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Pitman Arm bushing?

DutchVDub

DutchVDub

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Milliken, CO
Went to get my alignment done after putting on my lift and they said they can't do it because I have 1 worn tie-rod end and that my pitman arm is worn. Now the tie-rod is fairly obvious, but I've never heard of a pitman arm wearing out. They pointed out to me that the pitman arm moves up and down slightly when you wiggle the wheels. The shaft moves with it, so its not sliding around on the shaft. The guy said there is a bushing between the pitman arm and the gearbox that I can replace. Does this sound right? Or am I going to have to get a new gearbox?

The guy also told me that caster makes very little difference in regards to "death" wobble or even my handling in general. :huh:

I slapped on an Explorer ProComp steering stabilizer for now (hasn't had wobble issues since), but I know thats just a band-aid fix. I need to get the steering system 100% before I tear it up even more.
 
DutchVDub said:
They pointed out to me that the pitman arm moves up and down slightly when you wiggle the wheels. The shaft moves with it, so its not sliding around on the shaft. The guy said there is a bushing between the pitman arm and the gearbox that I can replace. Does this sound right? Or am I going to have to get a new gearbox?
Click to expand...
If the pitman arm moves with the sector shaft then how is there wear on the pitman arm ?? and wtf is a pitman arm bushing? Unless there is a bushing inside the gear box??? I'm not an expert on gearboxes (when mine went I just slapped a new one in) but I would have to say that whatever trouble you got is internal to the gearbox.
 
I would have to say that your alignment shop guys is a MORON!!! There is no bushing. You MIGHT need to find a new steering box and you need to replace the TRE. Then you need to find a competant alignment shop that knows what Caster effects. I just want to punch people like that! UGH!
 
Maybe he is referring to the Pitman Shaft bearing being bad. At the very least it sounds like your gear box MAY need the preload adjusted on the pitman shaft if it is moving up and down.

If they didn't charge you for the time, you might want to see another alignment shop and see f they have the same objection to the steering gear box.
 
So here is the update. I wound up driving from Denver to Omaha, NE for thanks giving. The Explorer ProComp steering stabiliser I'd slapped on there held up fine and I had no noticeable wobble the entire trip. (This was Thursday)

So today I was going to drive from my mom's in Yutan (near Omaha) to Lincoln amd see a buddy of mine from NE Army NG that was in Iraq with me. Hit some rail road tracks doing about 60-65mph and bam, I had death wobble. Called him up and told I wouldn't be making it. I turned around and started to get the wobble again after recrossing the railroad tracks. As I was slowing down I heard a loud pop and then the wobble got way worse. Jeep was all over the place. Get it stopped and look under the front to find the tie-rod end on my brand new (installed it with the lift last week on saturday) Rusty's Adjustable Trac-Bar had snapped off.

After driving back to my mom's house at a whopping 10mph I borrowed her car and went looking for a new tierod end. (Luckily they listed the PN on their website) I also stopped by an alignment shop and told them the scenario. They said to bring it in in the morning and they would look over the entire front end. If there are any worn parts keeping them from getting perfect they'd tell me, but they would atleast get it as close as possible. They won't warranty the alignment if there are some wear issues preventing it from being perfect, but they'd atleast get it as close to spec as possible. I'm doing this first thing tomorrow and then once they get it on their rack and we look things over I'll be able to go to a parts store and replace anything up front that needs replacing. I'm hoping we can get it solved so i don't have to worry about replacing my steering stabiliser. It is only on 32" tires so it shouldn't be a big deal if my "Beefy Arse" aftermarket one is a little tired. Its probably still stronger than a stock one.
 
Oh, one more thing. If I do have to replace my gearbox, what Grand Cherokee setup will work best? I'm pretty sure a ZJ box w/ pitman arm is supposed to come down another inch or so, effectively acting as a drop pitman. Any ZJ gearbox or is their a specific type?
 
I work for a major auto parts supplier and a pitman arm is a non wear item and in the 10 plus years ive been in the business i have never heard of a pitman arm bushing
 
tazfromiowa said:
I work for a major auto parts supplier and a pitman arm is a non wear item and in the 10 plus years ive been in the business i have never heard of a pitman arm bushing
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've been a diesil mechanic for 6yrs w/ the Army and I've never encountered it. Still, its not like I worked on a lot of JEEPs in the service. Some companies have weird things that other car companies don't. Example, on VW manual transmissions the throwout bearing is located on the back (opposite end of the trans as clutch).
 
DutchVDub said:
So here is the update. I wound up driving from Denver to Omaha, NE for thanks giving. The Explorer ProComp steering stabiliser I'd slapped on there held up fine and I had no noticeable wobble the entire trip. (This was Thursday)

So today I was going to drive from my mom's in Yutan (near Omaha) to Lincoln amd see a buddy of mine from NE Army NG that was in Iraq with me. Hit some rail road tracks doing about 60-65mph and bam, I had death wobble. Called him up and told I wouldn't be making it. I turned around and started to get the wobble again after recrossing the railroad tracks. As I was slowing down I heard a loud pop and then the wobble got way worse. Jeep was all over the place. Get it stopped and look under the front to find the tie-rod end on my brand new (installed it with the lift last week on saturday) Rusty's Adjustable Trac-Bar had snapped off.

After driving back to my mom's house at a whopping 10mph I borrowed her car and went looking for a new tierod end. (Luckily they listed the PN on their website) I also stopped by an alignment shop and told them the scenario. They said to bring it in in the morning and they would look over the entire front end. If there are any worn parts keeping them from getting perfect they'd tell me, but they would atleast get it as close as possible. They won't warranty the alignment if there are some wear issues preventing it from being perfect, but they'd atleast get it as close to spec as possible. I'm doing this first thing tomorrow and then once they get it on their rack and we look things over I'll be able to go to a parts store and replace anything up front that needs replacing. I'm hoping we can get it solved so i don't have to worry about replacing my steering stabiliser. It is only on 32" tires so it shouldn't be a big deal if my "Beefy Arse" aftermarket one is a little tired. Its probably still stronger than a stock one.
Click to expand...

For whatever reason this has been the year of the broken track-bar. Between Rusty's TRE's breaking and more recently TNT's frameside bolt breaking... Glad to hear that it didn't end badly.
 
DutchVDub said:
Oh, one more thing. If I do have to replace my gearbox, what Grand Cherokee setup will work best? I'm pretty sure a ZJ box w/ pitman arm is supposed to come down another inch or so, effectively acting as a drop pitman. Any ZJ gearbox or is their a specific type?
Click to expand...
I am not a ZJ expert by any stretch... But I hadn't heard that about ZJ boxes. I know for some range of time they had a pitman arm that was about a 1" drop over the stock XJ one and I am wondering if that is what you are thinking about. I have a ZJ pitman arm in my garage leftover from when I did my front steering modifications.

Of course having a longer arm or box may lead to increased bump steer if your track-bar doesn't match the drag-link well enough.

A popular replacement for the factory gear box is the Dakota steering gear box. Do a search on Dakota/Durango as there is a few write-ups on here.
 
Ok, so this morning I took it to Jensen Automotive on West Center Blvd in Omaha. They put it on the lift and then said that because of my rims/tires (32x11.5 BFG M/T on 15x8 RockCrawlers) they couldn't mount the sensor pads. They said they could use this other one they have but my alignment would cost me 160$. I said, "forget it."

Read the GoJeep alignment page and got to work. Wasn't quite able to get my Toe perfect, but its really close. I also used my tape measure to properly center my axle. Its now only about 1/8" off center. I wasn't able to check my caster angle as I don't have my protractor and combination squares with me, but I moved my LCA as far forward in the slotted holes as I could. Looking at the knuckles I can see that I do have positive caster. I'll have to properly measure it once I get home. Weird thing though, I noticed that I only have shims on the D.S. LCA mount. The P.S. LCA mount doesn't have any shims in it.

Results, I drove down H92 for about 5 miles at 60mph or so and never got any DW. I even drove over the R.R. Tracks and never got any death woble. Hopefully it'll keep up the good behavior for my return trip to Denver tomorrow.
 
Not sure why they told you that? I just did a 3/4 ton Dodge Ram w/ 32's on it last week. No prob's with the heads whatsoever.
 
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