well, it finaly happened, i actualy broke something significant, i folded both my tie rod and drag link on tank trap on sunday, came back on monday with new stuff, put it on, and backed out. this is all stock XJ steering on my XJ with ~6" of lift.

i obviously need to build a new burlier steering system. it has to be cheap, use TREs not heims, and be ready for hollister next weekend. here's my plan... i have a tie rod, with ends, from a 83 suburban, that i got from the junk yard yesterday. it looks like it has the same ends as the 85 blazer stuff that is quite popular. since i dont have money for tubing and taps or threaded bungs, i figure i can just cut the suburban tie rod, and sleave it and weld it all up. then re taper the hole in the tre and both my knuckles to 1/2"/foot, then go to the junkyard again, and find a tie rod or drag link with the right ends, and shorten it to go from my pitman arm, which i'll retaper, to the tie rod. i'll figure out the steering stabilizer once i get it all together.

so, here's my questions;
anybody have any ideas or see any problems with my plan?
what tre should i use at the pitman arm to give me enough flex?
what's the best way to narrow the tie rod?
what are the specs on the hole that needs to be reamed? 1/2"/foot, but what is the diamiter?
anybody have the taper reamer that they would want to lend/rent to me?

thanks,
Jeff

Originally posted by Jeffh555


so, here's my questions;
anybody have any ideas or see any problems with my plan?

what's the best way to narrow the tie rod?


thanks,
Jeff

Plan sounds good.

Find a piece of tubeing that slides over the t/r, cut it weld it
eric@fatcity

thanks for the aproval fatcity, i get the feeling somewhere that you know your shiot
since i doubt i'm gonna find anyone with a reamer they want to lend me, i'm gonna start pulling the knuckles off to have a machine shop re-taper them.
what are the specs on the hole? 1/2"/foot, what diamiter?

The specs on the hole depend on which tie rod ends that you are going to use. The taper is 1.5" per foot, but the depth of the taper is different for many of the tie rod ends. Don't forget that you will have to taper your pitman arm as well.

Are you sure you are not going to run into any interfearance issures with sway bar links, coil buckets, etc if you run your tie rod and drag link like a normal crossover setup?

So you basically want what I have here, but using a low steer?

http://www.off-road.com/~estegall/tech/steeringtech/P2130003.JPG

ya, like that, but with the tie rod mounted on top of the factory arms, because its a Dana 30, and there are no hi-steer arms available, and i'm cheap.
the sway bar links are in the way, but i'm not running a sway bar anyways, at some point i'll figure that out, but it's not a big issue for me right now.
i'm out to the parts store to do some research.

How many TREs have you broken?
For a cheap fix/upgrade, just sleeve the rods and go wheeling.

http://www.off-road.com/jeep/tech/axle/yj-tierod.htm

i've only broken it once, but this was also the first real wheeling trip since i went to 6" and longarms. more important than the fact that it broke, is why it broke, the tre at the pass knuckle binds when that side droops at all (inverted-y). and i basicaly just want something stronger.

Do you think you will have enough travel in the upper TRE for the drag link at the pitman arm? If not, you may have to run a bent drag like to reduce the angles. Contact me off list if you need some help with this.

Bring your junk up to my house and i will add the taper for you, I would loan it to you , but i have been screwed to many times, so i no longer loan stuff out :(