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Steering gurus... need help.

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Old Sep 3, 2013 | 08:33 PM
  #1  
Sunnysideup's Avatar
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From: Laurel, MT
Default Steering gurus... need help.

I have an issue that has developed over time with my lift. I bought a very inexpensive lift 3 years ago (rancho sport) and have been spoiled with near factory steering. I later added a full set of Rock Krawler control arms... removed a lot of brackets... and moved rear trackbar up to top. Other than rancho coils and adjustable shocks... the lift is now closer to Rock Krawler than anything. I have almost perfect alignment, the driveshafts are perfect, jeep drives great. BUT... the track bar has been moved down with a drop bracket and drop pitman arm (and man did we weld that puppy on!). However with the changes the control give...this creates a problem... the track bar now hits the diff cover on high speed bumps (not on highway but deeper bumps). The steering box is braced with Off Road evolutions brace. It sits very solid- but the trac bar hits on drivers side.

My question comes around to this idea. Since the Track bar mount has room on it to drill a new mounting hole... if the bar was moved up an inch on the mount... and the hole drilled over 1/4 inch so the track bar lines up with weight on the jeep. Will this change the steering response? If you can picture this process... it would all be done while the jeep sits on the ground. No length or shifting of the axle is needed to line the trackbar up.... just moving the bar up 1 inch and this will bring the hole over about 1/4 inch... punch a new hole and bolt up. seems to my pea brain that since the location is still solid... would not the track bar still operate the same as in current postion?

It will still keep the plane of the drag link and trackbar near level. Will this work? Or will the trackbar have a adverse effect on driving after the 1.25 inch relocation?

Or plan B.. back to the drawing board. Cut mount down to stock location, get old factory pitman arm... sell brace, and try to get the old stuff to line up?

Or Plan C... buy a track bar that exits the brace with an uphill angle going away from the axle... instead of straight out from it (BDS version comes to mind).

Thanks for yor ideas....
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Old Sep 3, 2013 | 09:16 PM
  #2  
jeeeep's Avatar
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From: Texas
Default

Originally Posted by Sunnysideup
BUT... the track bar has been moved down with a drop bracket and drop pitman arm (and man did we weld that puppy on!). However with the changes the control give...this creates a problem... the track bar now hits the diff cover on high speed bumps (not on highway but deeper bumps). The steering box is braced with Off Road evolutions brace. It sits very solid- but the trac bar hits on drivers side.

My question comes around to this idea. Since the Track bar mount has room on it to drill a new mounting hole... if the bar was moved up an inch on the mount... and the hole drilled over 1/4 inch so the track bar lines up with weight on the jeep. Will this change the steering response? If you can picture this process... it would all be done while the jeep sits on the ground. No length or shifting of the axle is needed to line the trackbar up.... just moving the bar up 1 inch and this will bring the hole over about 1/4 inch... punch a new hole and bolt up. seems to my pea brain that since the location is still solid... would not the track bar still operate the same as in current postion?

It will still keep the plane of the drag link and trackbar near level. Will this work? Or will the trackbar have a adverse effect on driving after the 1.25 inch relocation?

Or plan B.. back to the drawing board. Cut mount down to stock location, get old factory pitman arm... sell brace, and try to get the old stuff to line up?

Or Plan C... buy a track bar that exits the brace with an uphill angle going away from the axle... instead of straight out from it (BDS version comes to mind).

Thanks for yor ideas....

The issue is moving the track bar down and adding the drop pitman arm. I would recommend putting that back to stock and getting track bar relocation bracket to raise it and a draglink flip kit to get parallel again- EVO and Synergy have draglink kits to make this easier - Synergy also has the front track bar relocation - not sure if EVO makes one
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Old Sep 3, 2013 | 09:20 PM
  #3  
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From: CT
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Originally Posted by jeeeep

The issue is moving the track bar down and adding the drop pitman arm. I would recommend putting that back to stock and getting track bar relocation bracket to raise it and a draglink flip kit to get parallel again- EVO and Synergy have draglink kits to make this easier - Synergy also has the front track bar relocation - not sure if EVO makes one
X2
Same with the rear. Lowering the track bars actually lowers roll center and will do no nothing for drivability.
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