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Over the knuckle steering

jeepfreak1020

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Thornton
Ok so my steering is shot right now and its about time to upgrade. Im not going to spend the coin on a set up when I can fab my own. I have a D30 right now and it will stay in the jeep till it blows up, end of question about that. I want to go over the knuckle steering with 5/8" bolts. I wwas going to run a crossover steering type. So a full tie rod from pass to driver knuckle, and over the knuckle. I was going to get the alignment straight on with my tires, then my plan was to weld 2 tabs onto the tie rod itself, towards the pass side, as far as I can go, then burn the 2 tabs in for a drag link. Would this be ok to do? It would be pretty much just like JCR's 1 TON steering, but with heims. Pretty much the same concept though. WOuld this be ok to do, and would it still drive ok? It will be going on a DD well.


Or should I just do the same thing and keep it uonder the knuckle. It dosent really bother me to keep it under, as I have never hit my steering. I would just like to go over because you clear the diff better and can have full steering till.
 
Ya I wasent going to. I was just going to bolt the tie rod straight down onto the knuckles so Iw ouldent have play in it. Then I would use misalignment spacers on the drag link
 
you could do that fine. should be too much tie rod roll since the draglink will be on top of the tie rod pushing and pulling up and down from the top. not from the front like the JCR set up. heres what im picturing:

steering, 3/4 heims, .250 wall draglink, .375 wall 4130 chromoly tierod
000_1801.jpg

000_1802.jpg

bolted up
DSCF1490.jpg


DSCF1504.jpg
 
you could do that fine. should be too much tie rod roll since the draglink will be on top of the tie rod pushing and pulling up and down from the top. not from the front like the JCR set up. heres what im picturing:


I love that steering setup except that it is using heims. That is exactly what I visualise for my XJ when I get back into it except that I will use Chevy 3/4 ton knuckles instead.

You did not raise the track bar mount? Is there any bump steer?
 
Sway bar link mounts, track bar mount, and steering stabilizer mount would be my only concern with this design. An alternate choice for mounting your drag link would be sleeving the tie rod with some larger tube, drilling through, sleeving the hole, and mounting via a tie rod end through the track bar. The sleeving process will eliminate any strength loss, and it'd be more compact in general.
 
I love that steering setup except that it is using heims. That is exactly what I visualise for my XJ when I get back into it except that I will use Chevy 3/4 ton knuckles instead.

You did not raise the track bar mount? Is there any bump steer?

its not my steering. its from pictures on pirate, the user is a member here as well. shortxjdoug? i think. i want to do something similar so that i can make the draglink and trackbar the same lengths. mine are the same angle but the draglink is considerably longer. im already using heims on my 30 so it wouldnt be much work to change to that setup
 
you could do that fine. should be too much tie rod roll since the draglink will be on top of the tie rod pushing and pulling up and down from the top. not from the front like the JCR set up. heres what im picturing:

That was exactly what I was picturing! Except using 5/8" heims on the knuckles, and then 3/4" for the drag with missalignment spacers. Or would you not run them with the drag eather??

I love that steering setup except that it is using heims. That is exactly what I visualise for my XJ when I get back into it except that I will use Chevy 3/4 ton knuckles instead.

You did not raise the track bar mount? Is there any bump steer?

I would like to use TRE to, but the last axle I had with crossover steering and 1 ton ends, drove like shit because of the TRE roll. Im hoping this will cure my wondering of my jeep and the shitty steering to.

Sway bar link mounts, track bar mount, and steering stabilizer mount would be my only concern with this design. An alternate choice for mounting your drag link would be sleeving the tie rod with some larger tube, drilling through, sleeving the hole, and mounting via a tie rod end through the track bar. The sleeving process will eliminate any strength loss, and it'd be more compact in general.

I dont run sway bars, track bar will be going over the axle shortly after the steering is set up, and will fab a steering stabilizer mount once its built.
 
you could do that fine. should be too much tie rod roll since the draglink will be on top of the tie rod pushing and pulling up and down from the top. not from the front like the JCR set up. heres what im picturing:


Turn it upside down and continue to run the inverted y a'la goatman:
standard.jpg

standard.jpg
 
000_1802.jpg


Whats the reasoning for guys setting up the drag link to tie rod like this VS attaching drag link and tie rod at the knuckle?
 
lol.....totally didn't follow techno's link. i copied those from another thread but great minds think alike and all that
 
lol.....totally didn't follow techno's link. i copied those from another thread but great minds think alike and all that


:cheers: I will drink to that.
 
Sway bar link mounts, track bar mount, and steering stabilizer mount would be my only concern with this design. An alternate choice for mounting your drag link would be sleeving the tie rod with some larger tube, drilling through, sleeving the hole, and mounting via a tie rod end through the track bar. The sleeving process will eliminate any strength loss, and it'd be more compact in general.

That was exactly what I was picturing! Except using 5/8" heims on the knuckles, and then 3/4" for the drag with missalignment spacers. Or would you not run them with the drag eather??



I would like to use TRE to, but the last axle I had with crossover steering and 1 ton ends, drove like shit because of the TRE roll. Im hoping this will cure my wondering of my jeep and the shitty steering to.



I dont run sway bars, track bar will be going over the axle shortly after the steering is set up, and will fab a steering stabilizer mount once its built.

The swaybar situation is easily fixed by adding 3/8" plate tabs welded off the outside of the spring mount drilled with a bolt welded in for whatever setup you have. I can post up a pic of my setup later. My OTK is very similar to the one in the picture.

A simple tab welded to the draglink can solve the steering stabilizer, if you need one.

I know it is !!!1 I just really don't think it is safe not to run a stabilizer bar on a street driven lifted xj... JMHO.
 
000_1802.jpg


Whats the reasoning for guys setting up the drag link to tie rod like this VS attaching drag link and tie rod at the knuckle?

If you mean stacking them... the reason is 2-fold.
  1. With the heim at a right angle to the drag link there is no bind at all when the axle travels.
  2. The double shear is clearly a stronger mounting set up, especially since there is no side stress on the bolt to cause it to shear off.
 
000_1802.jpg


Whats the reasoning for guys setting up the drag link to tie rod like this VS attaching drag link and tie rod at the knuckle?

Because stacking them onto one knuckle with just a single bolt holding both together is alot of stress on that single grade 8. This is alot stronger.
 
i like the designs.my biggest complaint i have is the tie rod roll. i just got mine back on the road and did the over the knuckle steering conversion. all in all it rides and handle nicer than i was expecting
 
The down side to connecting the draglink to the tie-rod via a couple of brackets is the loss of fine adjust-ability. You won't be able to make small adjustments to your toe-in/out since the drag link will limit the amount of movement.

Stick with a more traditional approach, you'll be better off in the long run.

+1
Can't say I thought of it. At all... but good looking out.
 
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