[AggieLR]

What is the minimum distance from the center of the ball joint you would drill the hole for the drag link end to be in? I'm gettin custom arms made, and I don't want the hole to be too close, no leverage on the steering, but i'm also moving the axle forward 2-3", so i don't want it too far out. This is on a '79 CJ5, and i'm using d44's

 

[TPIJeep]

At 6" from the center of my kingpin on my D60 it was very hard to turn the tires.. by moving forward you "MAY" have to make the tie rod go behind the axle due to clearance issues with the pitman arm..

HTH

 

[Eric]

Where you put your TRE hole depends on your overall steering geometry. The closer to the center, the faster your steering ratio will be, just like the farther away from the center, the slower your steering will be. Too far away and you may not have enough travel from the pitman arm to turn the wheels from lock to lock.

You need to measure you pitman arm throw (how far does it move from side to side). Then you need to mock up where your steering arm will be and see how far it will go from lock to lock. If it is 5", then you need to move your TRE hole out, if it is 10", you need to move your TRE hole in.

 

[AggieLR]

so a good start would be to measure the length from center of pitman arm to center of pitman arm (splined to rod end holes) and use that distance when i'm mocking up my arm? if they travel about the same distance, should be good right? or should the steering arm on the axle travel further than the pitman arm?
and if it should, what ratio,
ex. pitman arm moves 4", steering arm should move 6" or 8"?

 

[Eric]

As your pitman arms swings from left to right (lock to lock), the TRE travels in an arc. You need to measure the straight line distance between the two end points of the arc. If your pitman arm is about 5" long your lock to lock travel will be shorter than a pitman arm that is 7" long.

Your pitman arm swing should be close to your axle steering arm swing when you go from lock to lock. If your pitman arm only swings 4" and your axle swings 8", then you are not going to be able to turn very sharp. Also, as your suspension articulates, your steering ratio between the pitman arm and steering arm may change.