Thread: Bilstein steering damper - I'm sick of it.

Originally Posted by clean32

I was thinking of this the other day, if I remember correct the damper is chassis mounted on the drivers side? If so any height or suspension lift will need an extension or adjustment to get the wheels to centre again. IE the higher the lift the longer the distance between the damper mounting points when centred. Or a damper set up for stock height will turn the wheels to the left as the distance between the diff and chassis increases.

Dampers aren;t centred in their position/stroke, they operate the same either way and should not be self extending

The only need to move the mounts would be if the damper wasn;t capable of strokeing far enough, which is likely never to be the case

The damper on a LR or converted RR is chassis mounted on the PASSENGER side

Its mounted to the 3rd member on an RR and any lift change has nil effect

Originally Posted by rovercare

Dampers aren;t centred in their position/stroke, they operate the same either way and should not be self extending

The only need to move the mounts would be if the damper wasn;t capable of strokeing far enough, which is likely never to be the case

The damper on a LR or converted RR is chassis mounted on the PASSENGER side

Its mounted to the 3rd member on an RR and any lift change has nil effect

I had though it was something else, and getting numerous wheel alignments over time i just thought it was that the slope of the road or something made it pull to one side, but its not that bad that it bothers me to much. But i agree with Discowhite when he said its a pain in the rear fitting it, it self extends and pushes the arm out. So if you put it on the ground whilst working on something else after you take it off it pushed piston right out and is a pain in the arse to push back in.

Well thats another thing to add to the list of things i need to do once i get finished at the academy.

Originally Posted by Hoges

I suspect the problem is with the gas preload. I can't understand the logic of preloading a steering damper with gas.

Shocks are gassed to minimise the oil foaming from sustained high frequency /high amplitude oscillations.

Billies, Delphi/De Carbon and Koni are mono tube dampers, they have to use gas pressure against the floating piston to work. They need the floating piston and gas space as volume to take up the increased volume of the piston rod during compression. The displaced fluid has to go somewhere.

A steering damper preloaded with gas is going to extend to the max when left with no compression load. So when compressed half way in the straight ahead steering position, of course it's going to try and push the steering one way or t'other.

Except we have friction from the tyre/road interface, and the friction from swivel pre-load to overcome. On most vehicles a Billie damper drives dead straight.

It's essentially there to try and prevent (broken thumbs from) violent changes of direction of the front wheels being transferred back through the steering wheel when travelling in the rough...

<snip>

and to prevent shimmy on road.
Steering Beam axles are inherently unstable, I've nearly been thrown out the drivers door just hitting a small bump at 60km/h on one stretch of road. A harmonic started and the tie rod started to flex and oscillate. I actually stopped on the side of the road and had Dad drive past to replicate it. We beefed the tie rod up (this was twenty five years ago) and it helped enormously, then I fitted a damper to eliminate it.
The same thing would happen to any stock Rover with the piece of spaghetti tie rod and drag link without a damper.

Add in larger diameter and width tyres and heavier valving is called for in the damper too, in other words probably an aftermarket one.

Just fitted a Bilstein steering damper, it is always wanting to extend causing the car to turn right.
Sending it back and installing a normal oil damper.

Caution to anybody thinking of buying one.

Originally Posted by Rusty Rangie

Just fitted a Bilstein steering damper, it is always wanting to extend causing the car to turn right.
Sending it back and installing a normal oil damper.

Caution to anybody thinking of buying one.

When you compress it does it self extend under pressure ?

I have read through this and other threads on steering dampers, 4WD1 have the Ironman damper for $121 delivered, so I thought bugger it and have bought it, I read the dramas some were having with the bilsteins and I really didn't want an RTC damper so Ironman it is, it's 50/50 with a foam cell construction and 35mm bore size, desighned for extended offroad situations, which is what we do.

Baz.

Originally Posted by wally

I would have to advise anyone looking for a steering damper not buy a Bilstein. Sure, the damping's effective but it's always trying to self-extend against the steering, with the result being felt at the steering wheel as a pull to the right. Any self-centring the steering had before is gone. It's annoying and I'm sick of it. If anyone knows of any way to counter this effect I'd love to hear it.. But I doubt there is one other than removing it and replacing it with a self-centring damper of another brand.

Trying to self extend? Sure its not a gas shock absorber?
Dampers only mask steering problems anyway. Remove it, go for a drive. So long as bushes are good, swivel preload ,alignment ,caster is close it should run straight as a die with little or no shimmy.
I have never bothered with big arse dampers and my 120" runs 35 X 12.5 tyres on -25mm 8" rims. Only get a little bit of kick back wile driving over rocks at speed. Never gets shimmy at all. Most of my series don't even run a damper as the swivel preload is usually enough.Just something else to bend. Best part is they all run straight as a die. Even with uneven tyres. They are very forgiving really.

Getting back to that damper you have. Does it fully extend its self wile disconnected? or just half way? .

It's a characteristic of Billies as they are a high pressure gas shock.
Graeme Cooper warned me against getting one if that would bug me years ago.
I just use a stock one. never had a shimmy caused by it.
Regards Philip A