O.k. holds on i'm computationing right now.
i feel like i am being trolled. but... ill feed him.
first off:
My 2000 is at 5.5" of lift and still has stock steering. It has no wander, no bumpsteer, and no drop pitman arm.
Stock steering at 5.5" of lift is not ideal, but I have twice driven 1280 miles to Moab for
Fall fling, and driven the same 1280 mile home with no issues.
I suggest a bit more caster, 1/16" or more toe-in, and replacing any worn steering/suspension parts, including bushings.
i agree with this post...
i ran similar height with stock style (geometry) steering, including the OE pitman arm, for quite some time on 35s. i used the factory axle mount for the trackbar, and selected a double sheer bracket that i felt would keep the drag link and track bar as parallel as possible. while i did notice the tires exerted a lot of force onto the steering (in situations wheeling you could even see it flexing, i also bent a ton of ZJ tie rods and a handful of drag links) i had no issues with wander, bump steer, or death wobble. increased toe and castor was how i specifically dealt with the wandering issue on big tires. but, castor is going to be a balance with drive shaft operating angle.
again, i feel like i am being trolled. but id like to put down some steering information for future reference. and ill get back around to the trackbar/drop pitman arm thing. if someone with more knowledge would like to expand or correct something, please feel free.
first off, the arguement that stock steering limits travel is a bit of a misconception IMHO. stock TREs will not live a happy life regularly being used as limit straps. but for most rigs, that point comes well beyond the usable range of travel. for stock steering, the coil will begin to unseat and even drop out in some cases before the TREs start to bind. we came to this conclusion when a buddy started looking at putting new shocks and limit strapping his radius armed jeep. the drag link being the limiting factor during droop (specifically the passenger side) due the extreme operating angle, but we saw the same scenario on both sides when articulated:
this is speaking specifically of the OE style steering, known as "inverted T." which does have its design flaws... the biggest one i have found is the change of toe during articulation. as one side droops and the other side compresses and the angular relationship of the drag link and axle changes. this changes the relationship of the tie rod and drag link resulting in toe changes. the effects arent severe, but can be felt in the steering wheel, and pronounced by taking toe measurements at ride height, and then again with both tires at full droop. there will be a change in toe.
i could get behind the argument that having a flatter drag link from a drop pitman arm helps fight this. more importantly, it decreases the operating angle of the tie rod. ideally (with all steering) flatter is better. why? you are directing as much force as possible cross car, instead of losing energy due to a vertical force.
but doing this without addressing the track bar at the same time is ill advised. the relationship between drag link and tie rod needs to remain on the same plane, or "parallel" (or as close to it as possible). ideally, the same length as well. you want the two link to travel on the same arc. the axle is located, rigidly, cross car via the track bar, so any difference in these two "arcs" is manifested as bump steer through the drag link. a simple mechanism diagram will show this. but a drag link and track bar that are reasonably the same length and on the same plane should drive down the road with no/minimal bump steer. varying angels will pronounce bump steer more than the varying lengths. but the different lengths can still manifest itself as bump steer offroad. this is why a lot of times when driving strait over an obstacle that articulates the suspension you will either have to hold the steering wheel strait, or let the steering wheel "float" and spin in your hands. ill expand more on varying lengths in a minute.
correcting this steep operating angle of the drag link through the sole use of a drop pitman arm (not that anyone made that claim) would result in one serious drop pitman arm. if a modification like going OTK, WJ steering, or high steer does not get someone where they want to be, then maybe looking at a drop pitman arm is the answer. but you also have to consider the track bar when making this steering decision, more specifically its packaging. this can be done with dropping the frame side bracket, and raising the axle side bracket when you get away from stock style steering (usually its a little bit of both). back to the flatter is better argument... ideally you would want a 100% flat track bar. this would limit the axles side to side movement the best, as it is in a "neutral" position at ride height. you will see this flat track bar on something like a competition buggy. but relationship to the steering is a bit of a mute point here as they typically run full hydro. their packaging constraints are also completely different. for most XJs, a 100% flat track bar is tough to do without some serious work. you run into issues.
on my axle swap specifically, with high steer, i could easily get the drag link flat. but i also didnt want to give up that much compression. a flat track bar yielded two issues, the track bar liked to occupy the same space as my differential and oil pan. so... i had to compromise with the best that i could get. this meant placing the track bar as flat as possible FIRST and then finding a pitman arm to match. my lengths still arent equal, and i wanted to outboard the frame side track bar mount and/or place the axle side mount in front of the passenger coil bucket. but these solutions opened up a whole new can of worms. im my specific case... the tie rod and longer/flatter pitman arm would clash at full bump. this dictated how far forward i placed the axle. which dictated where the coils landed. i was not ready to relocate the steering gear box and rework the inner fenders. and with the steering at full lock, i could not relocate the frame side track bar mount in front of the coil and outboard.
for the sake of this topic though, you really arent going to get perfect geometry with bolt on, manufactured, suspension parts. it is 100% going to be a compromise. beating on the varying lengths topic again... packaging is the issue. and you are going to have a tough time finding a manufactured track bar to pair with a manufactured steering system and having them be the same length.
and now we come full circle... @Transpoquick, are you still with me? this is why you see people on forums talking about the angles of the drag link and track bar being parallel with each other to combat bump steer. once in a blue moon, there will also be mention of their lengths. while i agree that a flatter drag link is better, only adding a drop pitman arm and throwing the angel between the drag link and track bar further from parallel is not a good recommendation.
