http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/reviews/steeringbrace	Short Cuts
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By: Bill Morgan- 7/2004

Once you do a solid axle swap on a late model Toyota truck or 4Runner, one item that needs attention is the steering box. Solid axle truck owners running crossover steering learned that early on, after quite a few IFS steering boxes pulled off the solid axle frame. The forces imposed by large tires and even bigger rocks require solid mounting of the steering box. Even SAS and IFS vehicles can benefit from beefy steering box mounts, particularly as the years of wheeling take their toll.

Weld-on plates can be used to accomplish the goal of beefing the frame, and tend to run $60-75 or so. While researching options I stumbled upon Front Range Off-Road Fabrication's $39 IFS steering box brace kit. At that price, an experiment was certainly worthwhile. I liked FROR owner Brian Ellinger's strategy of bracing one side of the frame to the other side, a feature not offered by other kits. So I ordered one up.

The parts included in the kit.

The kit consists of two laser-cut 3/16” plates, a cross piece of DOM tubing, and longer bolts to replace the short upper bolts that came stock on the factory box and idler arm. This is a simple kit indeed. Some welding is required but not a great deal, and the brace is removable for any maintenance needs (such as removing the alternator). The cross tube would also make a nifty place to mount one end of a steering stabilizer, and offers a little additional protection for the front of the engine. It fits the stock 22RE truck and 4Runner to a tee.

The offending radiator hose on my 4Runner.

Unfortunately, I discovered a side effect of my truck not being stock; I have a V6 radiator that extends slightly lower than the stock two core radiator. It places the lower radiator hose in the path of the cross tube, unless the cross tube was to be welded uncentered on the plates. I really didn't like that approach, but my son quickly provided another alternative: install it on his truck! Of course, why didn't I think of that?

The first step to install the brace is to unbolt the idler arm mount and steering box. Some material from the stop must be removed to provide clearance for the plate; this is most easily accomplished with a die grinder or 4-4.5” grinder with a cutting wheel.

Some material must be removed in order to provide clearance.

Then bolt the plates in place (I put the larger of the two on the steering box side). The tube can then be placed where the installer wants, and be supported by clamps. Be sure the radiator hose clears, as you don't want it to abrade the cross tube as the engine twists under torque. It seemed to me that the ideal position is more or less centered on the plates.

Tack weld the cross tube in the location you want, and remove the brace assembly for finish welding. Stitch weld four welds in a cross pattern to limit any warping of the plate, then finish weld. Check to make sure it still fits (a little hammer treatment can take care of minor misalignment), paint, and bolt it up.

Positioning the parts and tacking them in place.

The parts completely burned into place.

Reaming out the steering box mounting hole.

One note on the bolts provided: they are not metric. They are ½” fine thread grade 8 and did not want to go through the steering box hole. They almost went through, but appeared to be a couple thousandths too large. Ellinger usually provides metric fasteners with his kits, so I was a little surprised by this and went to the hardware store to scare up some metric bolts. But I think I found out why they are SAE, because I couldn't find any bolts that met all of the criteria of being long enough, grade 8, and fine thread. The more I thought about it, the less I was concerned about SAE fasteners for this application. A very quick reaming with a ½” drill provided enough clearance for the bolt in the steering box hole, and the problem was solved.

So, how does it work? This is one of those modifications that is hard to evaluate, since only if it fails do you have any real feedback. In other words, if the steering box doesn't fall off, it either worked or you didn't try hard enough. My son reports that his steering feels just a little more precise, but that is hard to gauge objectively.

Another method of evaluating the kit is comparing it to home-built products, from the standpoint of ease of fabrication and comparison of the final result. Since the FROR kit would not quite work for my application on my SAS 4Runner, I elected to build a traditional sandwich-plate, weld-on brace from some ¼” plate steel I had laying around. I traced out a paper template and transferred it to the steel, then took it to a friend who had a plasma cutter. A little while later, I had a rough set of plates (I am not terribly precise with a plasma cutter) that cleaned up well with a grinder. I needed to drill holes large enough to go around the tubes that protrude on the inside of the frame, and locate the holes on the other plate fairly precisely. It turned out to be more work and time than I expected it would be, and I gained an appreciation for Ellinger's kit with precise and clean laser cutting. I also used ½”, SAE fine thread grade 8 bolts and drilled the steering box mounting holes to accept this size on my 4Runner, mirroring FROR's hardware.

The sandwich brace I made is stout, but does not carry lateral force to the opposite side of the frame. The sandwich design has served others well so I am satisfied, but if I put a value on my time it cost me more than the $39 FROR kit.

The Front Range Off Road Fabrication steering box brace appears to be beefy enough to add strength in this critical area, and I like the way it transmits force to the opposite side of the frame. I suppose ¼” plate would be stronger, and if I were making this brace from scratch I think I would start from there (even though this would require all new bolts instead of just two top bolts). The plates and tubing are cut precisely though, and it practically falls together. All that is required to assemble this kit is some minor welding, and much less time than fabricating the brace from scratch. So in the final analysis, I would say this kit is a reasonable alternative to making your own, and adds strength to an already strong design from Toyota. It has the added benefit of tying the frame together between the steering box and idler arm on IFS trucks, and may add some precision to the steering feel. It's a nicely made, simple kit, worth the money in my opinion, and if your truck is closer to stock than mine you should look at this kit as a viable alternative.