JCR steering... opinions?

O

OHIOMAN

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Sierra Vista, AZ
I run JCR OTK steering with 15" wheels with 3.75" of backspacing. Lots of clearance.
Steering is strong and easy to install. TRE can be bought anywhere and are cheap.
 
It's inverted T, with much lift you'll get a lot of roll on the tie rod and a dead spot. This is the same as YJ steering, just beefier, and people quit trying to run that ages ago.
 
^^^not sure what that guys talking about^^^
I run it with 5.5inch lift and 33's. Not a DD. running it UTK. It does rotate forward and back quite a bit, and there is about a quarter turn spot of no steering response on mine. Oh, wait... that's what he said... never mind.

Seriously, I've ran it about 5 years. I burn through the poly spacers pretty quick. I've also had to bend it back straight a couple times. Do I love it? No... Does it work... Ya.
 
I run JCR otk setup with 4.5 inches of lift (advertised, higher in person) and have no tie rod roll with JCR's spacer installed. Drives great and is pure beef, I also left the trackbar in the stock axle mount..... drives fine, not planning on redoing the mount like many say is a must with OTK steering.

You do have to cut ur swaybar tabs off, the stabilizer mount (won't need anymore anyway), and trim the coil buckets all the way back to the coils themselves.
 
XGarfX said:
I run JCR otk setup with 4.5 inches of lift (advertised, higher in person) and have no tie rod roll with JCR's spacer installed. Drives great and is pure beef, I also left the trackbar in the stock axle mount..... drives fine, not planning on redoing the mount like many say is a must with OTK steering.

You do have to cut ur swaybar tabs off, the stabilizer mount (won't need anymore anyway), and trim the coil buckets all the way back to the coils themselves.
Click to expand...

pics?
 
I have that steering and Clayton Long arm with 33" and 15" wheels. My jeep tracks great, responds great, no rollover or deadspots. I love this steering, it is beefy and simple.

As a matter of fact JCR has sold 2 additional steering systems after people have seen mine on the trail.
 
VAhasnoWAVES said:
pics?
Click to expand...

I'll see if I can get a pic, JCR does have pics on their site of the OTK setup and if you google "JCR otk steering naxja" you'll find a bunch.

Starboards old setup is in this thread-> http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=944924 which I looked at before I bought my steering. I was not looking to cut up my rock krawler trackbar or make a new one that mounted over the axle and spoke to him about how his handled. He said the same thing that many others on here said to me, will there be bumpsteer? A tiny amount, is it worth fussing about? No. I honestly barely notice the bumpsteer that everyone said would be horrible with this setup and I'm very fussy with how the front end handles in my jeep. I do think that my trackbar frame mount might have a slight drop in it but I think most heavy duty trackbar mounts are a little lower then stock.
 
XGarfX said:
I'll see if I can get a pic, JCR does have pics on their site of the OTK setup and if you google "JCR otk steering naxja" you'll find a bunch.

Starboards old setup is in this thread-> http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=944924 which I looked at before I bought my steering. I was not looking to cut up my rock krawler trackbar or make a new one that mounted over the axle and spoke to him about how his handled. He said the same thing that many others on here said to me, will there be bumpsteer? A tiny amount, is it worth fussing about? No. I honestly barely notice the bumpsteer that everyone said would be horrible with this setup and I'm very fussy with how the front end handles in my jeep. I do think that my trackbar frame mount might have a slight drop in it but I think most heavy duty trackbar mounts are a little lower then stock.
Click to expand...
i guess the more specific picture request was the OTK steering installed with the stock track bar location. there are a few in there, thanks. did you lose any turning radius lock to lock?
 
I have JCR UTK on 6.5" lift and 33's. First off, way better and beefier then stock (obviously). A lot beefier and cheaper then Currie. I have not bent my JCR stuff. Not saying you wont, I just haven't. I don't have a dead spot. It does hit my Solid diff. cover at full turn. I also go through a lot of JCR's poly spacers.
 
jakeWI said:
I have JCR UTK on 6.5" lift and 33's. A lot beefier and cheaper then Currie.
Click to expand...

I'll buy cheaper, Currie is pretty beefy.


jakeWI said:
I don't have a dead spot.........I also go through a lot of JCR's poly spacers.
Click to expand...

Hmmm....

The spacers are a band aid to cover up the dead spot, so how do you know when the spacers are shot?
 
RoyalXJ said:
Make a good spacer and you will NOT get any roll or dead spot
Click to expand...


RoyalXJ said:
I made one spacer and wheeled the piss outta my jeep for a year and never had to replace. Steering was perfect the entire time.
Click to expand...


A year is not very long......

You realize that the spacer works against the ball in the TRE, constantly pushing up on the ball similar to when the joints motion is maxed out, which is the typical cause for TRE's to wear out prematurely.

A good band aid is still a band aid.
 
It depends on how thick you make the spacer. If you make a plastic one it doesn't need to be as thick to do its job because it won't squash. Don't run a cheap passenger tre either. A year isn't long but my buddy has been running the same setup for almost 5 years on a one ton chevy mud truck.
 
Part of this has to do with expectations. To some people a certain thing is just fine, to others it's not. That's one of the real hard things about internet discussions, it's very hard to discern the perspective of the person posting.

I'm picky about this stuff. My '97 F350 has inverted T steering with 1 ton TRE's, stock from the factory, and the truck is not lifted. It has steering roll, and I feel the dead spot and don't like it. The two F250's I had previously had inverted Y steering and did not have a dead spot. It was especially obvious when I still had both trucks and I would drive one and then the other. I keep thinking about getting F250 steering and putting it on my F350.

After awhile we get used to anything, we adjust, so a person could have a dead spot and not even notice it anymore (and post that their steering is fine) and someone else could get in the car and feel it and not like it. Facts about how things work are facts, people's personal experience and perspective is subject to many variables.
 
Goatman said:
After awhile we get used to anything, we adjust, so a person could have a dead spot and not even notice it anymore (and post that their steering is fine) and someone else could get in the car and feel it and not like it. Facts about how things work are facts, people's personal experience and perspective is subject to many variables.
Click to expand...

Those words are so accurate both here on the forum or any forum/discussion for that matter and applicable to all walks of life.
 
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