HOSS 3.0 severe duty STEERING RACK and TIE RODS ...Ford Performance M-3200-WT

[Snacktime]

Done, definitely a single beer job.

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[SS Bronco]

Done, definitely a single beer job.

Are you sure it’s a single beer job? I see a Pale Ale and a Torpedo

 

[Snacktime]

Pale ale was a dinner beer, torpedo was lonely.

 

[da_jokker]

Reminds me of MORR's latest videos... Dude sunk his taco and some water for a while in the airbag decided to just deploy on its own.

Now I know what kind of beer you'll like @Snacktime .... I have a feeling as a soon-to-be Bronco owner, I may need to keep some snacktime "cash" on hand

 

[CyberOrangeBronco]

One Caveat, although I have reprogrammed some modules with this, I have not attempted the steering rack programming yet. I will update when I do this (possibly this weekend).

BTW, this is the one that I use. I have had no issues with it, YMMV.


VXDIAG VCX Nano Compatible for... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01EFWPAN0

It does have the benefit of only being $119 and both FORSCAN and FDRS worked fine with it.

But you can always buy the Mongoose Plus if you prefer.

Anyone know if this cable worked for mpuegot? Wish I could just ask him.

 

[Snacktime]

Anyone know if this cable worked for mpuegot? Wish I could just ask him.

Works fine, microsoft hates the software and you will have to turn off your internet security to install the software.

 

[Tex]

YES ill be installing Braptor UCAs and LCAs and other doodads to Raptorise my FE very soon. Probably even the 3.0ltr engines swap too so I can keep my numbers matching 2.7 on the shelf. The long block is barely over $4k and 99% of the junk will bolt right up, plug right in and an easy program hack or module swap and its done. So it makes a TON of sense to lots of Bronco owners, especially those that dont already have both a SAS and a Raptor already like you.

Making my way through the thread, just wanted to say this is exactly what I wish I could do with mine. The amount of work involved with an LS conversion in a Jeep makes me cringe thinking of how difficult it would be in a Bronco, but if it turns out to be mostly plug and play with some module swapping and reprogramming I can probably handle that. The 10R80 transmission would be another bonus. Think I'll hold off on the raptor a-arms and see what the aftermarket world cooks up in that regard, something like Marlin's RCLT or Solo's XLT kit for a Bronco is what I'm waiting for.

 

[zuke]

I was sorely tempted to buy the tool @mpeugeot was using, but in the end I didn't want to have the thing up on the lift, and have to leave it there while I waited for another cable if that one didn't work, so I just went ahead and bought the Mongoose-Plus.. I'll definitely be using this thing in the future too, so I think the quality and not having to comprehend the 'Engrish' instructions with the VCX Nano off Amazon is worth the extra $$$

Final Report on the Rack....

Alignment was completed yesterday, and I drove it to work today, same 32 mile 1 way commute as usual, but Fridays on I95 in NoVa, Top speed I achieved was about 60mph.

It tracks straight now with no problems or wandering. It "Feels" pretty good but there seem to be some strange choices by Ford in the calibration...

When sitting still the steering turns almost effortlessly just palming the wheel, but at speed it feels a little artificially heavy. If you have "Sport" Mode it feels like that in 2H with the Bronco in "Normal". Now going to Sport mode it gets even heavier, Still not uncomfortable, just slightly higher effort.

I know the point of the effort is to make it feel more precise, but I don't feel like it achieves that. It might while rock crawling, (Or Bombing across the desert) But I probably won't be able to report on that until Spring.

About the finished install and alignment;

There was at least one problem in the alignment that was a biggy, and deserves a PSA, Make sure that Tie Rod you took off, (Driver's side) is TIGHT, I thought I pulled it as tight as I could with a 14" Crescent, but the alignment shop still backed it out trying to get the toe right, and it cost me an extra 20 Minutes of labor for them to correct it... There is no loc-tite on it from the factory, but a bit of Blue on the threads might be a good idea, just make sure it doesn't get loose and contaminate your grease before it dries.

The Rack as pulled from the box was not close to the proper toe, although it looked to be when I measured it on the floor, although the 1/8th tolerance I gave myself on the measurement could definitely account for the .27 degrees the toe was off by...

I'm torn on whether it's really worth snaking the rack in around the M210 Pumpkin versus pulling the Diff out before installing the rack, I think as long as you have two people, it's probably worth it, but doing it by myself I probably could have done it a lot quicker pulling the axle. When you pull all the bolts out anyway, all that's left is the half shafts, wiring, and vent tube to pull it out completely, (I had already pulled the driveshaft, though that might not have been necessary) and having it out would allow you to easily leave the tie rods on and not have to remove the bolt from the lower a-arm, (which did make it necessary to adjust the camber during the alignment, was off by .3 degrees).

All in all, I do feel this was a worthwhile upgrade, that will provide a lot of peace of mind while wheeling with 37"s, and hopefully actually provide the extra sturdiness/durability to go along with that confidence!

 

[NORCALGXP]

I was sorely tempted to buy the tool @mpeugeot was using, but in the end I didn't want to have the thing up on the lift, and have to leave it there while I waited for another cable if that one didn't work, so I just went ahead and bought the Mongoose-Plus.. I'll definitely be using this thing in the future too, so I think the quality and not having to comprehend the 'Engrish' instructions with the VCX Nano off Amazon is worth the extra $$$

Final Report on the Rack....

Alignment was completed yesterday, and I drove it to work today, same 32 mile 1 way commute as usual, but Fridays on I95 in NoVa, Top speed I achieved was about 60mph.

It tracks straight now with no problems or wandering. It "Feels" pretty good but there seem to be some strange choices by Ford in the calibration...

When sitting still the steering turns almost effortlessly just palming the wheel, but at speed it feels a little artificially heavy. If you have "Sport" Mode it feels like that in 2H with the Bronco in "Normal". Now going to Sport mode it gets even heavier, Still not uncomfortable, just slightly higher effort.

I know the point of the effort is to make it feel more precise, but I don't feel like it achieves that. It might while rock crawling, (Or Bombing across the desert) But I probably won't be able to report on that until Spring.

About the finished install and alignment;

There was at least one problem in the alignment that was a biggy, and deserves a PSA, Make sure that Tie Rod you took off, (Driver's side) is TIGHT, I thought I pulled it as tight as I could with a 14" Crescent, but the alignment shop still backed it out trying to get the toe right, and it cost me an extra 20 Minutes of labor for them to correct it... There is no loc-tite on it from the factory, but a bit of Blue on the threads might be a good idea, just make sure it doesn't get loose and contaminate your grease before it dries.

The Rack as pulled from the box was not close to the proper toe, although it looked to be when I measured it on the floor, although the 1/8th tolerance I gave myself on the measurement could definitely account for the .27 degrees the toe was off by...

I'm torn on whether it's really worth snaking the rack in around the M210 Pumpkin versus pulling the Diff out before installing the rack, I think as long as you have two people, it's probably worth it, but doing it by myself I probably could have done it a lot quicker pulling the axle. When you pull all the bolts out anyway, all that's left is the half shafts, wiring, and vent tube to pull it out completely, (I had already pulled the driveshaft, though that might not have been necessary) and having it out would allow you to easily leave the tie rods on and not have to remove the bolt from the lower a-arm, (which did make it necessary to adjust the camber during the alignment, was off by .3 degrees).

All in all, I do feel this was a worthwhile upgrade, that will provide a lot of peace of mind while wheeling with 37"s, and hopefully actually provide the extra sturdiness/durability to go along with that confidence!

Excellent write up thanks.

 

[rtaylor]

Many thanks to @BigMeatsBronco and @Bmadda for blazing the trail. I did the upgrade today and it was surprisingly easy. The trick of removing the front diff bracket, removing the entire driver tierod, and removing the passenger LCA bolt made the mechanical part painless (dramatically easier than dropping the entire diff using the service manual approach). The VIN spoofing is sketchy, but it worked without any issues.

• 4dr donor vin worked fine on 2dr.
• only the front diff bracket needs to be removed (no other diff bolts)
• no need to unplug modules for 2022 2.7/AT
• tierod clearance is OK with long-spring Icon coilovers and swaybar spacer (full lock shown in photo).

Notes (2022 2dr badlands 2.7L sasq lux)

mechanical

1. prep new rack. Remove entire tie rod from driver side using 2 large crescent wrenches (mark it first so you can retighten the same amount).
2. lower window(s) and disconnect battery negative terminal (reinstall 48inlb)
3. put front on strong jackstands, remove tires.
4. remove tie rod joints from knuckles (reinstall 46ftlb).
5. remove entire driver-side tie rod.
6. remove skid plates (reinstall 22ftlb)
7. remove 2 electrical connectors on pwr steer (tuck out of way above steering unit for clearance).
8. pull breather hose off of differential (for clearance).
9. remove push-pins from both ends of the plastic drip shield on passenger side near steering rack and rotate for clearance.
10. secure steering wheel (duct tape around steering wheel to column).
11. remove steering column coupling to steering bolt (reinstall 22ftlb.)
12. remove lower two bolts on 2.7 oil cooler (can bend up out of the way to access diff bracket bolt).
13. remove bolt in hose bracket that blocks access to steering bolt.
14. remove the entire front differential bracket (4 bolts). Diff will drop slightly and rest on the frame. No need to remove any other mounting bolts (reinstall diff bushing bolt 195ftlb).
15. mark LCA cam position, then remove the nut from the passenger-side front LCA bolt and slide it out of the way (reinstall 195ftlb with SUSPENSION UNDER LOAD).
16. remove the steering rack bolts (reinstall 184ftlb)
17. slide rack toward passenger side, on top of the differential, rotating slightly as needed until it clears the diff, then drop driver side down and remove (no need to force anything).
18. insert new rack and reassemble doing everything in reverse. use bottle jack to lift diff back into position in bracket. loctite blue on bolts that had previous threadlocker.
19. set preliminary toe-in by eyeballing tires and adjusting until appears aligned with rear (with steering wheel straight).

programming

1. locate a donor vin online. 4dr wildtrak w/hoss 3.0 (52z) works fine for 2dr.
2. prep laptop. install driver for your cable (I used mongoose-plus). install forscan, fdrs+fjds (motorcraftservice.com). Do not install ids/vci/etc. Windows 11 works.
3. remove ForScan mods (e.g. tire size, tpms, sport mode, nav in motion). one way is to reload as-built for module (forscan downloads info from ford).
4. buy a 2-day $50 fdrs license on motorcraftservice.com (note fdrs and fjds use the same license). You'll need both the license code and login to use.
5. attach ~10A battery charger
6. start ForScan, ignore warnings. in bdycm configuration, change the VIN to the donor vehicle (three 6-character groups)
7. start FDRS, enter license/login, let it read the vin (should match donor vehicle). Ignore VCI warning.
8. FDRS will be unhappy that module vins dont match (e.g. ABS is real vin, BCM is donor vin), ignore and bypass to use donor VIN.
9. in FDRS toolbox, select PSCM, then download and run PMI. Say NO (original module is not installed). It will take a while and require multiple on/off cycles. Disconnect and exit.
10. in Forscan, BdyCM, change VIN back to real VIN. Exit, then restart ForScan.
11. clear DTCs. Reset ABS module to clear the ABS DTC. Confirm all clear.
12. When restoring larger tire size, don't forget to run AWD relearn in ForScan config menu and PCM reset-all-adaptations in the service menu to clear DTCs.
13. test drive & alignment.

 

[Tex]

I know the point of the effort is to make it feel more precise, but I don't feel like it achieves that. It might while rock crawling, (Or Bombing across the desert) But I probably won't be able to report on that until Spring.

I can attest to the benefits of having heavier input at speed offroad, it makes a big difference. Minor steering inputs make big changes and can lead to unintentional overcorrection, so when you're hitting some harsh terrain, the heavier steering dampens unwanted input from your body bouncing around and being connected to the wheel. At the same time, you sometimes need to make large but precise corrections, and it's easy to overshoot that with light steering. My speculation as to why Ford did this is probably not so much to make it feel precise to the driver, but rather to help the driver be more precise in rough driving conditions. The way they programmed it is just about spot on for the smaller rack and 35's in high speed desert running. Perhaps the larger rack with increased power magnifies the effect too much (or would it reduce the effect?). I should have mine installed in the next week or so if all goes to plan, and one of the first things on my list is to test it in those conditions.

 

[zuke]

Many thanks to @BigMeatsBronco and @Bmadda for blazing the trail. I did the upgrade today and it was surprisingly easy. The trick of removing the front diff bracket, removing the entire driver tierod, and removing the passenger LCA bolt made the mechanical part painless (dramatically easier than dropping the entire diff using the service manual approach). The VIN spoofing is sketchy, but it worked without any issues.

• 4dr donor vin worked fine on 2dr.
• only the front diff bracket needs to be removed (no other diff bolts)
• no need to unplug modules for 2022 2.7/AT
• tierod clearance is OK with long-spring Icon coilovers and swaybar spacer (full lock shown in photo).

Notes (2022 2dr badlands 2.7L sasq lux)

mechanical

1. prep new rack. Remove entire tie rod from driver side using 2 large crescent wrenches (mark it first so you can retighten the same amount).
2. disconnect battery negative terminal (reinstall 48inlb)
3. put front on strong jackstands, remove tires.
4. remove tie rod joints from knuckles (reinstall 46ftlb).
5. remove entire driver-side tie rod.
6. remove 2 electrical connectors on pwr steer (tuck out of way above steering unit for clearance).
7. pull breather hose off of differential (for clearance).
8. remove push-pins from both ends of the plastic drip shield on passenger side near steering rack and rotate for clearance.
9. secure steering wheel (duct tape around steering wheel to column).
10. remove steering column coupling to steering bolt (reinstall 22ftlb.)
11. remove lower two bolts on 2.7 oil cooler (can bend up out of the way to access diff bracket bolt).
12. remove bolt in hose bracket the blocks access to steering bolt.
13. remove the entire front differential bracket (4 bolts). Diff will drop slightly and rest on the frame. No need to remove any other mounting bolts (reinstall diff bushing bolt 195ftlb).
14. mark LCA cam position, then remove the nut from the passenger-side front LCA bolt and slide it out of the way (reinstall 195ftlb with SUSPENSION UNDER LOAD).
15. remove the steering rack bolts (reinstall 184ftlb)
16. slide rack toward passenger side, on top of the differential, rotating slightly as needed until it clears the diff, then drop driver side down and remove (no need to force anything).
17. insert new rack and reassemble doing everything in reverse. use bottle jack to lift diff back into position in bracket. loctite blue on bolts that had previous threadlocker.
18. set preliminary toe-in by eyeballing tires and adjusting until appears aligned with rear (with steering wheel straight).

programming

1. locate a donor vin online. 4dr wildtrak w/hoss 3.0 (52z) works fine for 2dr.
2. prep laptop. install driver for your cable (I used mongoose-plus). install forscan, fdrs+fjds (motorcraftservice.com). Do not install ids/vci/etc. Windows 11 works.
3. remove ForScan mods (e.g. tire size, tpms, sport mode, nav in motion). one way is to reload as-built for module (forscan downloads info from ford).
4. buy a 2-day $50 fdrs license on motorcraftservice.com (note fdrs and fjds use the same license). You'll need both the license code and login to use.
5. attach ~10A battery charger
6. start ForScan, ignore warnings. in bdycm configuration, change the VIN to the donor vehicle (three 6-character groups)
7. start FDRS, enter license/login, let it read the vin (should match donor vehicle). Ignore VCI warning.
8. FDRS will be unhappy that module vins dont match (e.g. ABS is real vin, BCM is donor vin), ignore and bypass to use donor VIN.
9. in FDRS toolbox, select PSCM, then download and run PMI. Say NO (original module is not installed). It will take a while and require multiple on/off cycles. Disconnect and exit.
10. in Forscan, BdyCM, change VIN back to real VIN. Exit, then restart ForScan.
11. clear DTCs. Reset ABS module to clear the ABS DTC. Confirm all clear.
12. test drive & alignment.

Excellent Step by Step write up!

 

[Snacktime]

@rtaylor Glad someone with else had an easier time doing the install. This is going to be a pretty common modification moving forward. We will see if Ford actually offers install in the future, hopefully a flat rate with purchase.

 

[mpeugeot]

This place doesn't have 3 strike laws, only capital punishment.

Actually it does, I was told if I mentioned a certain of friend mine again, I would be banished forever.

receipts below.

If I had used the name Fred, would that have changed anything?

 

[NORCALGXP]

Actually it does, I was told if I mentioned a certain of friend mine again, I would be banished forever.

receipts below.

If I had used the name Fred, would that have changed anything?

Happy to see you are back with us again.

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