Steering Geometry Question

sorry the first pic is upsidedown.

I have a Saginaw conversion and the tierod and drag link are currently parallel with each other. Problem is that they rub slightly on the passenger side leaf spring. So I was thinking a tierod flip would cure the rubbing, but it would cause my drag link to no longer be parallel with the tie rod. On my other jeeps, they aren’t parallel. But the difference there is that the drag link travels downward from the pitman arm to the tie rod. In this case, the drag link will be traveling UPWARD from pitman to tierod.

Is this going to cause any problems with handling? Is there some better solution than a tierod flip?

 

I suppose another option would be to add a small shim above the leaf spring. I would think even a 1/4 inch shim would give me plenty of clearance. Only downside there is that would lower the front by 1/4 inch and I already feel like the Jeep has a slight forward rake.

 

No personal experience, but perhaps a better option is the 2-hole right hand knuckle.

 

Do a tie rod flip, and also do it on the pitman arm. All geometries will be retained.

 

I would think you would want to flip the tie rod end at the pitman arm end.

 

caster angle shims would do the most bang for the buck if needed. It would rotate the axle with minimal change in lift.

 

Adding more caster made my CJ much safer to drive.

 

My suggestion is to do a tie rod and draglink flip or get a straight(stock)pitman arm.

 

X2

 

I did the wedge AND tie rod flip for the same reasons. so far (3 yrs.) I am pleased with the results! Just do it right!

Dale

 

I am only going by what I can see in these two photos but would your problem not go away if you rotated the Tierod End Clamp to a different position?

I have a similar problem in that I have HD tube Tierod and Drag link tubes. And use Jam nuts rather then clamps and they come very close to each other if the points on the Nuts are not aligned properly. Also how did your Steering box end up so low. I have mine mounted so the input shaft is far enough below the Cross Member (though I do have a CJ5 crossmember) that I have room for the steering shaft coupler and my Drag link angles down to the double tierod end much steeper.

 

I have rotated the clamps to their optimum positions. It’s still a really tight fit.

Regarding the steering box being low, that work was done by the PO, so I’m not sure why they did it that way. It looks like the box could have been mounted an inch higher, but then the steering shaft would come into contact with the driver side motor mount bracket. In order to avoid that, the steering wheel would need to be at a steeper angle possibly putting stress on the u joints, or a slacker angle, putting the steering wheel in the drivers lap.

I recently discovered that the driver side frame bushing for the leaf spring shackle was totally disintegrated, causing the eye of the leaf to rub on the frame. This caused a very harsh ride, and caused the Jeep to sit lower than it should. I ended up installing new bushings and slightly longer shackles to give me about 1/4 inch of lift.

Seems like the problem is fixed for now, although it’s a fairly tight clearance. I’ll add a small caster shim which should fix the problem completely.

 

I ran my steering shaft through the left side motor mount. The input shaft on my box is pretty much parallel to the floor/ground. I put a combination Vibration Dampener U Joint after about a 5-6" Stub shaft with the Coupler on the other end. Then up to a Heim Bearing on the Left frame rail and another in my case Double U-Joint and on too the bottom of the column.