need some advice on inverted-T steering

[zachandandy]

Dead spot>toe angle changes and weak components. The dead spot is way over played. My xj has a 7.5" re lift and had the rugged ridge inverted t when I bought it. I'm very happy with the inverted t, but I'm switching to rustys system because I won't spend $200 on Chinese custom crap tre's. I had already purchased replacement ends for the rustys setup, as I thought that's what I had. The rustys kit can also be flipped to otk with goferit inserts when I deceide to relocate swaybar mounts and track bar.

 

[GordoSmasho]

It looks like the steeper the drag link, the worse the TRE roll is. Conversely, a shallow drag link angle (achieved through lower lift, dropped pitman arm, high steer, or going OTK) will result in less roll and more sensitive steering, yes?

I ask because I'm on 3" of lift and want as close to zero dead spot as possible. Weighing the merit of the chevy inverted T vs the ZJ tie rod & drag link.

You are correct. With 3" of lift if you decide to go over the knuckle you would have no role at all I would think. That would be the best situation. Even without a drop pitman arm your steering would be higher than the stock setup with no lift.

 

[twodoorXJ]

Poly spacers wear out.
They don't work that well.
The TRE type inverted T steering has wandering / dead space in the steering.
It isn't that great from what I've heard.
Maybe a captured heim for the drag link would fix this. Don't know.
Thoughts?

I actually OWN a rig with inverted T steering, i have about 5.5 inches of lift, maybe a little more, I have JCR utk, ive had it for about 6500 miles now, still no dead spot, and the poly spacer is doing just fine.

 

[yossarian19]

Glad to hear it - I'm just now starting to hear good things about that setup. Never had before, that I recall.
I'm actually starting to consider it for my own rig, though I'd source my own junk instead of buying a kit.

 

[Frank Z]

I put one on my son's 2 years ago, still using the original spacer.

If the spacer is too thick it won't last long.

It needs to be juuuuuuuuuuuuust right.

 

[Ben824]

ok here is a question, if I ream it and mount is on the UTK first, can I later flip it and ream it to fit OTK?

 

[yossarian19]

ok here is a question, if I ream it and mount is on the UTK first, can I later flip it and ream it to fit OTK?

unless somebody has done it and can show pictures to prove that it works OK, I'm saying "no". The reamer is a taper, so the top is bigger than the bottom. If you make the hole on the bottom .7188 the first time, you can't make it smaller again to fit the other end of the TRE later on.
In other words, once you cut the metal to / \ that shape, you can't go back to \ / that one. Make sense?

 

[robsjeepxj]

Not really unless you replace both knuckles. Once they are reamed in one direction there's no going back. I made the mistake of going under at first but with the loss of ground clearance I kept bending stuff. I finally replaced the knuckles and went OTK and never looked back. You'll also need to replace the ball joints too if you replace the knuckles as removal usually damages them, it's a real PITA, do it right the first time or don't even bother.

 

[zachandandy]

The system from rustys can be flipped easily, because the hole is in the tie rod itself, not the tre. A pair of inserts from goferit( and track bar and sway bar mods) is all u would need. The tre with a hole in it would need replaced and reamed from the opposite direction.