Revington steering arm alternative.

[Charlie D]

Hello All,

Over the years I’ve seen many good reviews of the Revington steering arm improvement. Basically new arms that are shaped to bring the trackrod ends much closer to the disc. This reduces bumpsteer and generally improves handling.

Problem is that at about £200 the pair they are a bit expensive (to me, at least.)

I noticed a thread about them in 2017 where it was suggested that by swapping the original steering arms over from one side to another a similar (but not as good) improvement could be made.

In that thread Bob (Lebro) said:
” I would say that swapping the steering arms over has achieved very similar result as the Revington kit. (why didn't I think of that !)”

And Fireman Tom Said:
” Swapping the steering arms left to right on the standard set-up is not recommended.”

These are two people who’s knowledge I respect, so not sure what to think.

I was wondering if anyone here had actually done this and also by doing so will there be enough thread from the ball joints to fit into the ball joint connecting tube to keep it safe. (The Revington kit supplies new longer tubes, but then the ball joints are even further apart than by simply swapping the steering arms over.)

Your comments appreciated.

Charlie.

[Hamish]

I have the revington kit and as you say it’s more than just the arms that bolt to the uprights. It longer threaded steering tubes as well. 
then you have to buy the small track rod ends to get clearance on the discs and most need to remove the disc back plates too.

all this is only worthwhile if you don’t have R and P steering. And (imo) if you are enjoying “spirited” driving. 
 

otherwise the standard set up is more than suited to our rough old roads within the typical road speeds 30-50.

But  to be honest I didn’t know the arms were “handed” so that swapping them over made any difference. So what do I know 

[BlueTR3A-5EKT]

there is not a lot of thread left in the standard tube if you move the track rod end outwards by 1/2-3/4”  so you need to lengthen  yours  or use the Revington ones.

Fitting the originals left to right/right to left you have a problem getting the mating faces of the lever flat to the mounting points where the bolts come through   This can be corrected by grinding away the v post and lever.   Or fit washers to space the thing away which moves the levers toward the middle of the car again, loosing the benefit you were hoping for.

Revington used to do exchange levers that his local forge reshaped.

 

[Ian Vincent]

The R & P set-up that I bought S/H but unused was I think a TR Bitz one.  The instructions advised you to swap the levers L to R & vice versa.  The Revington items are just a marginal improvement on that.  The difference is that without the Revington arms (and I didn't pay £200 for them) I didn't have to cut a section out of the dust shield, whereas with the Revington arm I needed to, and use the correct number of washers to achieve the back of the track rod end about 1.5mm away from the inside of the disc, (from memory one at the front and none at the back on each side).  I also shaped the slightly rough casting on the TREs with an angle grinder so they couldn't touch the disc at any orientation.  I don't have any noticeable bump steer whereas without the Revington arms there was a little bit.

Rgds Ian

[Charlie D]

Hamish, Peter, Ian,
Thank you for your observations.

Since asking the question I found a couple of steering arms and a vertical link in my spares box and laying them out on the bench I could not see how they could be swapped over and still fit. Peter’s explanation makes a lot of sense and with the work involved (Extending the connecting tube and cutting/grinding the arms.) I think it will be better to save up my pocket money and buy the ready-made items.

Hamish. I’ve seen the videos of your driving and even though I don’t think I’ll be doing anything similar, I still might go ahead and fit the Revington arms.

Ian. You mentioned that you had to grind a bit off the TREs to stop them hitting the disc. Were these the standard TREs or where they a smaller version that Hamish mentioned? (Adding to the expense!)

Charlie

[Ian Vincent]

Hi Charlie,

They we’re the standard item. I probably ground them to be equivalent to the smaller ones but only  on the side nearest to the disc.

Rgds Ian

[Lebro]

I have the Revington arms. I used the existing track rod ends, but did have to space the arms away from the vertical link with one washer per bolt.

I also ditched the stone shield as being more TRouble than it was worth ! The TRE's ended up around 3mm from the disc. If I need to change them in the future (due to wear) I would select the smaller ones, presumably only available from Revington.

Bob

[TR4ffic]

I fitted the Revington steering arms. I was looking to improve the steering, and considering a R+P upgrade at the time.

I'm not aware that the Revington kit is meant to reduce bump steer ...what it is meant to sort out is the poor steering geometry and the Ackerman Angle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ackermann_steering_geometry ...the fact that when turning a corner, the inner wheel has to scribe a tighter circle than the outer wheel. Something the early TR's don't do in standard set up.!!

I found the Revington kit improved the turn in to a corner and made the steering more precise, and I also found that the straight ahead/mid point wander is greatly reduced.

Like Lebro, I dispensed with the stone shields

In the end I didn't bother going any further by fitting a R+P ...these do increase bump steer

[Lebro]

I think it depends on which R&P option you go for.  To reduce bump steer, & also to change the +ve camber into -ve I fitted the "Adjustable upper fulcrum"

designed bt Revington & copied by Bastuk !

Straight ahead stability can be improved by adding some castor angle, achievable by using late TR4 trunnions along with late TR4 - TR6 upper wishbones, & top swivel. 

Doing all of these results in a well behaved car steering wise. (but still heavy when at parking speeds).

Bob

[Ralph Whitaker]

Interesting to hear of straight ahead wander mentioned in the above posts, I was thinking I must have set my tracking wrongly despite checking it several times. I have r+p conversion, using a TR7 rack and shortened track rods. I swapped the arms side to side and turned up a spacer for each side in order to fit them. The track rod ends now sit close to the dust shield. I think the geometry is fairly good using the supermarket car park "squeal" test, I can turn tightly without any noise from the front tyres which is something I cannot do in my modern car.

I have recently bought TR4 upper wishbones and changing them and the top and bottom trunnions is next winters project. Debating whether to go the whole hog and buy new TR5/6 uprights too whilst I am in there.

Ralph

Edited June 7, 2022 by Ralph Whitaker

[Charlie D]

Ian and Bob,

Thanks for the TRE information.

Charlie.