Breeze Industries Cross-Over Steering Kit

March 10, 2000

By Robin Schmidt and Dave Hrdlicka

Breeze Industries Website: www.breezeindustries.com Email: sales@breezeindustries.com Phone: (604) 540-7778 Fax: (604) 540-7700 Unit 5 - 224 Cayer Street, Coquitlam, BC, Canada, V3K 5B1 For questions on this article, contact robin@bc4x4.com or dave@bc4x4.com   Disclaimer This four-wheel drive steering kit is built specifically for intense off-road use only. For standard road use these modifications may not pass certification in all provinces or states. Therefore, we recommend that the owner have his or her vehicle certified for road use to meet the regulations pertaining to that area. All liability in the installation and usage of these component parts are at owner's own risk.

Ever wonder if there’s a way to be rid of that annoying bump-steer? Well there is an answer, and it’s 'Yes'. Breeze Industries is located in Coquitlam, British Columbia and manufactures a multitude of high quality samurai parts. One of those such items is a cross-over steering system designed to eliminate bump-steer on lifted Suzuki Samurai’s. We picked up our kit from Breeze Industries on Saturday morning and after a few tips on installing the setup, we were off to do the install. Upon first inspection I could tell that the machine work and the detail that went into the development of this kit is definitely of the highest quality. Parts Supplied in the Kit Replacement drag-link Machined drag-link mount with incorporated kingpin Caliper mount stud Caliper mount stud nut Caliper mount bolt 2 Caliper mount lock washers 4 Kingpin bolts and lock washers Tools required: 12mm wrench 12mm socket & socket wrench 17mm wrench Pickle Fork Pliers or Vise-grips Hammer Grease gun Parts included in the kit. Comparison between Z-link and Cross-over. Another look at the kit. Installation Block the rear wheels to prevent the vehicle from rolling and insure that the emergency brake is on. Loosen the front wheel lug-nuts. Jack up the front of the Samurai and firmly support the axle with jack-stands Remove the cotter pins from the 4 tie-rod ends. Using a 17mm wrench, remove the 4 tie-rod bolts. Using a pickle fork remove the drag-link from both the tie-rod and the pitman arm ends. Also remove the tie-rod from both knuckle ends using the pickle fork. Swap the tie-rod around so that the old drag-link ball-joint mount is facing inwards. This is to give a cleaner look and to keep the stud from being caught on trail debris, etc. Replace the tie-rod nuts on each end and bolt it up. Replace the cotter pins. Tie-rod in stock position. Closeup of passenger side tie-rod end. Swapped tie-rod (driver side). Using a 12mm wrench, remove the two bolts holding the passenger side caliper on and tie it up out of the way. (Note: it is not required to disconnect the brake lines) Using a 17mm wrench, remove the two bolts holding the caliper mount in place and then remove the caliper mount. Remove the rotor. Using a 12mm wrench, remove the 4 passenger side kingpin bolts and pull the kingpin out. The new machined drag-link mount has been designed to be used with the stock kingpin shim so make sure that you keep it to be re-used during assembly. Caliper and Kingpin bolts removed, caliper mount still in place. Kingpin removed, caliper mount removed. Take the new caliper mount stud out of the package and lock two nuts onto the end with the most threads. This will allow you to screw it into the caliper mount bracket. You will want to put the stud into the hole that will be towards the front of the vehicle. (Note: you may want to use lock-tite on the stud so that it doesn’t back out of the caliper mount). Caliper mount and new stud. Caliper mount with new stud threaded in. After placing the kingpin shim on the new drag-link mount, grease the integrated kingpin and then place it into the kingpin hole. Using the 4 new kingpin bolts and lock-washers bolt up the new mount. This step may require you to lightly tap the mount into place but it should slide in without too much effort. New drag-link mount - notice the perfect fit of the socket in the counter-sunk holes. Bolting up the new drag-link mount. Now take the caliper mount with the new stud in it and slide it back into position on the steering knuckle (make sure that you mount the rotor at the same time as the caliper mount). Using the supplied nut, lock-washer and the other supplied bolt, tighten the caliper mount into position. This will require that you tighten the nut onto the stud as you slowly slide the caliper mount into position. Sliding the caliper mount in with the new stud inserted. Caliper mount bolted up. Note the rotor needs to be installed at the same time as the caliper mount. Replace the caliper and tighten the bolts up. Take the new drag-link and bolt it onto the pitman arm. Ready to install the new drag-link. Drag-link installed (passenger side). New drag-link installed on the pitman arm. Insure that the pitman arm is centered by cycling the steering wheel back and forth until you find the center position. Now adjust the drag-link tie-rods so that the drag link will reach the new mount while keeping the wheels straight. Tighten both ends and replace with the new cotter pins. Insure that all the bolts are tight and the new tie-rod ends are properly greased. This is also a perfect time to check over the rest of your steering linkages. Make sure that all other tie-rod ends are tight and that the rest of your steering is in proper working order. Once everything is tightened up, have a friend cycle the steering lock to lock while watching to make sure that the system is working smoothly and that nothing is binding. (ie. brake lines, leaf springs, etc.). Replace the front tires. Lower the vehicle down and tighten up the lug-nuts. Take your rig with it's fancy new steering system for a test spin and enjoy the ride!   Installation Impressions BEFORE   AFTER The install of this kit went very smoothly and all of the parts fit with ease. Breeze builds all of their parts to exacting tolerances, often within 10 thousandths of an inch, and it definitely shows in the quality of this system. The total time it took us to install this kit, including taking notes and pictures, was just under 2.5 hours.   Onroad Driving Impressions Here's our Samurai on a 20 degree ramp. The new steering doesn't even come close to contacting the leaf springs. Wow! What a difference this steering makes. Before the install we had taken the Samurai out to drive a circuit over train tracks, speed bumps, and numerous potholes. We then took it out after the install to compare the results. Our bumpsteer used to be scary on the road, especially at speed, but with the new steering system we drove over these things with only a light hand on the steering wheel and it tracked straight and true each time. Turning at slower speeds is also noticeably easier than it was with the old z-link. Our final opinion is that this steering system is worth every penny and is one of the 'must-have' modifications for any lifted, daily driven, Suzuki Samurai.   Offroad Driving Impressions We chose Walker Valley in Washington state for our first offroad adventure with the new steering system.  As soon as we hit the trail the difference from before the new steering was hugely apparent.  We were able to travel at a quicker pace over the gravel service road with a much more comfortable feeling than before. On the rougher terrain we also noticed that we could drive over the smaller boulders and trail debris without having the steering wheel almost wrenched out of our hands.  After a day on the trail we can only re-confirm what we said above: this steering kit is definitely one of the 'must-have' modifications you can do to your Samurai.