This month's Tips & Tricks is aimed at the solid-axle fans among us. Anyone with serious seat time in a solid-axle hot rod knows that modern grooved-concrete highways, pitted roads, and other miscellaneous blacktop hazards can make the front wheels dance around faster than Michael Flatley on St. Paddy's Day. Frontend shimmy can be a frightening thing at freeway speeds, and when the Real Hot Rod project car did just that on my inaugural test run, it scared the everlasting jujubes out of me. It was a good thing my destination for the day was So-Cal Speed Shop. I told So-Cal's Tony Thacker about the problem, and within seconds he was holding the solution in his hands.
The So-Cal Speed Shop steering damper is an idea that originally spawned from the four-wheel-drive camp, where early off-road junkies would mount a shock absorber horizontally on the front axle to absorb shimmy. The idea transfers perfectly to our world, and So-Cal's sweet little piece is just the right size for a hot rod frontend and is offered in either a gloss black or chrome finish. Every car that rolls out of So-Cal is fitted with one of these units, and at around $35 (more for chrome), consider it cheap insurance. After toting the little damper home and slapping it on in less than an hour, I was floored by the improvement in handling and smoothness.
The damper is designed to work with virtually all types of solid-axle frontends. While I mounted mine to the frame crossmember and the steering tie rod, on most buggy-sprung, cross-steered cars it would mount between the tie rod and the hairpin/four-bar/radius rod. Remember, after disassembling the front suspension-especially if you removed the tie rod-it's always a good idea to have your alignment checked. Have fun, and be safe!