Turning Radius

[hahn_rossman]

I love the heck out of my truck, except for the turning radius. The last time I had it up on a lift I thought to look at the adjustable stops on the steering knucles. No dice! It appears that they were set for as much angle as possible alreaqdy...I briefly considered grinding down the stops to get the wheels to turn further, but started to worry about the angle the ujoints would be put through. Is that why the TTB axels have such a loust turning radius. Should I just gring away, go to a straight axel, some other more clever solution? Help a brother out! Thanks

Hahn Rossman
Seattle,WA
1984 F250 4x4 Frybrid SVO conversion

 

[Mike]

Is that why the TTB axels have such a loust turning radius.
Hahn Rossman
Seattle,WA
1984 F250 4x4 Frybrid SVO conversion

Welcome Hahn, glad to have you with us at OB.net. I cant speak for the TTB front end as Ive got the D60 but being a 4 door long bed I need approximately 6.5 acres to do a full u-turn and if I want to do a 3 pt turn on a street..........well lets just say I can successfully complete an 87 point turn. It goes real good in a straight line though.

 

[F350camper]

Welcome Hahn, glad to have you with us at OB.net. I cant speak for the TTB front end as Ive got the D60 but being a 4 door long bed I need approximately 6.5 acres to do a full u-turn and if I want to do a 3 pt turn on a street..........well lets just say I can successfully complete an 87 point turn. It goes real good in a straight line though.

I can relate to this

 

[Dsl_Dog_Treat]

Welcome Hahn, glad to have you with us at OB.net. I cant speak for the TTB front end as Ive got the D60 but being a 4 door long bed I need approximately 6.5 acres to do a full u-turn and if I want to do a 3 pt turn on a street..........well lets just say I can successfully complete an 87 point turn. It goes real good in a straight line though.

I can attest to this also. The CC DRW's make excellent road blocking devices.
Oh wait give me 2 more minutes and should be turned around.

 

[Freight_Train]

Try turning a supercab F250 superduty 4x4 with 33/12.50 tires.White Lightning has a tighter turning radius than the Falcon did!Don't try to back a trailer up!

 

[hahn_rossman]

Thanks for the sympathy fellas. I suppose a lot of the problem is simply the wheelbase ( I have a extended cab), but I saw a later model ford pull a u-turn in one of the spots where I routinely do as well, and was shocked to see how much tighter of a radius was possible. I'm not sure if there is anything to be done about it ( different front axel? Cut 8 ft out of the middle of the truck?) but I'd really like to know about it if there is.
Hahn Rossman
Seattle,WA
1984 F250 4x4 Frybrid SVO conversion

 

[Black dawg]

on my last f250 4x4, i just removed the stops by unscrewing them, as there ae stops cast into the knuckle. just make sure nothing binds

 

[Black dawg]

the reason for setting the stops conservatively is to limit the amount of angle the u joint could possibly see under load to prevent breakage

 

[bikepilot]

You could always rig up a 4-wheel steering system

 

[Agnem]

That's one great thing about the Moose Stang. That thing turns about as sharp as a jeep. I'm afraid trying to do anything to increase the angle of the wheels turning is probably not the real solution. Shorten the truck or as was suggested, add 4 wheel steer.

 

[bikepilot]

As far as front wheel turning angle there are some noticeable difference between different trucks. My dad used to have an 83' 3/4 ton Suburban 4x4, 6.2L. It turned unbeliveably sharp for such a long vehicle. My F-250 which is only a little longer turns much less sharp. Oh, the old Suburban also consistently got 27.5mph on the highway. I do doubt that it would be easy to get the wheel angle to be much better on trucks not designed for it though. I'm just hoping someone will come along with a 1-ton diesel solid axle 4-wheel steering truck before long

 

[Full Monte]

I'm glad I'm not the only one with a turning radius problem. I haven't seen an intersection yet where I can do a U-turn. F350 dually requires several stop light cycles to get one done. Grrr!

 

[hheynow]

I can't speak for the TTB front end as Ive got the D60 but being a 4 door long bed I need approximately 6.5 acres to do a full u-turn and if I want to do a 3 pt turn on a street..........well lets just say I can successfully complete an 87 point turn.

That's precisely why I drive a reg cab...I can make a u-turn on a wide street without a 3 point turn! So long as the street is 1/2 acre wide...

 

[fsSnowboard]

if i absolutely have to make a u-turn i just run over curbs and sidewalks try try and avoid making an 87 point turn

on a side note, my brothers 89 Jeep Cherokee turns a tighter radius than my Girlfriends 2003 Mazda 6.

 

[hahn_rossman]

Further data points in the turning radius question

My friend succumbed to the darkside and showed up with a 1997 f250 xcab. I was interested to see what changes ford had made, and what they hadn't.

The biggest surprise was the turning radius. Much tighter! Looking under the truck (in the dark) it looked the same

I'll give it a more thorough exam in the light of day, but I suspect those stops are the culprit after all.