tie rod to pitman arm clearance

[Jeepster Jim]

My Jeepster has a severe problem with clearance between the tie rod and pitman arm and I'm wondering if any of you have had the same problem and if so, how did you correct it.

Here's what I have:

Dana 44 waggie frt. dif cut down to 57"
waggie pitman arm---6 3/4"
stock Jeepster P/S mount set up.
I found a shorter pitman arm...5 1/2" but it is NOT short enough for good clearance. Going to a shorter pitman arm will ruin my turning radius so I'm looking for a better way out. Yes I may need to move the Steering box foward or?

[Tim]

Jim:

Since I am visually impaired, (can't visualize in my mind from verbal description), pictures are worth a thousand words. Specifically, the box position and the interference problems.

[Budd]

Jim went to a high steer set up and is using Skye Manufacturing arms. Since he is using TRE's and the arm has machined in conical - he can't easily just move the Tie Rod to below the arms. Just to clear it up some.

Post up a pic Jim! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[chdorsey]

Jim,

I've got a nearly identical setup and just barely interfere. From what I have heard, a pitman arm from an Astrovan is just short enough to give you the needed clearance without compromising too much on the turning radius. Does yours look something like this?:




Chris

[Jeepster Jim]

[ QUOTE ]
Jim,

I've got a nearly identical setup and just barely interfere. From what I have heard, a pitman arm from an Astrovan is just short enough to give you the needed clearance without compromising too much on the turning radius. Does yours look something like this?:



Yes it did, however, I had to lower the tie rod and draglink to the stock postions because the tie rod would hit the frame. My frt. diff. is still sprung under.

By putting the tie rod in the stock steering location, the waggie pitman arm hits the tie rod. NOT GOOD.

I have been reading up on putting the tie rod behind the frt. diff but I'm not sure how well that works out for clearance and such.




Chris

[/ QUOTE ]

[chdorsey]

Do you have a custom steering linkage or are you running the stock Waggy setup? I guess what I am trying to get at is whether the drag link connects to the tie rod or directly to the knuckle. If they were separate, then you could still use your high steer for the drag link and put the tie rod down on the stock location to keep things from interfering.

Chris

[RRich]

Why not, like a TJ, have the drag link connect directly to the tie rod? Check out the Currie or Poison Spyder systems. Lengths may be different, but they can make one the proper length.

[chdorsey]

If I read what his problem is correctly, then there is interference between the tie rod and pitman arm. I was just asking if moving the tie rod to the stock location and keeping the drag link connected to the high steer would take care of the problem, not criticizing that setup.


Chris

[Jeepster Jim]

[ QUOTE ]
Why not, like a TJ, have the drag link connect directly to the tie rod? Check out the Currie or Poison Spyder systems. Lengths may be different, but they can make one the proper length.

[/ QUOTE ]


Rich:
That's what I have now....basicly just like a stock waggie set up.

[Jeepster Jim]

[ QUOTE ]
If I read what his problem is correctly, then there is interference between the tie rod and pitman arm. I was just asking if moving the tie rod to the stock location and keeping the drag link connected to the high steer would take care of the problem, not criticizing that setup.


Chris

[/ QUOTE ]

Chris:

When using the high steer set up, the tie rod will smack the steering shaft or frame. I moved the tie rod down to the stock postion and discovered that the pitman arm is to long. If I left the drag link on the high steer set up, the pitman arm would still hit.