pitman angles

I swapped in a YJ steering box to fix something but I wasn't sure if it would work out, so I kept the YJ pitman arm installed. The box worked out so now I need to figure out what I'm going to do about the pitman arm. Honestly it looks like the YJ arm is giving me perfect angles, even better than what I had with the XJ gear box, however the angle of the TRE at the Pitman seems pretty steep and I don't want to put myself at risk of bending or breaking that. Here's the angle with the YJ pitman and the T&T trackbar and bracket:



Interesting that the big T&T trackbar bracket didn't move the top mount further than it did. Anyways, long-term plans are replace axles and steering then lift it another 1-2" depending on factors. So I'm wondering what I should do here:

A) keep it as is for now and deal with whatever binding problems may arise

B) go back to the XJ pitman to get more leeway on droop

C) go ahead and do the ZJ pitman to get it over with

Looks perfect,leave it alone!

I guess I should carry a spare TRE for the drag link

Maybe I will heat and twist a pitman to keep the angle and relieve the stress

ehall said:

So I'm wondering what I should do here:

A) keep it as is for now and deal with whatever binding problems may arise

B) go back to the XJ pitman to get more leeway on droop

C) go ahead and do the ZJ pitman to get it over with

Click to expand...

Have you check to see if the TRE does bind when fully drooped?
I was surprised to find the stock TRE on my 01 XJ maxed out a little before the passenger side fully drooped. I'm only at 3.5" of lift with about 5.5" of droop.
I found that the Moog replacement (ES3096L) had a much wider swing than the stock TRE and does not bind in my application.

I wonder if it is OK to heat and bend a pitman arm with damaging it. Wish I knew more about metallurgy

from my knowledge the more you heat and bend metal the more likely it is to bend

94xjstud said:

from my knowledge the more you heat and bend metal the more likely it is to bend

Click to expand...

that is not necessarily true. i believe pitman arms are cast steel in a non hardened condition which means you can heat it up cherry red and do what you want to it (besides quenching), allow to air cool and it will normalize and be the same strength as it was before. the heating of the part will allow for easy movement of atoms and the dislocations to shift around freely without running into grain boundaries.

it is the bending of metals in a cold/not-hot-enough state which will cold work the metal, shifting dislocations to the grain boundaries, actually increasing its strength, but causing it to be come more brittle which will increase the chances of crack formation and stress risers which lead to brittle or fatigue fracture. Cold working also increases the anisotropy of the part which can lead to premature failure at stresses below the ultimate tensile strength if the part is loaded against the grains the the material.

in short: he is fine heating it up and bending it :compwork:

Currie's steering has an angled tie rod for the pitman arm so you won't have that issue if you got with this steering setup. Pricey but a worthwhile upgrade and peace of mind.


Is that tie rod bent? It seems a bit off......

It's the ZJ rod, supposed to be like that