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General Forums => The Mess Hall => Topic started by: Eucalypta on August 22, 2011, 10:50:36 AM
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Hi guys,
Since 2 years, my car has a 4" leaf lift and I have been driving it on and off road.
In the liftkit there was a bracket for the front track bar. (took out the one in the rear)
Today I was at the dealer for our annual "APK"; a road-proof certificate which you get after a thorough inspection of the car.
Of course there was alot wrong with mine (loose bolts, corroded reflector in my headlights, wipers, etc.) so I know what I'll be doing
next few evenings.
The mechanic at the dealer advised me to install a longer pitman arm because of my lift.
My question to you all is; I never noticed any difference in steering, what effect/improvement would a longer pitman arm bring me?
Looking forward to your advice and remarks.
John
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your kit didn't come with a drop pitman arm?
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look at your track bar and tie-rod from the front of the vehicle - if they are parallel (look at the imaginary line between the track bar bolts) then you don't need to do anything (assuming it steers just fine like you say). If they are at different angles then you will experience steer bump - that means that there will be a difference in offset given by the trackbar when the springs compress (or the other way as well) vs. the offset given by the tie-rod. So you travel strainght, you hit a bump, the axle goes up and the trackbar pushes the axle out towards passenger side 1'' [for example], if your tie-rod is angled more than the trackbar then the difference in offset when rotating it upwards would be [for the sake of argument] 2'' - there will be a 1'' difference in steering between the 2 at the knuckle so all of a sudden the Jeep would want to go right until the axle settles back to the original height (of course you will correct it from the steering wheel, but if you weren't thats what would happen - in fact you'd feel a "bump" in the wheel when this would occur).
If you don't have any of this then don't bother.
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If you don't have any of this then don't bother.
I didn't bother; my tie rod and trackbar are parallel to eachother. The kit came with a trackbar bracket (my axle is in the middle of the car, not pulled aside).
I didn't bother; I never experienced any problems in steering or any difference in steering after the lift.
I got bothered by the Jeep dealer who adviced me to install one.
I got bothered after I asked other off-road experts at shops in The Netherlands; they all said to install one (looking for extra sales?)
After you explanation...I don't bother again..
BTW: I got two quotes on these PMA's: one was for a dropped arm for 4" lift from Crown: 109,= Euro.
The second was for a standard PMA for a ZJ: 24,= Euro!!
The PMA for a ZJ is supposed to be the same as a special after market dropped PMA. Great way to safe money.
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ZJ one is different than a TJ one it's atleast 1/2" longer center to center and it does not drop down any more that a drop down pitman arm those have 1 1/2 to 2" of offset on them and are a lot more prone to coming loose and breaking
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look at your track bar and tie-rod from the front of the vehicle - if they are parallel (look at the imaginary line between the track bar bolts) then you don't need to do anything (assuming it steers just fine like you say). If they are at different angles then you will experience steer bump - that means that there will be a difference in offset given by the trackbar when the springs compress (or the other way as well) vs. the offset given by the tie-rod. So you travel strainght, you hit a bump, the axle goes up and the trackbar pushes the axle out towards passenger side 1'' [for example], if your tie-rod is angled more than the trackbar then the difference in offset when rotating it upwards would be [for the sake of argument] 2'' - there will be a 1'' difference in steering between the 2 at the knuckle so all of a sudden the Jeep would want to go right until the axle settles back to the original height (of course you will correct it from the steering wheel, but if you weren't thats what would happen - in fact you'd feel a "bump" in the wheel when this would occur).
If you don't have any of this then don't bother.
just to correct myself with the terminology in the post above: bumpsteer not "steer bump", draglink not tierod (thanks Art).