates the need to adjust them much, in other words, the geometry is already improved to the point that adjustment is no longer necessary. remember that bumpsteer correction is about getting the bumpsteer within an acceptable range, it is almost impossible to completely eliminate it. i also beleive this kit accomplishes the same thing as the granada spindle mod on the randalls rack website as well, so you should also see an improvement in turning radius with this kit as well. i plan on using this kit when i do upgrade to the randalls rack rack and pinion kit, so i should see almost no discernable decrease in turning radius, i'll have a better bumpsteer curve and rack and pinion all at the same time. and with all the mods you've already done that i'm going to plagiarize , i should have one hell of a low budget corner carver when i'm done ok now that i've given away most of secret arsenal of early model weaponry, let's see what everyone else has to say.

It doesn't look like it's adjustable to me, though I could be wrong. The key to a good handling car is adjustability. The only kits I see at the track are ones like the Baer kit. I have not seen any of the pro-mo kits on any car at the track so I'll go with the flow and use the one from Baer. The Baer kit comes with a stack of washers to adjust most if not all of the bump steer out. I know of one guy who has it down to 1/8" toe change in 6" of suspension travel.


John

 

[Snail50]

thanks bnickel.