8" or 10" lift questions - Steering

[Goatman]

I'm moving for college, and WILL Not leave my XJ behind.

So here's the scenario, 8" or 10" lift front and rear, AA SYe, Woods Driveshaft, Clayton Long Arms, and all necessary Brake lines.

Looking at, for now, 35" tires.

What will I need to do with my steering to make this jeep "very streetable" , as it WILL get wheeled, it will also get a LOT of street miles.

ANy help?

To do it right, you'll need something that moves the steering over the knuckle. The problem is the severe angles of the drag link and track bar at that lift height. There isn't much room left in the movement of the joints, so they will wear out quickly with much off roading, then you're driving miles on the street with marginal or completely worn out parts. Those who say they are running stock stuff successfully at that lift just don't know the problems that they are about to encounter......and they either haven't run it long or rarely wheel. The TRE at the pitman arm is especially susceptable to premature failure. The stock parts are also very marginal with 35" tires on the trail, especially the stock drag link which can easily bend at the threads next to the adjusting coupling.

ORGS makes some parts to help you do it, but there is no actual kit to do the whole thing. There are any number of ways to do it, a search here should come up with plenty of discussion and pics. You can either reverse the taper on the knuckles, which takes brazing ability plus the correct tapered reamer, or just drill out the taper and use heim joints. If you can't make the links yourself, a number of off road shops sell ready made or custom links, and can also sell the hardware. The ORGS parts can be used to relocate the track bar over the axle, which is necessary to keep it aligned with the drag link for proper geometry, and ORGS parts can be used to move the sway bar links up to clear the raised steering links.

Here's a pic of my old D30 steering setup, just for some ideas.

 

[Speed_racer]

Thanks for the update guys.

But yes, I have a removable steering wheel sitting here, and an alarm.

And Ive been to UC campus, and yeah, the area is rough, but ill be staying off of West Fork road, which isnt a bad area at all! And while @ school, Ill have the parking garage... yay for low security parking garages...

YOU GUYS THINK WITH 8" LIFT I CAN JUST USE THE SKYJACKER OR RUSTYS DROP PITMAN ARM AND BE OK?

 

[Yucca-Man]

Can you fit in that low-security parking garage with 8" lift??

 

[ChuckD]

YOU GUYS THINK WITH 8" LIFT I CAN JUST USE THE SKYJACKER OR RUSTYS DROP PITMAN ARM AND BE OK?

What do you mean by OK? Onroad, Offroad?

 

[shimmy]

i run an a little of over 8" with a 1" drop pitman arm. it works now, but you should definitely look into a OTK setup or something! i plan on doing something in the heim joint OTK type deal thing... believe me, plan on dumping some money into this, because there are no short cuts! do it right the first time, before you break something.

brandon

 

[Atl XJ]

Can you fit in that low-security parking garage with 8" lift??

Thats a really good point, must of the parking garages I park in have a clearance of between 6'7" and 7'. You really might want to look in to that, with 35's and an 8" lift you'll be pretty high up there.

 

[DBenz]

In my stock XJ with 235s, I can turn on a dime, is this GREATLY affected with a lift?

 

[Yucca-Man]

In my stock XJ with 235s, I can turn on a dime, is this GREATLY affected with a lift?

Do you want to be able to turn on a dime in a lifted, higher center-of-gravity vehicle? That said, my XJ has a tighter turning radius than a 96 Ford Mustang or 03 Subaru Outback...that's WITH the 32s underneath. Now that I think about it, I think that's actually better than it was with the stock rims and 30s.