Pitman Arm

“Upgraded” my CJ6 steering to larger DOM tubes.. I like the strength, but I had to remove one of the leaf springs clamps that was interfering (acceptable to me) and I’ve noticed the pitman TRE is contacting the drag link.

Anybody into this, stock axles and 2.5 “springs- SUA setup

I was thinking, all I need to do is find a shorter Pitman arm.. suggestions?

 

Two things I noticed on my Saginaw swap (which is an inch out of place)
caster shims will effectively move the knuckle tapers back.
The steering box has more then enough rotation to tighten the drag link and work a bit off center untill your new arm is found or another solution is used.

Even a tie drag link flip on just the current arm looks like it will work.

 

Not to steel the OP's thread. But just asking, would flipping the drag link to pitman arm be enough to cause some bump steer? Again, just asking because I do not know.

 

thought about that, but then why not just do the whole truck OTK

These are rugged ridge bars and factory ends.. so Im sure this installation has been done before.. just didn't know if anybody solved it with a bolt on option rather than making it a project..

truck drives and tracks strait and true.. tire wear is perfect, so I didn't want to make any adjustments to caster. Ive been living with this for about a year, just promised myself it would be addressed once the weather cooled down..

 

You can use a mid 60's Gm 'A' body pitman arm. Inline Tube had them but they are sold out.
There are several listed on Ebay. This is a shorter arm with a slight drop and will take some of the quickness out
of your steering.
Correction on the part Number given before. The TRE hole is too large in the arm. New:
https://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS/555/60746/10002/-1
https://www.southwestspeed.com/?sec=view_part&id=921

 

I'd be tempted to try flipping the draglink at the knuckle and pitman. You could try a shorter pitman, you may have noticeable slower steering and may not get stop to stop radius.

 

A little slower will not hurt. My box is 4.1 to 1. Connected, I get 2 full turns lock to lock when it hits the stop bolts. It is twitchy at speed.
I have the tie rod flip to install which will remove some of the bump steer. At that time, I will try this pitman arm out.

 

When you get down to the math there will always be bump steer when the suspension cycles. The important thing is to have it minimized and consistent. A level drag link will always pull the passenger knuckle to the left and at a amount proportional to the bump. a slightly raised drag link will push right before it goes left which means you can't really predict where it will go with each bump.

So if you flip it flip both ends.

 

*with leaf springs

(Track bar-equipped leafsprung setups excluded, i.e., stock YJs)

 

Ordered the GM pitman arm.. this might be a temp solution before I convince myself to go OTK for various reasons..

I will say, moving away from the factory steering linkage created the issues.. I'm a firm believer of keeping things as close to stock, but I was tired of bending drag links when playing in the rocks..