my XJ stage 2 build thread

Okay guys, i finally started my stage 2 build of my xj. Lift of my xj as of recent consisted of a 4.5" RE super flex lift, it had a worn Heim on the RE track bar and a worn bushing on that as well, also hte control arms lower super flex joints were bad, one extremely loose, the other way too tight. The steering was out of whack and i wanted more lift anyway. Also my dana 30Hp was junk, split bearing, totaled u-joint, bent LCA, bent UCA, leaking pinion seal and 3.07s I have this to add...
-blocks by RE
-new rustys coils
-RC drop brackets
-Rubicon Express Super flex track bar and bracket, plus 1" coupler
-JCR steering (getting pre-reamed knuckles from them and sending htem my pitman arm to be reamed)
-Also picked up 2 dana 30s for $175, one with 4.10s and one wiht 3.55s


Anyyyyway, we got hte old axle off, were still workin on some stuff and we are having some problems. The biggest problem would be the freaking pitman arm, i need to get it off to mail it to JCR for them to ream it. It has come off about 2/5", not too bad but it come come anymore. Also i broke a pitman arm puller that i RENTED :gonnablow

How the hell do i get hte pitman arm off? I really want to install my JCR steering

btw ill ad pics asap

reaming the pitman arm is less difficult then removing it from the steering box...

emr1101 said:

How the hell do i get hte pitman arm off? I really want to install my JCR steering

Click to expand...

Get the puller under some tension, add little bit of heat, and some "love" taps from a 3lb sledge and the arm should pop right off. No need to get intense with the heat (no cherry red) or the tapping (no two handed wacks), it will take some time, but it'll come off.

That sounds good, ill tap it and torch it. Thanks for the info, ill post up pics as soon as i get them of all my new parts

Well I found a new axle, looks like im gonna have FOUR HP30s laying in my garage

I found a guy selling an HP30 with 4.56 gears for $60. Might go with this instead of the 4.10 geared HP30

the tap/heat idea is a good one. be very careful not to expose the sector shaft seal to too much heat though! try finding a pitman arm puller that you can tighten up the bolts to prevent it from spreading... like a matco PA643. good luck!

Thanks guys, im probably going to just go buy a new pitman arm puller ($15) so i dont have to buy a new kit ($65). Yeah thanks for the tip on that seal btw, that is a good point. I really wish i had pics to post up so everyone can see my build progress, im having a little trouble with the drop brackets too but i shoul be okay i think.

okay heres an update, destroyed 3 pitman arm pullers. i got pretty freakin tired of that, so i decided to hit it with the saw and attempt to cut it off. Not sure what help that did. We got new axle in though, new LCAs, still no axle shafts in there yet... heres some pics, had to saw some bolts off cuz my friend stripped them haha



New HP30 with 4.10s, and apparently 260x u-joints? damnit...




The pitman arm that wouldnt come off, ill take a close up pic later... i sawed it up in a desperate effort to achieve something haha



This expresses my feelings towards the pitman arm...

Axle when we started hooking it up

here is hte drop brackets, we had to spead the ears to get the LCAs in with the alignment tab...


The new ctrl arms... other end disconnected..

love the pic of you grinding with no eye protection....then I noticed your glasses on your head, not covering your eyes. even better! dude protect your eyes!!! nice build btw

did you need to pull the pitman arm for anything except reaming? why didnt you just buy a reamer, and ream it all on the jeep? seems like you had a lot of fun with it though.
the pitman is the hardest of the stuff to ream, but by no means impossible.

No i definitely had NO fun haha. I figured i would screw up the reaming, it seemed easier just to replace the pitman arm. Okay so heres a question, look here...



I know i know, no eye protection. I couldnt see but i guess i have no excuse haha. Anyway, if you look closely you will see what i am doing. i am sawing through the pitmarn arm. I DONT want to hit hte steering box with the saw as it would puncture it, right? Does any one have any advice as to how thick the cast is on the bottom of hte steering box? Also trying to be weary of the seal as well....

What about the rest of the steering box's little thing that said pitman arm goes onto? It is threaded about 2" on the bottom, and some sort of "press" type set up for the upper 2". If i make a clean cut, can i cut through the pitman arm completely and make like a pie-cut to get it off? Cut a slice out and take it off? Im thinking since its a saw not like a hammer or anything i can just cut through and still be able to press a new pitman arm on and put the nut back on.. any ideas there????

oh and here is what it looks like all hooked up. Now you can see why crossover steering is so neccesary at htis lift.

not only does it suck getting hot metal in your eye at a thousand miles an hour. but catching another piece of hot metal, going a thousand miles an hour, right in the crotch because it melted through your "plastic" shorts. I know this only because I have done this. . .

Haha ouch that doesnt sound fun.

Anyone got any advice as to if this cutting the pitman arm off will be okay?

mine was stubborn too and there is no room to get a hammer on it so...

i took some 1x1 square toobing i had laying around - vut it about 30 inches or so - welded a piece of 1/4 on the top side about 2x4 for a good hitting surface... i then thread the toobing with the hood open from the top of the engine bay right down on top of the pitman arm... soaked the bad boy in wd-40 and pb blaster and finally knocked it off... took awhile to figure out a good method to apply force on top of the arm to knock it off... make sense? if u have a nog extension or something of that similar size it is a tight squezze on my 99 but u and a buddy can get it on there for a couple good wacks...

Hmmm.. thats a really good idea, no idea how i can do that though, i cant really make that. Maybe i can get lucky and find a piece of metal to fit above the pitman arm, even a puller and hit that. I do have a large pipe we can put over it, and my friends have a sledge hammer. Do you have a picture of what you used?

a sledge hammer is gonna make more problems, do not use it untill your releif cuts are made, and in fact, i'd recommend NOT using it without restraint, its just gonna add another thing to replace.
or, you could just say fsck it and cut your loses , go pickup a new steering box from the junkyard with the arm on it =) saves you buying something to press it on with! and you can walk away from that thing like im sure you want to.