off turning radius on hp 44.

Well when I swapped in my hp 44 I also swapped in a durango steering box which meant pulling the column out to get steering shaft off. When I put everything back together I have the steering wheel off a bit but pitman arm went on box where it should since it has taper for it. Track bar is centered as well. Nothing alignment wise is real off but I have good turning radius to left and not real good to right. I have lifetime alignments down at firestone but is this gonna solve my issue or do I need to be checking somewhere else for a mess up?

Extend your draglink.

Did you reuse your jeep pitman arm? If so then what he said.

I had the same problem and after either lengthening/shortening (I forgot) my draglink I had equal amounts of steering both sides. My steering wheel is not centered.

Man you guys are fast. ..

kind of a dumb question but lengthen with heim ends still attached and tires on? Like I said I generally leave alignment crap to the shop.

There might be a spacer inside your Durango steering box. This spacer will prevent you from going from lock to lock when turning, like your old box. I had mine removed from my Durango steering box when it was rebuilt. Refer to this thread for more information:

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=915103

Scott

well Im not gonna lie thats the worst news I could hear. I went and spent a hour lengthening draglink so I had somewhatequal tunring radius. Not horrible on street butI know it will suck on the trail. Good almost two inches till steering stop on on side, other steering stop was broken off at some point i guess. So what do you think must it be the durango box that has the limitation?




my toe is so off that saw tread loss in just a couple miles of driving, off to the alignment shop tomorrow!

btw those shots are rightbefore maxed out where pump is whining.

Multiple things could be going on here.

- Spacer in durango box
- You need to match the length of the pitman arm to the length of the steering knuckle arm. If you left the stock XJ pitman arm on there (5.5" from hole to hole I believe) you aren't matching the throw of the 44 knuckles (6.5" from ball joint hole to TRE hole I believe). Make sense?

Definitely get an alignment as well.

Kinda I just had never read that. I havea 3/4" drop ARM on there right now

well i measured the knuckle arm sincethere chevyknuckles. It is about 9.5 inches from ball joint center to heim joint or tie rod center. And it is 6.5 inches from pitman arm center to center since its a 3/4 to 1 inch drop. So in this situation what do I run???

i believe the axle has high steer arms as well.

SO I see the only real viable thing to use is a stock waggy pitman arm. ANyone use it with high steer arms with success in gaining all the throw back?

I used a stock waggy pitman arm with my Durango box for my HP44 and have full steering. Lock to Lock on the box and it hits the steerings stops on the axle. I screwed up kinda when I set it up and I didnt have the steering box centered so I was only getting like 1/2 a turn in one direction, but took off the draglink, recentered and adjusted the length of the DL and it is perfect. I think the waggy arm will help.

VET8911 said:

I used a stock waggy pitman arm with my Durango box for my HP44 and have full steering. Lock to Lock on the box and it hits the steerings stops on the axle. I screwed up kinda when I set it up and I didnt have the steering box centered so I was only getting like 1/2 a turn in one direction, but took off the draglink, recentered and adjusted the length of the DL and it is perfect. I think the waggy arm will help.

Click to expand...

Dumb question but to recenter the steering box I must??? When I installed it I sorta just eyeballed it not really thinkin on how to properly do that.
I got an alignmen today so now it drives reasonable on the street. I am running these high steer arms so I think I will get a pitman arm from bjas offroad and call and try it out once I learn to re center the box and adjust draglink. At that point would I need another alignment other then recentering the steering wheel?

This is what my Durango box looks like installed:





If your current setup looks like this, everything should be within spec. FYI, the pitman arm I have is a stock XJ arm. I do not have a waggy pitman arm yet. Try to take a snapshot similar to what I have, and post it up. My recommendation, if you just got an alignment and it's within spec, and you're Durango box install is correct, you're most likely going to need a waggy pitman arm and to inspect the inside of the box. (It sounds like you already have a waggy pitman arm to begin with.)

The length of the pitman arm needs to be as close as it can be, to the length of the high steer arm from ball joint center to TRE center.

Secondly, with the high level of modification that your rig has, you have to be comfortable with the procedures that you need to complete sometimes in order to determine solutions to problems. Including inspection of the inside of that Durango box. Where did the box come from? I had mine rebuilt by a Power Steering shop. I had to specifically ask the owner to remove the spacer, so I could have full capability. If everything else is where it's supposed to be, I'm willing to bet a spacer is the culprit.

Scott

No waggy arm yet but I will get one here in the near future and swap it on. i will take a pic but it probably looks fairly close. I will unfortunatly pull the box out and pull it apart or try to find a power steering shop if they exist around here. DId you grind off the inner cover tabs as well?

The tabs! :doh: I completely forgot about those. Thanks for the reminder.

No I did not remove those personally. Initially, when I first received my box from the shop that worked on it, it had the spacer inside as well as the 4 tabs on the cover - seen here:



I took the box back to the shop, and explained what I was trying to do with my setup. Luckily, another member had already been through what I was going through with the same shop. The owner recalled the previous situation, and told me he would remove the spacer, as well as install a cover without the 4 tabs.

If the spacer and those tabs are still inside, it is most certainly going to restrict the movement in your steering. Definitely look into that. Keep us updated, and let us know if you have any more questions.

Scott

well i scored a waggy arm. Unfortunatly to make it work i have to fill the hole with weld and re drill to 5/8's since im running a 5/8 bolt in it for heims. So I am gonna pull the box and have it rebuilt by a shop here in portland that will charge 200 and ditch both the spacer and tabs. Time to save some money now. Im only gonna assume no one makes a custom pitman arm as I have never seen one.