New insane question

[DeepPurple]

Sanity has taken leave of me again, not that this is either an unusual or an irregular event.

Has anyone here ever done a 4 wheel steering system?

and into the next level

Has anyone ever Heard of someone making a 4 wheel steering system on a full independent suspension?

I've seen the Dodge Stealth/Mitsu 3000GT VR-4 setups, but those are a little...less than I want.

[Bowtie67]

Sounds like you have money to burn or your back off your meds again.. Not saying it cant be done, but would be a ton of work and major expense.

['70_402]

It would be pretty cool like that jeep j-40 or what ever that was that stacey on trucks had a while back....but it had 2-1/2 ton diffs though...it would be pretty sweet.....

[frogsmakr]

hmm... Theres those newer GMCs with the quadrasteer.
Wouldn't that make burnouts interesting.

[72c10step]

Don't have any info on it, but here's a screen cap of a 69-72 Blazer from a video clip I think I got from here. Sorry for the bad quality, but its the best I can do.

[DeepPurple]

hmm... Theres those newer GMCs with the quadrasteer.
Wouldn't that make burnouts interesting.

That's sort of what I want, and indeed I can get a hold of the delphi system, but it appears to need some sort of electronic steering. I don't mind letting the rears be controlled by electric (I actually prefer it for safety reasons) but the fronts would be better served as being done through the original process, IMHO.

However if all else fails I guess I could try to adapt it...

and Bow...meds are for wusses

[71 Blazer CST man]

I mad a post about that truck ,theres more info on it there. IT's in the blazer board, "not my truck, but nice stuck"

[Hutch]

DeepPurple
I posted this one a while back.
It has the quadrasteer from one of the new chevy's.
Previous post

[LONGHAIR]

I did it many years ago on an 87 Chevy truck. I belonged to a friend of mine. He bought this 350 4spd LWB truck specifically because of the change coming in 88. The truck only had 40 miles on it in stock form. It was lifted 12" with a Skyjacker kit and a 3" body lift. 18.5x44x16.5 SuperSwampers went on too. This was in the first weekend of the trucks life. A few months later he came to my boss looking for something "new/different" and he tried to talk him into a B&M blower...........To which I said... "Why not do rear steering?"
They both looked at me like I had lost my mind, followed by "Why not?, can you make it work?" ........Sure.
It was actually a fairly simple swap. I used a Dana44 front end from a donor truck. I moved the rear springs inward, to be under the frame rails instead of outside them, using stock front frame brackets and some reinforcing. This allows the use of the front axle with out modifying the spring perches. It also gives you the clearance needed for the wheels to turn. Two birds with one stone. The driveshaft had to be lengthened to reach the offset (from center) of the pinion. The steering was accomplished with a hydraulic cylinder that was installed into the factory mounts for the steering stabilizer. The pump was mounted to the frame up near the cab. A simple "on-off-on momentary" switch was used to steer it. I welded a bracket to the axle housing that was directly under the arc of the original steering arm. This was used to "Lock" the rear wheels in a straight forward position. There was also a key switch to cut-off the pump motor. This was a safety thing because this was a farm use truck that had many different drivers, he would let anyone drive it with the steering locked. I changed to an adjustable proportioning valve to compensate for the disc brakes on the rear. This truck ran 10s of thousands of miles over several years like this with 5.38 gears and never had a problem. It went to the Jamboree in Springfield 4 or 5 years in a row. It was a blast to drive, though only 3-4 of us ever really mastered it.

I did another one a year or so later. This one was a Blazer and the owner insisted on the pinion being centered. It was far more expensive that way but it worked just as well. Personally I don't see the need and the cost of axles and the labor involved to cut and weld the housing added to the bill.

[DeepPurple]

Originally Posted by LONGHAIR

I did it many years ago on an 87 Chevy truck...
<snip>
It was actually a fairly simple swap. I used a Dana44 front end from a donor truck.
<snip>
The steering was accomplished with a hydraulic cylinder that was installed into the factory mounts for the steering stabilizer. The pump was mounted to the frame up near the cab. A simple "on-off-on momentary" switch was used to steer it.

I will now proceed to drive you nuts with questions
So the system would have been like the ones the monster trucks use right?
Full left -- Center -- Full Right?
That's an option, but my hope is to do something more linear, although the using a 4x4 front end was something I hadn't thought about...

I welded a bracket to the axle housing that was directly under the arc of the original steering arm. This was used to "Lock" the rear wheels in a straight forward position. There was also a key switch to cut-off the pump motor.

I'd demand something like this myself, and also an in dash switch to lock it into straight forward.
I'm assuming that this system wasn't in need of a speed safety switch since it was a manual use correct?

I did another one a year or so later. This one was a Blazer and the owner insisted on the pinion being centered. It was far more expensive that way but it worked just as well. Personally I don't see the need and the cost of axles and the labor involved to cut and weld the housing added to the bill.

I'd prefer it centered as well, but then again I'm the one doing the labour so the financial burden would be lessened.

Ever seen anyone use a progressive (like the Delphi system I suppose) steering for the rear?

Thanks for the info longhair and everyone else for the links

[LONGHAIR]

The thing was fully manual. It didn't automatically re-center itself. The switch was a momentary that stopped where you left it. It was not connected in any way to the front like the new trucks. It was fun to drive holding the steering wheel straight and truning the rear wheels like a forklift though.......really freaked people out. The physical lock to the wheels was done by putting a bolt through the steering arm into the earlier mentioned bracket. It couldn't be locked or unlocked on the fly. The lock was mainly used for longer "highway" trips, like going to Springfield, and for daily work. It would have a tendancy to drift a bit to one side because of the crown of the road if you drove very long w/o bumping the switch to bring it back to center. It was unlocked for weekend goofing/cruising etc.

This truck also had a tilt bed that tilted toward the passenger side. It was too high to be used as a "practical" dumptruck so the side dump was just another "show" thing. It was wild at the gas station though.
Can you imagine a truck that tall coming at you on the road at an angle with the bed tilted toward you too? Good thing we were in a small farming town

The bumper height laws forced the sale of this truck. From what I heard later the new owner destroyed it. He broke an axle and replaced the entire housing with the original from the truck. He later wrecked it and proceded to tear it up as an off-road beater............

I'll have to see if I can find anyone who still has some picks of it.

[75-K5]

Originally Posted by 72c10step

Don't have any info on it, but here's a screen cap of a 69-72 Blazer from a video clip I think I got from here. Sorry for the bad quality, but its the best I can do.

That K5 belongs to 1FNHIK5, he is on Colorado K5 from time to time, but I think he might have sold that Blazer on eBay or otherwise. I do know he switched back to 2 wheel steer before selling it. I think he used a d60 front in the rear, maybe not.

[jimfulco]

Steer the back end with the throttle.