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pitman arm master splines ground down

G

garr

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Nassau County NY
Does anyone Sell a Dropped Pitman arm (i currently run a ZJ arm) that has the master splines ground down to allow it to be indexed freely?
I did a wj brake/steering conversion using the JKS tie rod/drag link & it does not have enough adjustment to get the steering wheel perfectly straight, it's almost the but needs a couple more turns of the drag link to get there.
 
The draglink doesn't thread in far enough to center the steering wheel ? Mine did the same at 3" with the jks draglink. I had the cut the draglink down a 1/4" at each end and the same off each tre.
 
RoyalXJ said:
The draglink doesn't thread in far enough to center the steering wheel ? Mine did the same at 3" with the jks draglink. I had the cut the draglink down a 1/4" at each end and the same off each tre.
Click to expand...

My XJ sits about 4", I thought about cutting down the tie rod but didn't want to mess up such a nice part, I also thought about adding a few thread to the the rod end's, but figured the pitman arm would be the easiest route.
 
That's exactly what I did to get a WJ pitman arm to fit. The WJ arm had four oddly clocked master splines. It's pretty common to file them if you need the extra length of the WJ arm.
 
I use wj pitman arms and just use a hacksaw and file to grind the master into 2 smaller splines. Doesnt take long. Wj pitman Works awesome with a 44 and its better than a xj arm on a 60 front
 
Is your axle centered? Seems odd that they wouldn't give you enough adjustment in the arm. Why the ZJ drag link, should work fine with a stock XJ drag.

Mark
 
markw said:
Is your axle centered? Seems odd that they wouldn't give you enough adjustment in the arm. Why the ZJ drag link, should work fine with a stock XJ drag.

Mark
Click to expand...

Yes, it is perfectly centered. The steering wheel is just about 8 minutes off center, not much. I thought it was odd too, I think maybe the crappy crown RHD tie rod end required for the high steering conversion was out of spec, I was going to cut some more threads into it (there is room for 3/4" mor threads, more than enough to solve the problem), but I don't have the DIE on hand & would have to order it.
 
Your axle is not really supposed to be centered at ride height. It's supposed to be centered under full compression so your bump stops contact the landing pads.
 
markw said:
Is your axle centered? Seems odd that they wouldn't give you enough adjustment in the arm. Why the ZJ drag link, should work fine with a stock XJ drag.

Mark
Click to expand...

I just measured a buddies Clayton Off Road drag link that takes WJ TRE's, it's
19" long, The JKS Fab Drag link measures 20". If the JKS was 19" long I would not be having this issue, looks like JKS didn't do their homework like Clayton did.
 
RoyalXJ said:
The draglink doesn't thread in far enough to center the steering wheel ? Mine did the same at 3" with the jks draglink. I had the cut the draglink down a 1/4" at each end and the same off each tre.
Click to expand...

I think I'm going to do what you did, but why did you take 1/4" off the rod ends? Wasn't there enough threads to just thread them in?
 
garr said:
I think I'm going to do what you did, but why did you take 1/4" off the rod ends? Wasn't there enough threads to just thread them in?
Click to expand...

Didn't wanna chance the threads ending in the draglink and the tre bottoming out putting me in the same place. So instead I took that 1/4 off each tre to be safe.
 
RoyalXJ said:
Didn't wanna chance the threads ending in the draglink and the tre bottoming out putting me in the same place. So instead I took that 1/4 off each tre to be safe.
Click to expand...

Now this has me thinking, Since the JKS drag link is too long How about the JKS Tie rod? Was the Length OK or does it need to be cut down also?

I think Monday JKS is going to get an E mail recommending they shorten these parts by 1", That 1" has cost me hours of aggravation!
 
I took 1/2" off each end of the drag link with a chop saw (I went nice & easy with the saw), Filed the edges smooth, The TREs (With the Jamb nuts installed) thread completely in.
Now there is plenty of adjustment available to straighten the steering wheel without playing with the pitman arm.
Now I'm off to POR15 the cut ends before I venture out into this salt mine.
I'm painting the rod ends also due to Heavy exposure to road salt + Salt water on the beach.

Do you guys paint your Tie Rod Ends to prevent corrosion?
 
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