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Drop pitman to match RE1665 bracket drop?

91Heep

NAXJA Forum User
Location
North Louisiana
I run the Rubicon Express trackbar, bracket and brace setup.
I have a ZJ pitman arm on it but it's not enough drop to match how far the trackbar was dropped.

Looking around the web, I see that some of the drop pitmans sold for lifted xj's & tj's don't offer any drop for a ZJ, so I assume it's the same as what I have now.

Just wondering if any of the aftermarket drop pitman arms will drop farther than the 1" I have now?
 
That bracket doesn't actually drop the pivot point much at all. An inch at most. It looks longer because of the double shear joint setup, but the pivot is actually very close in height to where the stock TRE style pivot ends up. Dropping your pitman more is just going to make your geometry worse.
 
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It would be a lot more helpful if the picture were taken straight on from the front, and from far enough back to actually see everything. That shot isn't all that helpful.
 
Well that jeep is currently disassembled there Stinky.
Can't do that at the moment.
Using what's good off of it to turn a 2wd into a 4wd and wanted to correct a few things in the process.

I can tell you is that the center of the bolt for the track bar itslef is about .5" lower than the entire tie rod end.
Which puts that pivot point somewhere around 3/4 to 1" lower than the steering pivot point.

If I understand correctly, they should be as close to the same as possible?
If that's wrong then I'll leave it like it is, but that is my understanding which is why I'm on the hunt for something that will push that TRE down about another inch....
 
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Until you reach about 6-8 inches of lift, there is no need for a drop pitman arm. My IRO double shear track bar has about .75 inch drop on the frame side mount and I still run stock steering.
 
Oh ok, I was under the asumption that the tie rod and track bar attatchment points were supposed to match by means of other reserach.

SF is right about the 1" drop from the RE bracket, which is why I purchased a ZJ pitman arm when I was installing all that stuff.
Once I had them both installed and at eye level on my lift I saw that there was still about an inch difference.
Been thinking I done it wrong this whole time.
 
I can tell you is that the center of the bolt for the track bar itslef is about .5" lower than the entire tie rod end.
Which puts that pivot point somewhere around 3/4 to 1" lower than the steering pivot point.

If I understand correctly, they should be as close to the same as possible?
If that's wrong then I'll leave it like it is, but that is my understanding which is why I'm on the hunt for something that will push that TRE down about another inch....

I should have posted this last night, as it directly pertains to what we're talking about here. Watch the video and you'll understand better, but it really doesn't matter if the pivots are in the same spot vertically, what matters is that the linkage angles match.

 
I'm at 5.5" and still using the stock arm. No issues at all.
 
I have about 7" on the stock pitman.

So many other factors. A drop pitman arm is a tool to adjust geometry, but it adds more strain to the steering box, so if you don't actually need it, don't do it.
 
Are you all using the stock steering setup with the stock pitman?

I suppose what I'll have to do is once I get the new xj outfitted, just start with the stock arm and work from there.

Should I run a string from each track bar end bolt and compare the string to the drag link?
 
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That would work, but it's easier to just take a picture and draw on it in MS paint like I did in that video.

I absolutely do not have the tolerance for a damn computer.
I'll try the low tech string method.

Do the kits like your basic steering kit (installed UTK) allow for more articulation at the pitman arm and knuckle?
One thing I have noticed, even with my short arm setup, is steering bind before full droop.

I'm going with a control arm drop setup this go around and am sure I'll have even more droop.
May have to do limit straps.
 
Do the kits like your basic steering kit (installed UTK) allow for more articulation at the pitman arm and knuckle?
One thing I have noticed, even with my short arm setup, is steering bind before full droop.

The joint we use at the pitman arm has about 10* more movement from center than the stock joint. That's pretty substantial since the stock one only has about 20* total. At the axle end the amount of travel doesn't really matter as the joint is flipped sideways and merely rotates around the ball when you droop.
 
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