So, I have been driving for a week without a steering damper fitted and thoroughly enjoyed it. Mostly inner city & suburban driving, stop-start traffic approx 50kms per day, average Melbourne roads including trams tracks, some freeway driving up to 110kph. No issues to report, much nicer and more "normal" steering feel than stock, stable but light steering with self return to center and much less wander/fidgeting in straight ahead. My biggest learning is there is nothing to fear from not having a steering damper fitted, if you were to damage the factory damper while offroad just remove it and move on. I probably would not drive it without a damper at 170kph fully laden on a poorly maintained freeway on a dark foggy night, but I wouldn't be driving a Grenadier like that even if I had one fitted.
Yesterday I fitted an Ironman 4x4 "3524" steering damper to see what difference it would make. The 3524 is designed for the Landcruiser 60-105 series, the dampers fitted to these Landcruisers seem to have a similar operating range and mounting type to the Grenadier damper. Ironman says the 3524 has a extended/compressed range from 648mm to 423mm, measuring the original Bilstein damper I found its range to be approx 620mm to 440mm. The Bilstein damper is heavier and far harder to compress by hand, it also must be pressurised so self expands to its widest point every time (the Ironman damper is mush easier to compress and holds any length you set). The factory damper has mounting holes 14mm diameter with robust steel bushes, the replacement has 16mm rubber holes so I needed bushes or some kind of spacer. One factory bolt is M14 and the other is M12 with a 12x14 bush. I am struggling to find 14x16 bushes I am totally happy with so I will not go too far into the mounting method, I have some alternatives on order and will report back if they are more suitable.
In limited driving today with the Ironman unit fitted I have found the steering to be very similar to the feel without a damper, basically it feels "normal" especially in terms of self centering after corners and less wander in straight ahead. I would think most dampers suited to the Landcruiser 60-105 series will give a similar experience, these are very common in the Australian market and generally reasonably priced. I would probably get a professional to fit it next time as they will have easier access to the bushes required, but its not hard for the tinkerers out there to do themselves. Note I would avoid dampers suited to the Landcruiser 71-79 series, they have a different extension/compression range. I have attached pictures of the markings on the original Ineos damper for the curious.
As changing the damper is a very easy process I intend to use the alternative damper for daily use, and keep the Bilstein damper for extended and/or offroad journeys and as a spare.
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