Among other mods, my Tj is getting an HP 60 front from a 79 F250. When I mock up the axle under the truck in the "stock" location there is very little tie rod clearance to the pitman arm. The axle will need to go forward for 39 to 42inch rubber.
I don't want to go high steer because I want uptravel without notching the frame.
Dont want to do the astro box forward pitman and have the drag link that low and out in front.
I'm debating extending the frame either at the top of the curve at the coil bucket or just behind the stock steering box location.
Not yet sure if i'm going coil overs or coils/shocks. Cost benefit is the consideration.

I'd like some opinions of benefits or drawbacks to either idea. Probably a lot of issues you guys have hit that I have not thought of yet. I'm new here on this list so flame away.
http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee264/kbmoto/PC010193.jpg

how much front stretch are you looking for? I would just ditch the steering box and do full hydro. which will make moving the axle forward alot easier. Also by running custom front coilover mounts you can pick the loaction of the front axle depending on how much stretch you want. I have like ~2-3 of front stretch with the steering box in the stock location, and easily clear 40'' tires by running simple tube fenders.

http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee264/kbmoto/PC010192.jpgI've searched the threads, several have moved the box and cut the crossmember. Want to go forward 4 inches with the front axle. Rear is going back +/- 10 inches, stock frame/tub is history back there.
I dont want to eliminate the tera sway bar mount use of the tube.
Full hydro is strong, would eliminate the box question. But, not road legal here.

Maybe someone has cut/extended the front frame and found it was a good or bad move. Looks simple to do, but cant find a thread that has done it. I'm new at searches tho.:shaking:
thanks

Either go full hydro or go to an astro box up front. I know you say you dont want to but putting the astro steering box on has been done alot, so it should be easy enough to figure out. Also think about one of the major reasons you stretch the front out: a better approach angle. Extendng the frame will kill the approach angle and look booty fab as hell in my honest opinion.

I'm kind wonderin about the proportions if I stretch the frame too. Astro box, where i've seen pics, shows that front hanging pitman arm KILLING the approach angles. I could be completely wrong, never seen it live and up close.

If I sink a top pull winch in the new extra space in front of the Grille it may hide the queerness of it. Big tires should equalize the approach angle. 5 inches for the front section of the frame and 4 inches on the axle to clear the Vortec 6.0 oil pan.

I moved my steering box forward and rotated it slightly. It allowed me to move the axle forward 3.5" without a problem. I could have gone 4-4.25", but it wasn't worth the time to remove brackets and try to get them lined back up just for .5-.75" gain. My build can be found here (http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=614102) which was mostly based off of P&T Jeeps build here (http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=209331).

I just cut behind the box mount then replaced with a new section of frame.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d52/dotrappe/DSCN0514.jpg

Stretched it 4".

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d52/dotrappe/DSCN0536.jpg

If I had to do it again, I would have just gone full-hydro. Hydro-assist was ok for street driving on 42's, but I ended up just ditching it all for full-hydro.

Dotrappe, thanks for the pics. This does show me what it looks like from the front. Not so wierd.

You ditched the box for full hydro because you needed the power for 42's in the rocks of NM i'm guessing. What do you estimate that you spent doing the full hydro conversion ? I have not found anything in the MV code up here to say I cannot go hydro legally.
Again, thanks

I moved my box and springs forward about 3.5" inches.

Frame was not stretched at all in the end, but I did end up notching the back of my 2x5 bumper for the nose of the steering box to fit into.

I ended up with my hangers on the bottom of my bumper for a better shackle angle... your not running leafs so that really doesn't concern you.

I run my pitman arm TRE on the top of a stock pitman arm (reamed) with no clearance issues with high steer at all. With 36's into my fenders my steering is well off the frame.

http://www.evilmonkeymedia.com/jeep/frame%20stretch/front/side.jpg
http://www.evilmonkeymedia.com/jeep/frame%20stretch/front/bracket.jpg
http://www.jcroffroad.com/trips/Flat%20Nasty,%20November%202007/images/img_6511.jpg

I also wasn't a fan of the astro box "solution" so my bro and I built a new mount for the box, rotated it, and slid it forward. We also ran high steer and hydro assist with a four link front. You say high steer needs to be notched for, but if a YJ frame is anywhere near what a TJ frame is up front and a frame to fender distance I bet your tires nail the fenders before it needs notching. My bro has a 1" body lift, and to keep the fenders it needed some significant bump stops.

Another steering box to look into is scout boxes. We just picked one up that I might try running. They mount to the outside of the frame (for LHD vehicles) down around the sector shaft area so they don't seem to break ears, bolts, or frames as much as factory saginaws. Looks similar to yota set ups, but much bigger. The input is on top of the frame so the steering shaft still should clear everyelse without too much work, and it's a front facing pitman. Only issue I can see is the pitman arm is about a mile long, so I don't know many degrees the box will turn, or if I can adjust/mod the internal stops...

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/HEEPJEEP/Thanksgiving%202007/n44604276_31057959_2281.jpg


http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/HEEPJEEP/Thanksgiving%202007/n44604276_31057951_247.jpg

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/HEEPJEEP/Thanksgiving%202007/n44604276_31057950_5.jpg

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/HEEPJEEP/Thanksgiving%202007/n44604276_31057949_9756.jpg

We will be moving the bumper back 2" though, looks kinda goofy out there like that...

-Dave

blah blah

-Dave


was that a manual power steering box that you used?







:flipoff2:

Here are some of the steering box mount pics. In the first pic you will see a box mounted to a modded stock cast mount (stock mount on the floor next to them). I "machined" the big ear that used to go under the frame off (used to have two mounting bolts that went up into the frame). TJ's don't have those mounts so you won't have to worry about it. I mostly just used that mount as a spacer because the ears on the box aren't all in the same plane. We have also hacked out the factory crossmember and added the 1/4"x4" bar to extend the frame, like I said, too far out for my taste...

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/HEEPJEEP/Doug%204%20Link/n44604276_30904568_1238.jpg

We then added the front "bumper" box and built the upper two mounting points for the box at the angle we wanted to have the sector shaft perfectly verticle. The skid for the box only has to ramp down about 2" from the frame for the pitman arm. You can see the sleeves for the box bolts and how it's being boxed in, some might not like the looks being above the frame, but we are going for function, not looks...

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/HEEPJEEP/Doug%204%20Link/n44604276_30904569_1509.jpg

Boxed in and box mounted.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/HEEPJEEP/Doug%204%20Link/n44604276_30904570_1771.jpg

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/HEEPJEEP/Doug%204%20Link/n44604276_30904571_2036.jpg

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/HEEPJEEP/Doug%204%20Link/n44604276_30904574_2849.jpg

That box height barely cleared his grill though, without a body lift there is cutting to do.

Extending the frame forward to allow moving the axle forward does not help approach nearly as much as just moving the axle forward. If you do not want the bolt-in solution of the Astro steering box, how about rotating the stock box flat and welding in a couple of new mounts? Grnscru has it right in his post above IMO http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showpost.php?p=7566408&postcount=6 and it has some decent links.

Here's another example although the picture links are broken:

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=350384&highlight=steering+box

You might try sending Rio an email or PM to see if the pics are available if you are interested in this approach.

This solution is clever in that it reuses one of the mounting locations, and is really a fairly easy task in relative terms. It should get you the 4" stretch you want. Plus, you are not pushing the plow that is the front bumper forward which reduces the approach angle. You can still fab up mounts to use the Teraflex sway bar. Worth serious consideration and reasonably cheap too.


Barry