thobson said:
thank you everyone for the correction true crossover is what I am looking to do. My axles are set up for this with steering arms(avalanche) already mounted to the flat top knuckles. I was just wondering if there where any other options to lower the cost of the steering links, drag link and tie rod. But understanding that I do not want to skimp on these parts I will just suck it up and have some made.
Since this is a daily drive would going with a high steer set up be nicer?
Also will I for sure need to run a waggy pitman arm or does it differ for each application. Right now I am running RK longest drop pitman? Also will I have issues with the TNT ota trac bar mount linning up properly with drag link?
High-steer is fine for a daily driver.
The advantages of high-steer are, it reduces the steep angle of the draglink, it moves the tierod up high out of the way of rocks, and it is less likely to roll the tierod up before it actually moves wheels, thus eliminating a possible dead spot in the steering. (not a concern if you do true crossover). In my experience you need to have the tierod about 7 inches out from the balljoints in order to clear the coil springs at full lock. With a 7 inch high steer arm, the stock pitman arm will not turn the knuckle all the way to the point where the steering stops on the knuckle make contact, thus you lose some turning radius. Your pitman arm needs to be as long horizonally from the hole to hole, as the high steer arm from ball joint to tie rod hole. I hope I explained that right.
So here is my high-steer arm and a XJ drop pitman arm, the verticle drop amount has nothing to do with this issue.
Obviously the pitman arm doesn't have enough 'throw' (only 5.5") for the high-steer arm 7 1/4".
With this combination I could turn my steering wheel as far as it would go and my steering knuckles did not turn all the way to the steering stops.
So to correct this I got the Waggy pitman arm, which is 7" hole to hole, which was enough.
The next issue is making sure the draglink and the trackbar are parallel so you don't experience bumpsteer. For me the waggy pitman arm with only one inch drop and the JKS above the axle relocation bracket, on a full width axle, gave me parallel links. If you are doing true crossover then the angle of your draglink will be different. I sugest you install your steering first, when you are satisfied with your highsteer, then figure out where your axle side trackbar mount needs to be to make it parallel to the draglink. Then buy or fab a bracket that will position the trackbar in the right place.
You might want to read the build thread in my sig.
You might want to call Foothill Offroad and tell them what kind of draglink and tierod you want, they will most likely build it to order for a very reasonable price.
Make sure you know the measurements and what kind of joints you want, hiems or tres, if you order something that doesn't work, you probably won't be able to return it.