Kore/Fox Shox Steering Stabilizer

[firemansdiesel]

Thanks firemansdodge for the reponse.

Sinced then I swapped out my Thuren's S/S to Defiant S/S.

 

[DWeiler]

Dweiler, The new KORE Chase series steering damper should fit on your truck. We have a 2nd gen ourselves and are going to be putting it on. I'll keep you posted on the results. We also have a couple of customers putting them on as well.



Keep in mind there is a significant difference between the single steering damper that KORE has and the other single dampers on the market (including the ones mentioned in this post). KORE uses an internal floating piston while the others appear to be, or are, emulsion type designs. Emulsion shocks work best in the vertical position, not horizontal. When in the horizontal position, the air (or nitrogen) is flowing through the piston and doesn't provide damping. Conversely, the Internal Floating piston (IFP) separates the air (nitrogen) from the fluid to force the fluid throught the piston to provide effective damping even in a horizontal position. So, while some of these new designs may look nice, there will be a difference in performance(especially with bigger tires).



I hope this helps answer some questions.

Still waiting for my solution---guess no one want my business or money yet,everyone---even the LOCAL KORE distributor up her is still waiting on Kore to come up with on that works on a second genner---"Desert Proven"---i 'd be willing to look at options from you if you had something that would work---but it would have to be shipped charged and through the USPS so i don"t get nailed on duty or brokerage fees. Let me know what you have to offer or i may spend the funds on something else. DW

 

[Desert Proven]

The set up works just fine on the 2nd gen trucks. We sell them all the time now. In fact, I just sold another one today.



By the way, prices are now posted on our web site.

 

[DonCurley]

Is a Noisy Defiant/Radflo Steering Stabilizer Normal ?

I know I'm coming into this past thread a bit late, but I just installed a Defiant (Radflo) single steering stabilizer in my '07 3500, and I had a question for those who have the same unit.



When I was done with the install, I still had the front end off the ground, so I did a few lock-to-lock cycles of the steering. It was noticeably harder to turn the steering wheel than when I did the same thing when the factory stabilizer was still in place, and I expected that. However, since I didn't have the engine running, I was quite surprised at how noisy the Radflo stabilizer was as I cycled the steering back and forth. I had my wife take over on the steering wheel and got down near the Radflo unit and it was constantly hissing and gurgling in a major way. This sure sounded like the gas and fluid were intermixing (as Desert Proven was earlier explaining would occur with a horizontally mounted emulsion type stabilizer).



Has anyone else who has a Defiant/Radflo steering stabilizer experienced this sound? Is it likely "normal" (based on Desert Proven's points), or is something wrong with with mine?



(I also noticed that the shiny shaft on my Radflo has turned almost black and it doesn't wipe off, and this was just from the full cycling of my steering after the install tonight).



Any comments or input would be appreciated.

 

[firemansdiesel]

Call Paul Fox at Defiant. Good guy and will answer your question (if it needs replacement, then he'll replace it for you).

 

[DonCurley]

Call Paul Fox at Defiant. Good guy and will answer your question (if it needs replacement, then he'll replace it for you).

Yes, Paul is definitely a good guy and I have spoken to him several times (including yesterday afternoon before I got the Radflo steering stabilizer installed). I've got an email into him regarding the stabilizer at this point, so I am sure I will be able to find out whether what is going on is either normal or otherwise indicates the need for a replacement unit.

 

[DonCurley]

Paul Fox at Defiant got back to me and the sounds I was reporting are normal for a gas charged emulsion type shock/stabilizer in a horizontal position (which I would obviously never hear with my CTD running).



In terms of the shaft turning dark on my new steering stabilizer, Paul explained that is due to the "nitrosteel" coating treatment that Radflo uses. This is a deeper penetrating treatment (as compared to chrome), and upon cycling, the shaft turns a darker color than a more typical chromed shaft.



So, it looks like I am good to go after all. Here are a couple of pics:



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[231jasonS]

Don how is yours working? I just got mine and will install soon. I aslo picked up the steering box brace.



Cant wait to get them in a drive it.

 

[DonCurley]

Don how is yours working? I just got mine and will install soon. I aslo picked up the steering box brace.



Cant wait to get them in a drive it.

I just completed the install of Defiant's steering box support along with re-installing my Rock Shield (the latter of which had to be mated up to my new Buckstop Baja front bumper). I had a number of issues with the install of the steering box support (particularly in terms of the stainless steel flange bearing unit), but after a lot of back-and-forth with Paul, it appears to be OK now. In any regard, I will be heading out on Tuesday for the first time with both the brace and steering stabilizer in place (about a 350 mile round trip), so I'll report back after that.



When I get a chance, I'll do a write-up with pics.

 

[231jasonS]

I just finished installing my box support and it went in very easy.



Now i just have to wait and get a pickle fork to get the stud out of the steering link. Its pretty tight and i was unable to bust it loose with the hammer.



Did you use the longer bolts supplied with thte kit for the sway bar bracket? Mine were too long so i re used the OEM ones. They look like they have enough bite in to the captured nut to hold well. What do you think?

 

[DonCurley]

Jason,



In terms of the steering box support, my guess is that you went with the standard steel flange bearing. It's the stainless steel version bearing option that gave me headaches (Paul discovered after the fact that there were some issues with his newest batch of these SS bearings that I had to end up dealing with). I also found that the bend on what I call the "bearing plate" was off by a few degrees from the angle formed by the end of the steering box sector shaft, which didn't help things initially).



The factory stud is indeed a biatch. As I'm sure you also ran into, there just isn't much room with the other steering linkage parts to get any decent hammer blow on it (very limited swinging room). I beat on that thing on and off for hours and couldn't budge it. Paul suggested that I heat the steering link area up with my MAP gas torch, but I wasn't too enthusiastic about that approach as I didn't want to lose any strength with potentially changing its temper from the localized heat. I finally used some Liquid Wrench and kept applying and soaking the stud area for a couple more hours and when I'd almost given up, it finally popped out with some more hammer blows. By the way, when you are installing the new stud, Paul has some contradictory torque values listed between the written instructions and the schematic sheet. Since both the top and bottom of the new stud are fine threads, you should only torque both the top and bottom nuts to ~15 ft lbs. I did mine to the 35 ft lbs shown in the schematic before discovering this discrepancy, but Paul felt it would probably be OK (there's apparently a concern about crushing or otherwise deforming the small upper and lower spacers provided in his stud assembly).



And yes, I used the new longer bolts for my steering box support plate installation. However, I really needed to use them, as I couldn't adequately engage the factory length bolts. In my case, I also have Defiant's Rock Shield, and although it's probably only 1/16" thick, it has to go under the steering box support plate and under both sway bar bushing assemblies. I didn't have any problems tightening everything down pretty snug, so maybe that made the difference for my installation. If you can get enough thread engagement with the factory length bolts when everything is tightened down, you'll probably be OK.



I will probably still do a write-up on this, but here's a couple of shots:



New Radflo steering stabilizer and factory steering damper skid for a Power Wagon:

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Full undercarriage shot showing front Defiant Rock Shield (just behind my Buckstop Baja bumper), Defiant steering box support unit, and the full array of skid plates adapted over from a Power Wagon (steering damper, transfer case, rock skid rails, and fuel tank skids):

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Tomorrow's my test run, so I am looking forward to seeing what Defiant's steering box support and Radflo steering stabilizer do for me.



Good luck on getting the factory stud out and completing your installation!

Don

 

[ENafziger]

Hey Don! Thanks for the pictures... the extra protection looks great! Awaiting your feedback on the Radflo single.

--Eric

 

[Craig S.]

Don,I'm getting ready to order the Defient steering stabilizer and was wondering how many psi you charged it to.

thanks, Craig

 

[231jasonS]

Wow thats more armor than a sherman tank!.



I do have the standard flange and it slid right on like butter.



Ive been soaking the stud with oil and will get back at with a hamer soon. I dont want to heat it so if i still cant budge it ill go get a pickle fork attachment for my air hammer.

 

[DonCurley]

Don,I'm getting ready to order the Defient steering stabilizer and was wondering how many psi you charged it to.
thanks, Craig

Craig,

From what Paul Fox told me, the single Radflo steering stabilizer comes pre-charged with 75 psi nitrogen, and the dual Radflo with 200 psi (which I assume means 200 psi for each stabilizer unit since they can oppose one another). He cautions in the instructions not to check or change the pressure, but obviously you can with the built-in valve. However, keep in mind that it needs to be nitrogen and not air.

Don

 

[Craig S.]

thank you sir

 

[ENafziger]

Don,

Do you have to remove the Defiant rock shield to access the oil filter from the bottom?

Thanks, Eric

 

[DonCurley]

thank you sir

No problemo

 

[DonCurley]

Don,



Do you have to remove the Defiant rock shield to access the oil filter from the bottom?



Thanks, Eric

Eric ... no, the Rock Shield is quite a bit forward of the oil filter (which is a good thing, otherwise you would have to drop the sway bar and remove the steering box support, since the Rock Shield is sandwiched under both of those items as well as being attached at three points to the back of your front bumper).

 

[DonCurley]

Ouch !

On the eve of my test run on the highway (and just for &hit and giggles), I decided to jack up my front end and run one last lock-to-lock steering test. I don't know how the hell my eye didn't pick this up before, but I now had a clerarance issue between the bottom of Defiant's new tie rod stud and the top of the steering damper skid for a Power Wagon. I honestly don't know how much the tie rod can move up & down or on an angular basis with respect to the steering stabilizer, but with only about 1/8" clearance between these two items, that was far too close for my comfort. You can see the issue with the following shot:

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The problem is, Defiant's design for the new tie rod stud is way different than the stock stud. I carefully measured both, and the Defiant one is 0. 690" longer than the stock unit (or 11/16" longer). It's a little hard to compare these directly with photos, but here are a couple of shots which hopefully show the significant difference:



Stock stud:

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Defiant stud:

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Since I need to leave first thing in the morning, I went ahead and cut off the excess threaded shaft on the bottom of the Defiant stud using a small cut-off wheel on a Dremel. I cut it off flush with the Nylok nut while the assembly was still mounted in place. I was able to cut-off 5/16", so with the angle of the stud in mind, I gained 3/16", so with the 1/8" I already had. my total clearance went up to 5/16" above the high points of the Power Wagon damper skid. Here is an after shot:

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While it's more than I started with, I still don't like this clearance for heavy off-road use, as I am concerned that the bottom of the cut off stud (now just the Nylok nut), could still contact the top of the damper skid with the front suspension and steering linkage in dynamic motion. My last resort would be to go with a half-nut or jam nut for the current 12-1. 25mm fine threaded nut so I could maybe cut off another 1/4". Again, I just don't really know how much movement occurs with the tie rod in relation to the steering stabilizer, so maybe I do have enough clearance as things stand right now.



Anyway, it really makes me wonder how anyone with a Power Wagon (which comes stock with the steering damper skid I now have on my 3500 mounted in exactly the same location), can install and use the Defiant steering stabilizer without some mods. I will keep an eye on this tomorrow and will have tools with me to remove the damper skid if I encounter any interaction between it and the Defiant stud.



I'll let you guys know what happens.



Don