I was thinking about the u-joint --not so much to shorten the arm but to get it to swing on a straight arc. lock to lock is only about 3/4 of a turn of the wheel --reminds me of a maserati Khamsin and i'm liking that aspect of it. right now it sweeps about an inch and a half forward on the left side when turning right, the left steering arm hits the stop well before the right one and the tire is probably almost 10 degrees in compared to the right.
As far as travel goes, it's around 14-16 inches total, but 9 to 10 of it is used up by the time i sit in it. I really haven't measured it, just a guesstimate. Most of the available movement is downward, going upward the springs go into coil bind long before the arms gets close to hitting anything--got more room for upward travel. If i raise the shocks, the front end just bottoms out on the ground (tried it already) The SC shocks would help with that by adding another inch of shock travel. It's getting some aircraft cable limiters on the arms today-- if i leave it sit, the arms creep down until it's so high that i have to settle them back down before sitting in it. If i were to air the front end a little off kilter without the limiters, i'm afraid the results might be a little "ugly".
As far as the wheel off goes, i'm just glad i went on my flat bumpy section and not up into the woods. Good part about it was I was testing it without the cotter pins on the hub nuts! A bit of deja-vu though -- a few years back after a shop did my state inspection which includes removing the tires to check the brakes-- my truck threw it's left front tire on route 22 (interstate 2 lanes each way) at 70 mph, watched it bounce along the divider praying it didn't cross into oncoming. 2nd or 3rd scariest automotive moment i've ever had.
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