Bent draglink

Is it normal to bend the factory draglink on a Dana 30, with 33x10.50 TSL Radials, 4.88 gears w/locker? I have about 4.5" of lift on a 90 XJ. This was my first time out with my XJ. I normally am playing in a full sized 71 chevy w/38 boggers, cursing the turning radius, it takes about 5 traffic lanes to pull a U-turn w/o backing up.

I don't think I hit a rock, I was just in a tight spot, no wheel spin, wheels cranked then *?!#, my trip back to the trailer has begun. Pack it in, no more serious wheelin for the day.

Do I need to beef up my steering set up? I looks like just slipping a larger dia. pipe over it and welding would do the trick? This is not a DD XJ, it is trail only, the only time there is pavement near the tires is when I cruzen down the road with it in a trailer.

Any suggestions?

I'm trying to keep my total money input low, so far I'm at $1500 including purchase of the Jeep.

Thanks,
PAT

thats your tie rod, and it is a hollow thin piece of junk. i've bent both my tie rod and draglink running 33's 4.56s and a no slip. upgrade the tie rod and a zj draglink should take care of hte other if its a problem you encounter. i just put on a big daddy tie rod and the thing is hella beefy www.goferitoffroad.com is where i got it from, or just make your own.

ok. here's what you need to do: take that zj track bar and cut a peice of 1" or so angle iron and spot weld it up the entire tube. leave the ends so you can adjust/replace them. then make a spare. ok, do not go and buy all the aftermarket linkage. for doing this cheaply, that will suck you in to a lot. after that, it will be a cross brace for the steering box, wear out ball joints, then the track bar body bracket, etc. that bar is like a fuse in the system. now just the end links will bend, instead of the whole bar. and instead of much more expensive components. when you get over the obstacle, it's just 2 bolts to put on the spare.

Ramsey said:

thats your tie rod, and it is a hollow thin piece of junk. i've bent both my tie rod and draglink running 33's 4.56s and a no slip. upgrade the tie rod and a zj draglink should take care of hte other if its a problem you encounter. i just put on a big daddy tie rod and the thing is hella beefy www.goferitoffroad.com is where i got it from, or just make your own.

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Ill second the TR from BDOR. I have it on my rig and its hella beefy. I bought mine from JeepinOutfitters

time for some HD tie rod ends those because those things will definetly sheer before that rod bends

spydercustoms.com makes a steering setup that about $275 or so, and they upgrade the rod ends, tie rod, and it also includes a truss for the drag link. You can purchase each part of the kit seperatly, but as a whole, it would work well.

yeah. that and the track bar will bend all to hell.
just my experience; i beat the piss out of mine offroad, but with my tie rod, if i bend/break those ends twice in the same place, i know it's time to back off before something else pops.

not time to back off, time to upgrade

ok, so i replace tie rod, the track bar, get a new track bracket, reinforce it's axle mount, steering box brace, yup that sounds like a solid setup, but what gives after that? motor mounts, ball joints, then chassis cracks/bending. the motor twists one way, and you're steering the other. if you upgrade all this stuff and beat the hell out of it, there needs to be room for something to give. for my dd my setup works really well. granted he is trailering this, but he wants to keep the "cheap jeep" concept. but, this is just one man's opinion, so...

If it's cheap you want, do the ZJ upgrade. I did mine for $90 and it was easier than replacing the factory small one which cost $45. So your looking at $45 extra. It's true you'll just break the next weakest link after that, but it's gonna take more than what it took to do that to your tie rod to do it. The drag link is the next weakest I think, and it's bigger than your original tie rod and it's solid (aka stronger) Just my $.02

The next thing that might give is your steering box, so get that reinforced somehow, and try to run a small tranny cooler through it. Cheap mod for the cooler. The next thing you'll want to reinforce is the axle control arm brackets. They have been known to snap of, crack at the welds, and bend. I've had all of that happen to me, and it's also easy to fix.

lca mount ripped off this weekend. not exactly an easy trail fix, but its easy to prevent. run a bead on the inside then put a plate on the the front from both sides and to to the housing

Doing something similar to this will prevent the upper mount from ripping/bending out of shape

The plate extends all the way to the other end of the UCA mount, making it more rigid.

and if anybody does that brace on the uca axle mounts, just make dead sure it would clear the oil pan if the metal part of the bumpstop hits its pad (that rubber part will compress down it it A LOT).

xjj33p3r said:

Doing something similar to this will prevent the upper mount from ripping/bending out of shape

The plate extends all the way to the other end of the UCA mount, making it more rigid.

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I see you bent your RRO front BPEs as well. They arent a perfect fit for you either im guessing eh.