• NAXJA is having its 18th annual March Membership Drive!!!
    Everyone who joins or renews during March will be entered into a drawing!
    More Information - Join/Renew
  • Welcome to the new NAXJA Forum! If your password does not work, please use "Forgot your password?" link on the log-in page. Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] if we can provide any assistance.

Steering upgrade finished, I have a couple of Questions.

P1atinum

Aerodynamically Challenge
Location
Orlando, Florida
We finished my steering yesterday and so far I really like it, but I have a couple of small issues, and would like your opinions

Here is what I have done so far. I used the Teraflex PS high steer knuckle and there Tie rod with 1-Ton TRE’s I was going to use there Draglink with 1-Ton’s also but it will not clear the Tire when using 4” backspace wheels. After calling them they said you have to 3.5” of backspace with a 12.50” wide tire. It would be nice if there website or instructions mentioned this..
Anyway instead buying hew wheels for both sets of tires or trying to run spacers, I opted to build the Draglink and Trackbar using 5/8’s Rod Ends.

First issue, I can turn a lot more to the left then to the right. Since I am maxed out on the adjustment of the Draglink can I build a longer one to make up the steering, or can I move the pitman arm to make up the difference. I first tried using an YJ pitman arm that had a 1” drop but it was not keyed the same so I thought that was the problem. Turn out it wasn’t the stock is better but not by much.
Which direction should I look at going with here?

Second issue is steering stabilizer options. The steering is much better then before, much more responsive and tracks better going strait. But in long sweeping corners it wants to dart to one side or the other, of course this is with lockers front and rear I would expect some of this but it is pretty extreme. Is a stabilizer even going to help this? Or should I live with it?

Here ar some pics
100_1134.jpg

100_1133.jpg

100_1135.jpg

100_1136.jpg
 
Yes! THAT is an upgrade. But why didn't you go over the knuckle with your tie rod? Life is good with a flat drag link and a raised tie rod.


You must have pulled off your pitman to check the YJ arm, right? Did you make sure the steering box was centered before reattaching the pitman? With no arm connected, I turned all the way to one side, then counted rotations to opposite lock. Turn half the number of rotations towards the middle, and your box should be centered.

I don't run a stabilizer on my Jeep. It's fine now that I'm used to it. Have you thought about where you would attach a stabilizer to the axle? I'm sure you could find a little clamp to attach to a steering link if you want to go that way.
 
Phil said:
Yes! THAT is an upgrade. But why didn't you go over the knuckle with your tie rod? Life is good with a flat drag link and a raised tie rod
Thanks Phil...Only reason is I didn't have any flip inserts handy. Those are ONW and should be able to flip it after I get back from Tellico next weekend.

Phil said:
You must have pulled off your pitman to check the YJ arm, right? Did you make sure the steering box was centered before reattaching the pitman? With no arm connected, I turned all the way to one side, then counted rotations to opposite lock. Turn half the number of rotations towards the middle, and your box should be centered..
I am pretty sure it was still strait but I will check that before building a new draglink.

Phil said:
I don't run a stabilizer on my Jeep. It's fine now that I'm used to it. Have you thought about where you would attach a stabilizer to the axle? I'm sure you could find a little clamp to attach to a steering link if you want to go that way.
The only place I can think of, is attaching it to the OAQB bracket for the Panhard. I think I am just going to live with for awhile and see how bad it really is. If it gets to be a PITA I will change it then.
 
don't you still have to ream the upper part of the knuckle to 1+1/2 "/foot for those TRE's ? i thought the flip insert's were just to fill in the space where the old taper was so you have more area to bolt to properly ? never used them so i don't know for sure as i'm about to do this myself if i can ever figure out how to make it work without buying that knuckle. i want to just use the chevy TRE's and make my own bar's myself....
 
About the turning radius, building a longer track bar is the answer. I ran mine for several months with the body off by an inch. never appreciated how much I missed the turning radius till I fixed the track bar as part of my ram install. Really nice to be able to turn both ways. :laugh3:

D
 
P1atinum-
Just curious where did you end up getting your Teraflex PS high steer knuckle from? i tried searching google...but just kept coming up with form refrences...

could you also let me know how it all has turned out.....OR if one of you other guys had done this...please let me know what/how yours turned out... Thanks!!
 
So i was looking into things a little further and came up with this... its froms Smartazz19...but it looks simple enough....but has anyone done it? advice? etc.. When i looked into the Teraknuckle everything is saying '90+ D30's...mine is an 88....whats it matter?

heres the link to smartazz19's writeup..
http://home.comcast.net/~smartazz19/jeremyhighsteer.html
 
Hinkley's writeup

Click on "open all" (on the left), and click "WJ knuckle conversion."

HTH
 
I did this steering upgrade as well. http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=57519&highlight=crossover+steering
Didn't go 1 ton TRE's as I didn't want to break the knuckle before the TRE's. Since that write-up I have made it OTK. My only problem with the setup is that I don't get the turning radius I used to. My steering box maxes out before true lock, which seems to be a common problem with this setup. I am going to be going with a longer Pitman arm to resolve the issue. With your issue of the turning more one directiont han another, I would say make sure you are centered trackabr wise, to me it sound slike you may not be really centered over the axle.
 
The distance from the center of the ball joint to the center of the tie rod/drag link connection on the knuckle (steering arm) MUST equal the distance from the center of the steering box to the center of the drag link connection on the pitman arm.... Period!!! If it's not, fix this first.
Then center the axle under the truck with the track bar and you will have the same turning radius left to right.
THis does not mean you will be able to travel stop to stop as back spacing, tire width, TRE/tierod connection interference may cause you to limit the travel with the turn stops at the knuckle. BUT
The bottom line is think about a rectangle vs a rombus. Make the pull and the throw are the same first.
 
Frank Z said:
P1atinum,
Did you ever get your turning radius issue resolved? I'm having the same problem with mine.

Yeah I got it fixed. I had to lengthen the draglink about 1 inch. It now seams I have the same radius I had when stock, or pretty close anyway.

So far things have worked out great.. First test was in Tellico, on lower 2 I had the tierod sitting a rock with the full wieght of the jeep on it with no problems after I backed it off it straitend right back out.

I havent flipped it yet, but plan on doing that soon.. I just got my BTF diff covers in so when I put those on I will flip it.

BTW anyone have a link to flip inserts.. I saw them on here once but cant find the post anymore.
 
P1atinum said:
Yeah I got it fixed. I had to lengthen the draglink about 1 inch. It now seams I have the same radius I had when stock, or pretty close anyway.

So far things have worked out great.. First test was in Tellico, on lower 2 I had the tierod sitting a rock with the full wieght of the jeep on it with no problems after I backed it off it straitend right back out.

I havent flipped it yet, but plan on doing that soon.. I just got my BTF diff covers in so when I put those on I will flip it.

BTW anyone have a link to flip inserts.. I saw them on here once but cant find the post anymore.
I believe the inserts are for use with stock TREs. Since yours are larger, you will need to ream the holes from the top to the proper taper.
If your still having the darting issue, check the alignment if you didn't have it done.
 
Back
Top