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Crossover Steering and Pitman Arms

4K views 15 replies 9 participants last post by  Stitch586 
#1 ·
I just finished up my WJ knuckle swap and need to address my pitman arm. So much "mis-information" out there, and a lot of the write ups I read where for TJ/XJ's.

I figured I'd start this thread in the F12 as a lot of guys are doing SOA / 1 Ton swaps that require crossover steering.

If you could list your axle / Lift height / steering knuckle / Pitman arm used (eye to eye measurement) / did it work? (or any other useful info)

Hopefully we can get enough good info collected for others that want to do something along these lines. :highfive:


Please only post if you are running or have ran a set up like this in the past. Just trying to eliminate the " I heard from a guy, who knows a guy" stuff. Please, nobody take that the wrong way. :thankyou:
 
#3 ·
SOA Waggy 44, flat top knuckles, cross over steering, (drag link is on top, tie rod is below the spring) stock pitman arm.
One of these days I will have the other flat top knuckle milled and drilled to run the tie rod over the spring.
Oh I do not know if this is relevant or not but running chevy 1 ton tie rod ends.
Oops forgot, front end is pushed 2 inches forward too.
 
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#4 ·
I just recently posted this to a different thread(But updated it with alot more info)

I did the WJ knuckles on my '95 H/P CAD D30. It was a hell of alot of work because there is a ton of incorrect, incomplete, or inaccurate info out there. I think alot of stuff is very specific to your setup. I'm 4" lift with SUA. The steering is so much better than the factory. My only complaint is that even with the astrovan pitman arm, it doesn't reach the steering stops on both sides. It gets close, but your gonna loose a little turning radius. WJ calipers will clear my 15" steel wheels but the TRE's needed a little metal grinding for clearance when turning. First drive it gouged one of the wheels... I highly doubt 15" aluminum wheels will work.

-Stock booster and master cylinder worked fine for me, brakes feel excellent with the WJ stuff in the front and 8.8 diff in the back. I dont know if mine is dual diaphragm, but its 2.5L with an automatic. I never really had issues with my stock brakes, but the WJ are more powerful.

-Stock YJ upper ball joint with 2001 WJ lower ball joint

-In my case, drag link and tie rods were going in the dumpster. I bent them last time I wheeled with it, so I was upgrading with 1-ton Ruffstuff at the same time. I dont believe stock would work with the WJ knuckle, but I could be wrong. I did the tie rod flip and it caused the drag link to interfere with the Tie rod with any mild flex, so I had to install a flat pitman arm from an astrovan.

-2001 XJ wheel bearings are required. I don't know about u-joint geometry, but with stock wheel bearings it will leak gear oil from the diff.

-Stock front brake lines are way too short. Some from a 1996ish C1500 worked great and were way longer than stock.

-Welding the knuckles is no big deal at all, its cast steel, not cast iron. I preheated in the oven just to be safe and after welding wrapped in a welding blanket to cool. No "tings", pops, cracks, anything bad.

-In my setup, the track bar had to go, and the bracket had to be cut off the frame. The longer, flatter pitman arm would contact it.

-1999ish Astrovan flat pitman arm for clearance between drag like and tie rod. Will need locating spline filed, and be reamed to correct size(Its an oddball size, original tre is too small and "1-ton" is too big.) Approx 6-6.25" eye to eye.

-Rotors from a 2002 Explorer Sport-trac are very close to being perfect and dont require you to drill, but are slightly too far offset. It required a 1/8" spacer/shim between the hub and rotor.

Been driving without issue for probably 8 months or so now.





I probably forgot something, but let me know if there are any questions?
 
#9 ·
mrit said:
The hubs between the YJ and the XJ have different offset for the axleshaft. Basically the YJ hub pulls the axleshaft farther out from the diff so the seal is no longer riding on the machined axleshaft sealing surface.
It's more of a year break than model, and yes they are different sizes, yes it does move the shaft sealing surface. But the sealing surface is about 1-1/4 long, and the hub difference is only about a 1/4.

Have you experienced personally?
 
#12 ·
I did have issues with it. I completely rebuilt my D30 and 8.8 myself and had zero issues for several months, but within a day of finishing the knuckle swap the passenger side was leaking. Swapped in the 2001 XJ knuckle and it hasn't leaked since. Maybe just bad luck for me:dunno:
 
#10 ·
D30, SOA with added main to stock packs, Tera Flex knuckle, waggy pitman arm, Parts Mike steering box relocation bracket, AND notched frame for drag link.

Does it work? Well, it's worked better than a stock YJ arm, dropped YJ arm, TJ arm, shorty billet arm, and WJ arm. I"ll post pics later.
 
#15 ·
I finally measured the ball joint to the end of the drag link. It's 8.5" which is why the earlier Tera Flex arms were not that great IMO. The arm is too far away from the ball joint. My pitman is only 7" so getting the full range of turning is tough.
 
#16 ·
WJ Knuckles = 6-7/8" C to C (BJ to DL)
Waggy Arm = 7" C to C

IMO, I have got my turning radius back plus some. With the stock YJ arm (5-1/2" C to C) it turned like a bus.

If you go from a YJ arm to Waggy, note that the waggy arm is clocked a little different, and the taper for the DL is the GM taper 1.5 per FT or 7*.

Pic of stock Waggy arm(Part# J5352278) and stock YJ arm
 

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