Best options for a temporary D30 steering fix.

After some light testing over the weekend i've gotten a chance to get an idea for how will handle. I have this fear that the stock steering setup will be one of the first items to fail. What I am looking for is a decent temporary setup that will allow me to do what I need to do, and take some abuse, with out costing me too much. I am going to be building a D44 for the front for a full width swap late next summer or early winter.

Current setup.

6 in w/ shortarms (drop brackets)
factory HP D30 steering setup.

Right now I can not put my swaybar back on due to a minor conflict between my draglink/tierod and the swaybar axle mount. So I am running swaybarless. I'd like to get use of those JKS units that are hanging on my workbench soon.

Options....

1. Currie unit ($$$$, decent reviews)
2. Rustys unit ( cheap, but not so great reviews)
3. Stock unit and baby it (free but not very much fun)
4. Stock and go with a GoFerit flip kit
5. Custom HD unit w/ GoFerit kit

well that is about what I have so far... I have done tons of searches but just wanted some opinions.

-Scott

I'm at 6 inches short arm ... OK OK more than 6 but I'm still running stock setup. No real problems other than not getting it aligned professionally .... I say keep stock, save your $$$ till you do your swap.

I did have to do some trimming to get things to work, and I also flipped the tie rod to the front .... something you may want to do. I cut down the sway bar mount brackets & mounted the sway bar back further. Had to cut into the stablizer bracket to get that to fit. For the tie rod I got a tapered sleeve, drilled out the drag link & reverse tapered the hole with the sleeve. It looks like it's going to hit the draglink on the tre end, but it hasn't on mine after lots of testing.


Not any stronger than stock, but hopefully it will last me till I get my custom stuff done.

I can't remember the website, but it belongs to ZPD on this board. He has an HD homemade job. Thats the best I can do. One thing, you have to do some fabbing with the GoFerIt kit.HTH

Fergie

EDIT: http://www.xjworld.4wdriver.com/steering.htm

You have three choices,

ZPD's after you buy all the parts it's about $200, http://www.xjworld.4wdriver.com/steering.htm

Bolt on, beefy, inverted T and you can use your OEM steering as a back up.

minor clearance issues, make sure you keep the jam nuts tight and Requires minor welding

http://home.comcast.net/~cdutke/steering/steering.htm

This one is about $200 also, if you catch the MORE Chirstmas Sale.

You have to drill the knuckles to 5/8", otherwise like ZPD's except for that you can not use your OEM as back up.

The last one is to just weld some angle iron to your OEM links, beef them up, it's the cheapest for a temporary solution. If you however have a lot of mileage on you TRE's you should replace those do to your 6" lift.

If you do 1 or 2 you might be able to sell it.

HTH

You really dont want to wheel with stock steering on anything over 4.5" lift. If you have any kind of droop at all you're probably limited by the stock steering. This 'limiting' is the steering binding at the pitman arm TRE.........what happens when it binds you ask? All the weight of your axle/tire/wheel combo hangs from your stock steering box. Do you have an ORGS SBSII yet? Get one before your box rips off the frame like I've seen happen many times. Building a HD OTK steering setup on a D30 is not difficult and will cost less than rebuilding all your stock steering (that's when I built my first one). Dont' skimp & break on the trail.

vintagespeed said:

You really dont want to wheel with stock steering on anything over 4.5" lift. If you have any kind of droop at all you're probably limited by the stock steering. This 'limiting' is the steering binding at the pitman arm TRE.........what happens when it binds you ask? All the weight of your axle/tire/wheel combo hangs from your stock steering box. Do you have an ORGS SBSII yet? Get one before your box rips off the frame like I've seen happen many times. Building a HD OTK steering setup on a D30 is not difficult and will cost less than rebuilding all your stock steering (that's when I built my first one). Dont' skimp & break on the trail.

Click to expand...

Any chance you have any info on your previous setup? Did you just drill the knuckle and sleeve it? Any info would be great. Also if you wanted to help a fellow socal xj'er out and maybe fab it for me...im sure I could compensate you for your time / efforts

-Scott

vintagespeed said:

You really dont want to wheel with stock steering on anything over 4.5" lift. If you have any kind of droop at all you're probably limited by the stock steering. This 'limiting' is the steering binding at the pitman arm TRE.........what happens when it binds you ask? All the weight of your axle/tire/wheel combo hangs from your stock steering box. Do you have an ORGS SBSII yet? Get one before your box rips off the frame like I've seen happen many times. Building a HD OTK steering setup on a D30 is not difficult and will cost less than rebuilding all your stock steering (that's when I built my first one). Dont' skimp & break on the trail.

Click to expand...

What do you suggest for a 5.5" RE kit? I have the tie-rod flip kit from GoFerit, but it's not installed yet. Will this be sufficent? BTW, I also have a C-ROK plate and a MORE steering brace.

BillR said:

What do you suggest for a 5.5" RE kit? I have the tie-rod flip kit from GoFerit, but it's not installed yet. Will this be sufficent? BTW, I also have a C-ROK plate and a MORE steering brace.

Click to expand...

What is it that you plan to flip?You cannot flip a stock drag link!What about using an inverted-t from a Yj,its a direct bolt up,just get a offset end for the pitman arn end!

With this kit, you drill the driver side knuckle and move that end of the tie rod up on top. It gets it out up out of the way from in front of the pumpkin, and is supposed to help the angles some. Apparently you also have to "relocate" the sway bar mount on that side.

I'm at about 5 1/2" with stock steering. All I did as temp. setup is sleeve the tie rod with some beefy tubing. So far it has held up great.

I was out wheeling a couple of weeks ago and we did highway to hell ( rated a 4 1/2+). On the way out a guy with a TJ had the currie setup and snaped the tierod end off the draglink. I don't know if currie took care of it but it is something to think about.

BillR said:

What do you suggest for a 5.5" RE kit? I have the tie-rod flip kit from GoFerit, but it's not installed yet. Will this be sufficent? BTW, I also have a C-ROK plate and a MORE steering brace.

Click to expand...

flipping tie-rod doesn't help any binding problems. the binding occurs at the draglink's rod ends. you can't flip the pass side on top of the knuckle, as it will screw up the steering geometry. fip kit is only good for gaining clearance under the tierod.

dennisuello said:

flipping tie-rod doesn't help any binding problems. the binding occurs at the draglink's rod ends. you can't flip the pass side on top of the knuckle, as it will screw up the steering geometry. fip kit is only good for gaining clearance under the tierod.

Click to expand...

I see your point.
The website said that the kit helped with the angles somewhat, but what you said make more sense.

I run the Go Fer It tie rod with the stock drag link. It does limit my droop, but I still get plenty.

I've had the tie rod on for over a year and did finally bend it. I'm glad it bent as I was kind of fubared and had a piece of granite sticking up between my axle tube and the tie rod.

The Go Fer It tie rod will work for you at least temporarily. (I'm running 35" tires and a D30---at least until my engine doesn't totally puke)