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Heim/TRE/DOM Steering

Jeep450r

Jeep450r

NAXJA Forum User
NAXJA Member
Location
Nor*cal
Over winter Im thinking of upgrading my steering. I need to keep my sway bars if possible... what other clearance issues will I run into?

Also, is it possible to use the stock panhard/track bar axle and frame side mounts? I can bend the tube if needed, but would prefer to keep it straight. Will heims w/misalignment spacers fit in the axle side mount?

Now for the !!!1 question. Ive read about it some, but am still getting mixed opinions. Heims or TRE's? Its my DD now, but im not sure how long that will be for.

-Jeep450r
 
IIRC, heims are not legal for on-road driving. UTK steering will not require modified trackbar or sway bar relocation.
 
California modification laws
http://www.liftlaws.com/california_lift_laws.htm

When i did my heim steering I did a cross over. I planned a head and went with an over axle tracbar mount. Bought JKS raised swaybar brackets and ended up having to cut the passangerside off because of contact at full lock passanger. I would think if you mount your drag link to the tierod like
000_1801.jpg

you may still get away with swaybar links not interfearing.
Tracbar is another issue.. Stock tracbar may be close but hard to say after all is put together. If not...
JCR 1-Ton is also a good choice.

Picture courtesy of-xjdoug
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1071575&highlight=heim+steering
 
In order to run steering OTK you will have to lose your stock sway bar mounts. You will also need to deal with trackbar/drag link geometry.

Heims and TRE's will work fine at the axle end. but you should run a high angle TRE at the pitman arm.

If you run inverted T be prepared to deal with some tie-rod roll.
 
How about running this setup? looks like a good design with plenty of clearance. Why isnt this a more popular way to set up steering?

standard.jpg
 
Jeep450r said:
How about running this setup? looks like a good design with plenty of clearance. Why isnt this a more popular way to set up steering?

standard.jpg
Click to expand...
Would there be any reason not to run a tre on the knuckles and pitman arm in a setup like this that sees a lot of road time? My only guess would be there isnt enough misalignment in a tre?
 
MG2000XJ said:
Would there be any reason not to run a tre on the knuckles and pitman arm in a setup like this that sees a lot of road time? My only guess would be there isnt enough misalignment in a tre?
Click to expand...

run a high angle TRE at the pitman arm GM part number 2027 something like 60* of misalignment.

at the driver knuckle you could go with a TRE or a heim, it woudln't matter really, since there isn't a lot of misalignment needed on the drivers side

on the passenger go with the high angle TRE as well.
 
Johnnie Walker said:
IIRC, heims are not legal for on-road driving. UTK steering will not require modified trackbar or sway bar relocation.
Click to expand...

So running the tie rod/drag link OTK will cause it to interfere with the stock mount?

Im planning on running heims - what size do I need? 3/4 or 7/8?
 
Jeep450r said:
So running the tie rod/drag link OTK will cause it to interfere with the stock mount?

Im planning on running heims - what size do I need? 3/4 or 7/8?
Click to expand...

it will interfere with the sway bar mounts, and the drag link/trackbar angle will be way off.

you may be able to run a drop TB bracket and that might fix your angle, but there is no way to tell until you get under there and start making shit happen...

my personal preference would be for 7/8"x3/4" heims with the hex style inserts from ruffstuff. but 3/4" are fine, I have a few of each in my steering/trackbar.
 
Jeep450r said:
How about running this setup? looks like a good design with plenty of clearance. Why isnt this a more popular way to set up steering?

standard.jpg
Click to expand...

Interesting setup might have to copy, I was kinda worried about my tie rod hitting my diff guard this setup might leave enough clearance
 
Jeep450r said:
How about running this setup? looks like a good design with plenty of clearance. Why isnt this a more popular way to set up steering?

standard.jpg
Click to expand...


That's on my buggy, ran a couple of King of the Hammers with that steering setup. The main reason for that geometry was to clear the diff cover and clear the pitman arm at full compression. The axle is moved forward 4" and the steering arms are very short (very sharp steering) so getting everything to clear is a challenge.


To the OP, if you can search around there are a ton of discussions about steering.
 
Goatman,
What did you use for that spacer under your heim? I might need to use something like that to get my angles perfected.

standard.jpg
 
I've had regular 1ton TRE's for well over a year and have had 0 issues with them and my jeep is my one and only vehicle currently.
 
I run WJ knuckles with Ruffstuff parts.. 3/4" Heims would not change a thing!
IMG_0351.jpg

(Photo courtesy of TORX)
 
Here is how I ran mine. I would think if you did this setup on a d30 you will have to cut the sway bar mounts off but should be ok with the factory track bar mount.
b0f8c808.jpg


edit: also I ran ruffstuff heims with their safety misalignment spacers.
 
when looking at all these pictures of heim steering, it seems that all the mounted with the hole perpendicular to the ground as opposed to horizontal. is there a reason for this? if you mount the heims horizontally with no spacers will you still get tie rod roll?

just wondering because i'm going to be building my front end in a few months with my version of otk steering.
 
aintright said:
when looking at all these pictures of heim steering, it seems that all the mounted with the hole perpendicular to the ground as opposed to horizontal. is there a reason for this? if you mount the heims horizontally with no spacers will you still get tie rod roll?

just wondering because i'm going to be building my front end in a few months with my version of otk steering.
Click to expand...

it doesn't matter how you do it, if you connect the drag link to the tie-rod you will get roll. this will manifest as a dead spot. how much roll and how much dead spot depends on the geometry of your specific application.

I am fighting this right now. I put urethane spacers on my heims to combat the roll, however it hasn't done much to prevent the dead spot in the steering, and I noticed that it was slightly slower returning to center after a turn.

this also happens when you connect a ram to the tie-rod.

the only way to have no tie-rod roll is to connect the drag link to the knuckle directly. same with the ram.
 
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