Soild steering bars

I have done a quick search with no luck.

Someone said today that they can bend easy and i should pick some up. Are they worth doing? And will others fit like disco or early defenders?
I have a 92 defender 90

Thanks

-Ludo said:

I have done a quick search with no luck.

Someone said today that they can bend easy and i should pick some up. Are they worth doing? And will others fit like disco or early defenders?
I have a 92 defender 90

Thanks

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I went for several years with no steering gaurd as I've seen the plough effect that they can have if you get stuck and just standard steering bars and had no problems. I then managed to hit summit in a water hole on salisbury plain and ended up bending one of my steering bars into a 'Z' shape and the other into a 'U'.

I now have a steering gaurd and solid steering bars and haven't bent them again since.

ratty said:

I went for several years with no steering gaurd as I've seen the plough effect that they can have if you get stuck and just standard steering bars and had no problems. I then managed to hit summit in a water hole on salisbury plain and ended up bending one of my steering bars into a 'Z' shape and the other into a 'U'.

I now have a steering gaurd and solid steering bars and haven't bent them again since.

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Ha ha so is that a "get them" or a "dont really need them" :crazy_driver:


I think i'll keep an eye on ebay for cheap ones and not just rush out and buy some tomorrow then

I make steering bars out of both 1.25" solid and cds with a 5/16 wall both as strong as you need really as I would rather they fail than the hub assembly, standard arms are junk

70 quid from paddocks ball take lots of abuse. Swivels take shed loads of grief swivrl pins on a 90 isn't so great RRC ones are stronger. I've seen a drop arm shear off and the solid bars completly straight after a comp safari off into woods hitting a concrete bollard and trees i towed the mota back to the pits on a short rope new box he was out again competing

umm how do you do the tracking then, or having solid ones eliminates the need?

Badger said:

umm how do you do the tracking then, or having solid ones eliminates the need?

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Exactly the same way that you do with a standard one. The solid bar has flats in it to grip it with a spanner and there is a nut to lock the trackrod ends in position against the end of the solid bar.

Of course the "chain is as strong as the weakest link" argument comes in here. It is easy to bend a bent arm straight enough to get home and it is cheap and easy to replace a bent one. As soon as you make it stronger with a solid one, then something else will break if you get in that position.
A bit like uprating half shafts. Then the diff or CV go.
SO the best thing is to have the guards and just be aware that a solid one might not be quite the answer you think.

Personal choice. As discussed before but............... Me personally Well I HATE steering guards. Usually they hang low and get you hung up. I'd rarther have the solid type bars myself. Yes you transfer more force elsewhere but have yet to see anything else fail due to only the fact that the bars are stronger. I have seen a drop arm ripped off when a comp motor went on a detour and hit a solid lump of concrete and wrapped his wheels around a tree. The dan bars and ball joints were all ok no damage but his drop arm and steering box was U/S. I still towed him back to the service are on a 3 foot rope. Usually items fail because of poor or no maintainance plus increased stress. After seeing this I prefer HD rods meself.

Tim SK said:

Of course the "chain is as strong as the weakest link" argument comes in here. It is easy to bend a bent arm straight enough to get home and it is cheap and easy to replace a bent one. As soon as you make it stronger with a solid one, then something else will break if you get in that position.
A bit like uprating half shafts. Then the diff or CV go.
SO the best thing is to have the guards and just be aware that a solid one might not be quite the answer you think.

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Hence the use of bars made out of 1.250" cds a lot stronger but still the weakest link, also its not a case of bars being bent by collision its shock load to the wheels that is the problem.
Ive never liked steering gaurds ,always favoured a roller on the drag link

Midland 4x4's steering guard is nice.

Im still running around on stock stuff with no issues.

have been tempted though.

G

pressbrake said:

Hence the use of bars made out of 1.250" cds a lot stronger but still the weakest link, also its not a case of bars being bent by collision its shock load to the wheels that is the problem.
Ive never liked steering gaurds ,always favoured a roller on the drag link

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It was collision in my case. It was a direct strike by a foreign object in a water hole.