Steering damper replacement

[Pete the Kiwi]

The other day I was checking out what parts I'd like to upgrade next online, kind of like Jeep porn. I discovered these 'Tough Dog' steering dampers (from Australia) with the return to centre coil over springs. They look good and were not terribly expensive so I purchased one.

After removing the old factory damper (which can be a BITCH of a job) I discovered the old damper had been doing absolutely nothing in all the time I've owned my TJ. It had no resistance at all. Needless to say the new one has significantly reduced vibration to the steering wheel and feels so much nicer to drive with. Photos attached.

 

[Chris]

Never seen anything like that before with a spring. It looks cool, there's no doubt about that.

I'd love to feel what it drives like after the install.

Any benefit to something like this with a spring @mrblaine? You design steering systems for these things, so I figured of anyone, you might know.

 

[Pete the Kiwi]

They're designed for 4WDs that have oversized wheels and lift kits and supposedly help reduce/remove DW. My TJ is virtually stock standard but I liked the Return To Centre (RTC) feature. The Spring either assists in pulling or pushing the steering back to its neutral state which greatly reduces driver fatigue on long trips as the steering requires almost no driver input to keep on the straight and narrow. I've already found the steering wheel seems to transmit less vibration and feels nicer on cornering but please remember that my factory damper was 100% fucked so anything would have been an improvement. I've seen a few US manufacturers advertising various models very similar on Amazon so it's not a new or unique product. It does look cool though huh?


Pete from New Zealand
1999 TJ Sahara 4.0

 

[Jmac00]

sorry for resurrecting an old thread, but I just replaced mine in about 45 minutes? I watched a few You Tube videos, and some guys were beating the crap out of there tapered bolt: Here's what I did.

for the last three days I have been getting under the Tj and hosing the bolts with PB Blaster. Drove the Tj all over the place

went and bought a Pitman puller from AutoZone ($18) my jeep is lifted, so I have plenty of room under there.

1) removed the bolt on the passenger side, with a open ended wrench and Impact wrench with 600 ft pounds behind it, that bolt FLEW OFF there, LOL

2) removed the castle nut. and installed the pitman puller. I tightened the puller to the point were it just began to bend.

3) then I got the MAPP gas torch out and started heating up the tie rod, in about 60 seconds that freak'n thing popped out of there, scared the poop outa me. wasn't really expecting that kind of reaction. But it worked.

4) installed a new Monroe damper, that took almost 10 minutes, LOL tightened the bolts to 35ft pounds

5) cleaned up, now its time for my shower and a nap, this stuff is exhausting