Harry's thread to organize all his Jeep thoughts

[Harry]

even with the track bar just under the frame it would have to be below the top of the axle to be parallel no?

Just below, yes. Will that be a problem for a reason I'm not thinking of? My angles should be as flat as possible at ride height.

[ct67_72]

Im just thinking for the angles to be the same on the drag link and panhard. If the pitman was straight it would be close to being above the frame. Then the tie rod side of the drag link would be over the axle tube centerline.
You have no choice but to have the frame side of the panhard under the frame, so to get the same angle the axle side would need to be below the centerline of the axle tube.
So my thought is you need a drop arm as low as you can get while clearing the tie rod. To get as close to the panhard height as possible on the frame side, so you can mount the axle side above the tube.

[Harry]

If the pitman was straight it would be close to being above the frame.

Not really. I know from seeing in person and looking back at the the pics just now that even a perfectly flat arm would still put the pivot of the tie rod end on the pitman just below the frame. As long as that's correct (which I'm 99.99% sure it is) then I can chop most of the bottom of my trackbar bracket off and make the trackbar mount right under the frame. Then the axle end trackbar mount can mount somewhere a little above the centerline of the axle.

[ct67_72]

OK good. Yeah looking again it looks like it will be right below the frame, especially with the link under the pitman arm.So as long as you shorten the panhard mount you should be good. Its gonna be tight, but everything will sit nice and flat.

[Harry]

Its gonna be tight, but everything will sit nice and flat.

Exactly... I hope haha. I'm pretty confident it will work though.

[ct67_72]

You save a little bit of room with regular ball and socket ends. My drag link end with the misalignment spacers and bolt hangs down a good bit.
I think down the road it may get an astro van box or other forward facing box to free up some space.

[Harry]

astro van box

Do tell

Maybe I need to research this?

Edit: those boxes make it so the pitman is facing the other direction. Not really an option unless you plan to stretch a bunch.

[ct67_72]

Do tell

Maybe I need to research this?

Edit: those boxes make it so the pitman is facing the other direction. Not really an option unless you plan to stretch a bunch.

Right. Nothing you should be worried about, I aparently just felt the need to share that lol

[Luke95]

So hows the axle swap going?

[Harry]

So hows the axle swap going?

Thanks for asking. I was home in NY since Tuesday, so not much since the last pics were taken. Really need the Waggy pitman before I can continue. Sold the D30 and Swampers have an interested buyer so I should have some cash to buy a locker and custom chromo inner for the passenger's side soon.

[Bigbike]

harry wanna use mine for now?

[Harry]

harry wanna use mine for now?

Thanks brosef, this worked well.

Steering is all tacked together, a little tight at full bump but I think it's going all work out pretty well. I'll get some pictures up when I get the trackbar on. Life keeps impeding my progress.

[Harry]

Ok, been pecking away at this and finally got to a point where it seemed worthy to take some pics.

Really happy with how it's going so far. Trackbar mounts on both ends are not done, but I wanted to get something on so I could see how it all worked together. Oil pan is mighty close to kissing the trackbar at full bump. Might need to bumpstop a little more and get stiffer springs. These are whooped, I was hitting the bumps cruising green trails at Rausch.

Finish up trackbar mounts, weld in the threaded bungs, and fabrication on the front will be close to done. Need to order locker, shortened shaft and rebuild parts still.

[ct67_72]

Here are my 2 questions.
If you use a drop pitman arm and lower the track bar mount to clear the pan better would the arm clear the tie rod?
How far forward is the axle right now? Do you have room to go more if need be before the drag link gets into the tie rod?
You'll want it a bit forward especially when you go to 38"+
Looking good though. Now hurry up and get that shit done!

[Harry]

Here are my 2 questions.
If you use a drop pitman arm and lower the track bar mount to clear the pan better would the arm clear the tie rod?
How far forward is the axle right now? Do you have room to go more if need be before the drag link gets into the tie rod?
You'll want it a bit forward especially when you go to 38"+
Looking good though. Now hurry up and get that shit done!

There is zero room for a pitman arm with more drop. The pitman TRE is directly on top of the tie rod in the full bump picture. I need to add a little more bumpstopping anyway, so I'm not too worried about it.

I'm really not sure how far forward the axle is right now. I know it was stretched a little to begin with, and the Ballistic brackets were longer. In any event, there is not much room for the axle to go any further forward than it is right now.