Solving A Problem

My wife and I went on the Colorado jeep trip this August and I noticed a few problems with the cj5. The Power Steering conversion has a slight problem when the jeep does some serious off-roading. The Tie rod end that attaches to the pitman arm has the grease fitting on the bottom. I noticed after all the jeeping we did the grease fitting touched the long tie rod and put a small groove in it. I was wandering if I plugged the hole of the grease fitting and drilled a hole and tapped it and added a grease fitting to the side of the tie rod end if that would solve my problem. The jeep steered fine except for the rubbing. I have included some pics to help understand my dilemma.

The other option I have is to put the straight pitman arm on and see how it drives. Here is a pic of the straight pitman arm and the drag link sitting above the long tie rod. Would that be a bad idea?

these 3 photos I have added is what the tie rods look like now. The other photo is with the straight pitman arm and the drag link sits way high. With the 2" drop pitman arm the tie rods are closer to parallel.

 

Nice looking rig. Since greasing is not a frequent occurrence maybe plug it then install a grease fitting when needed for greasing? I am not really understanding why they would rub if installed accurately.

 

That's alot of drag link angle. I'd be real tempted to flip the tie rod and see how it looks with the straight pitman. Bonus you'll pick up some clearance.

 

can you post up a pic from the top down, withe the straight pitman arm on it?

 

If you could find the elusive 2-hole Dana 27 knuckle, you could do a flip on the drag link to move it to the top of the knuckle. That would have a pretty horizontal drag link with the flat pitman arm.

It might be worth driving it with the flat pitman arm as pictured to see if the bumpsteer is annoying. It will definitely have some bumpsteer, but the suspension on these old Jeeps doesn't move much so it may not matter much in practice.

I also thought about just putting in a plug in place of the fitting. Another possibility might be a pitman arm with a shorter center-to-center distance.

 

Try the Wagoneer forums. The Wagoneer came with the 27 through '70, and then a closed-knuckle 30 through 1973, also a suitable donor. A J-truck closed-knuckle 44 too. There's a Wagoneer yard in Plains MT if you ever get up that way.

 

Thanks guy's. I think I will try to plug the grease fitting first and if that doesn't work I will go to the 2 hole steering knuckle. Hey Roy when we going jeeping again?

 

Install a female needle type grease zerk on the tie rod end.
Just need a needle adapter for your grease gun.
That should give you some additional clearance.

 

Looks like the steering box is a little too far back.

 

X2
The needle is handy to have anyway.

 

If the drag link is hitting the tie rod your steering box placement needs scrutiny.
I agree wit Jpflat2a, try a different grease fitting. the drag link angle shown In the later pics are way too steep and you will have bump steer issues.

 

That's a good question! I'm thinking about doing a Pacific Northwest thing next year. So maybe then.

 

Hey Scott are you back in

I think you are correct about the box sitting a little far back.

 

I can believe that the grease fitting did not break off. I think a shorter pitman arm would compensate for the steering box location if it is sitting back.

 

I used a manual steer one from AA. It's pretty short and straight.

 

Is it time to start the '2021 Epic Pacific Northwest Trip' thread?

 

Soon...

 

I thought the holes were tapered and can only go in one way?

 

Correct. You can drill through and weld in Goferit inserts or run a reamer from the top.

 

Did this issue get solved? A needle grease fitting can be used to replace a standard zerk fitting and will generally fit flush with the hole. Would be a lot easier than moving the hole.

Mike