TJ steering

Chris_Keziah

Chris_Keziah

Joe Dirt @ Rev Limit Fab
Joined
Dec 1, 2010
Location
Winston-Salem
So I need some thoughts and opinions on steering for my TJ. I already have what is considered bomb proof steering, it's the Currie set up with an Iron Man 7075 tie rod. The problem is all the joints need to be replaced. Well not all but the drag link is shot and two of the other tre's. For what I would pay to replace all of that I could go with a simple heim or tre crossover under the knuckle set up. Is it worth keeping the Currie stuff or switch over to something different.

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The tie rod ends themselves are only like $50 if you go to curries website and chat with a specialist. They'll give you a PDF of the parts and their number. then CALL. On their website the ends are $74 but I know I saw them for $50 on that PDF when I was looking up the part# for the rod I bent
 
Currie's parts are expensive as hell. The rod ends for their sway bar are $40/ea if you buy from them. A good-quality studded end from anyplace else is $11. I'm betting you can do the same thing for the steering with a little bit of research. I know Andy's tie rod uses standard Moog ends. I bet Currie is the same.

What I wouldn't do is put heims on it. I have a little research experiment going right now, and I hope it'll turn out well. I put a brand new set of nylon-injected race SREs on all four steering joints on my Jeep last August. By December, every one of them had spit out the nylon. The joints were all trash. I have a new set of FK JMX-T joints with PTFE liners now. If these are the joints that I think they are, I have previously ran them 5+ problem-free years. As in, after all that time, you still couldn't turn the balls in the sockets with your bare hands. I've had brand-new joints that weren't that tight.

Bottom line is that to properly swap from TREs to heims is going to set you back at least $200 after you figure in the cost of good joints, misc small parts (bolts, offsets, safety washers, etc), and shipping.
 
CasterTroy said:
The tie rod ends themselves are only like $50 if you go to curries website and chat with a specialist. They'll give you a PDF of the parts and their number. then CALL. On their website the ends are $74 but I know I saw them for $50 on that PDF when I was looking up the part# for the rod I bent
Click to expand...

Cheapest I found them was on Summit, the Drag Link end was 149.01 and the LH TRE was 67.97, 50 bucks may have been the price when they first came out. When I was searching some the price on the whole kit was $400ish years ago but now is $500+.

I'll have to do some more research to find a Moog part number the only special thing about the Curries TRE's on the tie rod is the zerk for one of them comes out the side and the other on top like normal.
 
shawn said:
I've had brand-new joints that weren't that tight.
Click to expand...

Joints with lower friction torque aren't necessarily lower quality, they just may have been poorly selected by whoever is buying/selling them.
Just like ball bearings and roller bearings, internal rod end (or spherical) clearance can be specified higher/lower if friction torque is a problem. If you start adding a lot of rod ends in a system that are all really tight, you can easily get huge amounts of hysteresis and all sorts of motion problems. Not a problem for a heavy wheeling rig with a lot of unsprung mass, but you get my drift...

Basically, you can't grab any old rod end and say "this is really tight, it must be high quality". A much looser rod end may be far lower quality, or far superior quality, depending...
 
Point taken, but it's irrelevant to the current discussion. In a steering system on a 4wd, a joint with low breakaway torque values is a joint that's only a few months away from having lateral endplay.
 
You all ready have an aluminum tie rod which is a major plus, I would replace the joints and be done.
 
They told me $40/ea for 99006, same price that's on their website.
 
Price of being you I guess.

I placed a call both times. First for info on part numbers, and they sent me that PDF (which I can forward to you...just can't upload the PDF to the site) and then I called and spoke with someone personally on the part number search and purchase. I debated getting both the rod AND new tie rod ends (which were exactly as above) or just the replacement rod, and settled on the rod only. This was on April 7 2017
 
It's been a long morning already....apparently...I copied over the previous PDF in that folder o_O good catch

Thank GOD Shawn would argue with a tree stump though or I'd not have even pursued that avenue
 
Is the drag link pretty flat now?

Can you mot it to OTK to keep the drag link flat and reduce some of the vertical forces on the ends?


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NickMaul said:
Is the drag link pretty flat now?

Can you mot it to OTK to keep the drag link flat and reduce some of the vertical forces on the ends?


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Click to expand...

It's fairly flat now. Jeep only has 2-2.5" of lift so everything is stupid tight underneath.

Having thoughts of doing over the Knuckle TRE (This Kit) Plus redoing the track bar bracket (This one) and chopping up the the JKS track bar to reuse with it.
 
Chris_Keziah said:
It's fairly flat now. Jeep only has 2-2.5" of lift so everything is stupid tight underneath.

Having thoughts of doing over the Knuckle TRE (This Kit) Plus redoing the track bar bracket (This one) and chopping up the the JKS track bar to reuse with it.
Click to expand...

That's literally exactly what I did last year. Depending on your diff cover and current steering stops at your knuckles you may loose a bit of steering. I don't think it will work with 15" wheels either.

Another option that could be explored is adding this piece

7/8" - 18tpi Drag Link Adapter

Then using offset tie rod ends to regain your steering travel back.


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NickMaul said:
That's literally exactly what I did last year. Depending on your diff cover and current steering stops at your knuckles you may loose a bit of steering. I don't think it will work with 15" wheels either.

Another option that could be explored is adding this piece

7/8" - 18tpi Drag Link Adapter

Then using offset tie rod ends to regain your steering travel back.


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Click to expand...

Hell I could make that piece at work in no time. I need to get under the Jeep and check some stuff out first before doing any drastic changes, but I may be able to fit everything.
 
shawn said:
Or, you know... don't fuck up what's not broken and just replace the ends that are worn out.
Click to expand...

There's that too, I'm just being indecisive as fuck.

Edit: which is honestly what I'll probably do
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FK does make boots for SREs that help with wear by keeping the dirt and crap out. If I remember correctly, they have two different versions. One simply sits on top of either side of the joint and one fully encapsulates it. That's the direction I would head if using heims for a street driven rig where you want the joints to last.
 
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