Here's what I've got: 92 Wrangler, Dana 44 front axle, knuckles from a 78 Power Wagon, front spring-over, RE shackle reversal. Just had the knuckles machined for high steer arms. I put the knuckles and high steer arms on today and I'm measuring for tie rod length. It looks like the tie rod is going to end up directly under the pitman arm, with about 2-1/2" of clearance. Probably due to the fact that the SR moved the axle forward almost 2". I see binding problems, especially since the arms are designed for the drag link to tie into the tie rod using a truck style tie rod.
I've got a couple ideas:
Lose the sway bar and get a straight pitman arm, maybe just a little shorter. Still might not be enough.
Put the tie rod back down below the springs and use the passenger side high steer arm for the drag link.
Anybody got any pics/ideas?

Move your PS box forward....

You can move the TR back to the stock position, but why bother if you want high steering? I would put a little more effort into moving the steering box forward a few inches. If you put the TR below the springs, you will need a longer TR and a longer DL. This is fine if you want to switch back to high steering since you will have to shorten both the TR and DL. Of course this depends on which TREs you will be using.

Seems like I've been dealing with these steering binding issues forever ...... well actually ever since I also moved my axle forward an inch to compensate for a shackle reversal :(

Anyway, first of all:

"Lose the sway bar" ..... are you fawkin kiddin me? Who the hell runs a sway bar???? Just joking, I'm guessing you daily drive this thing and I know SOA = major body roll. Most of us just live with it.

I have 3 suggestions:

1) Cross over steering. Depending on the situation (and it seems every one is different once you start moving the axle), cross over will get rid of steering bind a lot of the time. However, if your arms cross each other, maybe not, and you may have to get different steering arms. I am currently using cross over steering, with the drag link attach to a high mounted arm on the passenger knuckle, and the tie rod in the stock waggy location (above the normal knuckle arm). This of course has totally resolved my binding problems, but has the disadvantage that the tie rod is not high mounted (although it is not as low as when it is mounted below the stock arms, as on a normal YJ). Frankly, binding steering is such a PITA to deal with, that I'd rather deal with the occasional bent tie rod (I carry 2 spares) than beat my head against the wall with the binding - but that could get old fast if I bend tie rods more.

2) Move the drag link behind the tie rod. On the stock YJ linkage, the drag link goes from the pitman arm to the FRONT of the tie rod where it mounts. Of course, moving your axle forward can make it so that the drag link now has to CROSS the tie rod to attach. When I first swapped in my waggy axles and did the shackle reversal (but was still SUA), I had this problem and I solved it by taking my tie rod into a machine shop where they drilled out the drag link tapered hole, pressed in an insert, then redrilled it tapered on the other side so that the drag link would connect to the REAR of the tie rod. This worked at that time, but whether it will work for you or not depends on how much you've moved your axle forward, etc etc.

3) Mount the drag link to the TOP of the tie rod. The main reason this happens is because the drag link attached to the forward or rearward face of the tie rod, which means it must cross over the tie rod on a hborizontal plane no matter what. If the two linkages cross each other on a vertical plane, then you are probably going to be screwed a little no matter what you do. However, if the linkages never cross each other on a horizontal plane, then no probs. The only place I've SEEN that makes this kind of mount is avalanche engineering, which makes a tie rod which has a mount welded onto the TOP face so a heim joint can be attached. Here's a picture:

http://www.avalancheengr.com/parts/steering/imga0207_med.jpg

and here's the link:

http://www.avalancheengr.com/parts/steering/misc_steering.htm

you can see how this would solve your binding problem. I think it's 65$. Of course you might THEN have problems with the drag link (which is now running quite high) interfering with other parts of your rig, you'd have to check that out. And also in many places (like where I am, for instance) it is illegal to weld onto any part of a steering linkage. And it is made to use Heim Joints, which you may not want to do.

I think in the end I will run my tie rod up high and use the weld on block idea, but that project has to wait until a few other higher priority ones get completed.

Good Luck.

Chad

Also, here is a write up of my current setup, although I did swap to a different TRE at the steering arm end of the drag link:

http://www.rightcoastcrawler.com/LloydC/tech/knuckles.html

Here's another option:
http://www.colorado4x4.org/er/histeer/Mvc-005f.jpg

Originally posted by Eric Ruhl
Here's another option:
http://www.colorado4x4.org/er/histeer/Mvc-005f.jpg

I like it! Where do I get those arms?

Originally posted by withamc


I like it! Where do I get those arms?

Bob Roggy has them.
530-626-9451

That is a sweet design Eric.
Bob fabbed me a set and brought them down to the hammers over New Years. Im only lacking the long studs, to get the arms installed. I hope to have it done this week.
In fact Im gonna run up to his shop this afternoon, for the spacers.

H8, Eric;

With those arms and the tie rod running behind the axle, would there be any other interference problems? such as oil pan or whatever?

H8, glad to hear you like them :) You'll have to share some pics when you have them installed. You probably saw in my initial post, but I got the studs from ARP for $5.81 each (part # AQ4.10L). I'll put a link to that info below. Don't forget to check clearance for caliper movement, unless Bob changed the design you'll need to do some finesse grinding on them as I mentioned / showed in the initial post. Let me know how they work out for you :beer:

Chad, see the rest of the photos for more detail. The tie-rod isn't much higher than the diff housing so unless you have clearance issues already you're probably fine. One or two of the pics show that I have gobs of clearance. Here's a link to the image directory, no thumbnails or anything fancy (note the second folder too):

http://colorado4x4.org/er/histeer/

Here's the initial posting for these arms which might serve as a FAQ:
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19580

And here's the stud info (scroll to the bottom):
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6433

I released the design to both Bob Roggy (info posted above) and Rockstomper ( http://www.rockstomper.com ), so if anyone wants the arms you can contact either of those shops.

:beer:

withamc = What 44 are you running under you yj?????:usa:

Originally posted by tunascout
withamc = What 44 are you running under you yj?????:usa:
Dunno. Something with driver's side diff, originally spring under. Got it from Tri-County gear years ago, before everybody had to have 60's. I just did a spring over a couple weeks ago and kluged together a steering setup long enough to get me through New Year's at Truckhaven. Every time I was cranking on the steering I was holding my breath waiting for the welds to snap, but they held. I've got to get the steering done before we hit the Hammers.

move the steering box forward a couple inches, and your done

I kinda like those arms...