Steering arm question

1968 Cj5 w/ saginaw conversion. The front arm that goes from the pitman arm to the right side steering knuckle is slightly bent due to hitting the leaf spring on the pass. side. Also the joint where it meets the knuckle is very worn. I want to replace the arm but I am afraid it will hit the leaf spring again. Where is a good yet inexpensive place for a replacement? Can i mount the new arm on top of the knuckle and on top of the pitman arm to avoid hitting the leaf spring ( instead of on the bottoms like now)? Or are the holes in the pit arm and knuckle tapered in a way that makes this impossible? Ive never had it apart -looking for experience here.

Thanks,
Josh

 

The holes are tapered but there is a kit available that has the proper reamer and necessary inserts to do a tie rod flip. I believe it is made or marketed by Rock Equipment, and is available from OK Auto, 4WD and Tire

 

Are you sure the ?drag link? isn't suppose to be bent? Alot of them are. The one on my van is, and the one on my m38a1 is, tho I'm not sure if its suppose to be there or not.

 

I never heard of any steering arm coming "pre-bent".???

 

OK obviously I would have to ream the st knuckle hole to flip to the top side. What about the pitman arm? It looks straight, if I mark it, flip it over, the taper will be on the top. Can this be done?
Anyone?

Josh

 

Anyone have any experience in this area?

 

How well does this vehicle steer as far as staying in the lane with no road wander?
Virtually everyone of these old cj's have lost castor angle over the years due to sagging springs, lift or longer shackles. You might want to check it or have it checked.
Adding more castor angle by adding shims under the springs adds quite abit of clearance between the tie rod tube and spring. Mine was off by about 3°.

 

Something you may want to look into is changing the set-up, so it has a tie-rod end that is bent. They make them for full size vehicles, I don't know about the smaller sizes. It makes the rod come in at the height of the arm, and then the end drops down or up to its original mounting point.

Or just switch to heim joints, and you do not need to do any tapering, just drilling and tapping. Really fast if you have acces to a lathe.

Any change is going to require fab time.

 

I have a feeling McRuff may be right. The caster probably changed due to some spring sag. I think I will check to make sure the new arm will not hit again, install it, then take it to have the alignment checked.

 

Pic might help slow guys like me, but as I visualize it, he's asking if he can move the pass side drag link above the knuckle to clear the leaf, right? Not disagreeing with McRuff at all, but to add to what he said:

You can braze the knuckle holes, then use a SnapOn #R121 reamer on the top side and re-drill for the stock tie rod end; by doing that you're not going to be out hunting for some hard to find heim if you ever break somewhere. Get the reamer online for about $50 new. PartsMikeParts sells an Advanced Adapters knuckle-to-knuckle tie rod for ~$43 that uses stock tie rod ends. It is 35-1/2" long. You have to move some TREs around, and swap the driver's side drag link to the pass side IIRC, but it is an inexpensive way to really firm up your steering.

 

Yesterday, as I was mocking up my conversion, I noticed how close the tie rods are to the springs. Mine has a lift but I don't think that's the issue. I'm thinking I"ll do the heim conversion by drilling out the steering arm on the knuckle to 5/8", then attaching the heim to the top of the arm. I've done pretty much the same thing for years on my dirt Modified with Pinto spindles, although the heims mounted on the bottom of the steering arms.

The only problems came when someone tried to knock a front wheel off the car and then usually the only problem was a bent 5/8" bolt. Just use good heims and periodically check the bolts for tightness. Also, make sure the heims still pivot (so the tie rod can move up and down) once tightened down. If it binds, you can put in a small spacer between the heim and the mounting surface.