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Tie rod end spacers? This seems weird to me

Brett

Brett

Meat-Hippy
Location
Salt Lake City Utah
Browsing NAXJA and ran across this. People have been adding spacers on top of the tie rod end (between the rod end and the tie rod itself) to take out the play that always the ends to rotate. To me this doesn't seem like a good idea, as it would inhibit the tie rod end from being able to flex as the steering angles changed. Am I right in thinking this or is this actually a good idea?

Pic for reference.

2198414810100669327S600x600Q85.jpg


2642928060100669327S600x600Q85.jpg


Thoughts?
 
ewander

ewander

Registered User
Location
Lehi, UT
It gets rid of the common dead spot on that type of steering. I had it on my JCR Offroad system and it worked pretty well. That being said, the best upgrade I have done to my XJ to date was tera flex high steer knuckle.
 
Brett

Brett

Meat-Hippy
Location
Salt Lake City Utah
ewander said:
It gets rid of the common dead spot on that type of steering. I had it on my JCR Offroad system and it worked pretty well. That being said, the best upgrade I have done to my XJ to date was tera flex high steer knuckle.
Click to expand...

That's the steering system that pic is of too :rofl:



Speaking of your Tera knuckle, what'd you do trac bar wise afterwards?
 
XJEEPER

XJEEPER

Well-Known Member
Location
Highland Springs
Lots of steering options for the modified XJ......... OTK T-style, HD Currie's Y-style, custom T or Y with Heims, WJ or Tera knuckles.

I know the cool thing to do is just toss the stock steering in the trash and build new with DOM and heims........for those that want to retain TRE's, most folks thread some DOM and build an inverted T, which apparently has enought slop in it to create a dead spot......hense, the washer to keep the TRE from rolling eliminating the dead spot.

WJ knuckles or Tera knuckles that eliminate the T and Y setups seem to be the best solution, however not the least expensive or labor intensive.

Currie's HD Y-setup works pretty good and has loads of travel, and how they addressed the rolling issue is their draglink joint that attaches to the pass knuckle has a slot in it that allows articulation, but prohibits the draglink from rolling.

I chopped off the draglink end of my Currie steering, welded on a threaded sleeve and added a TRE that I can replace, which also allowed me to reverse taper my knuckles and move everything on top.
 
Herzog

Herzog

somewhat damaged
Admin
Location
Wydaho
Or at least something similar to this:

xj0591.jpg


Which is still steep, but better than a stock configuration.
 
IntrepidXJ

IntrepidXJ

Registered User
Location
Grand Junction, CO
Brett said:
Browsing NAXJA and ran across this. People have been adding spacers on top of the tie rod end (between the rod end and the tie rod itself) to take out the play that always the ends to rotate. To me this doesn't seem like a good idea, as it would inhibit the tie rod end from being able to flex as the steering angles changed. Am I right in thinking this or is this actually a good idea?

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

The spacer is on the TRE that connects knuckle to knuckle on a solid axle....there is no movement that is needed that the spacer prohibits
 
IntrepidXJ

IntrepidXJ

Registered User
Location
Grand Junction, CO
mbryson said:
Curious what the intended function of that is?
Click to expand...

When you have an inverted-t steering system, the tie rod goes from knuckle to knuckle and the draglink connects from the pitman arm to the tie rod. the downside of this steering is that when you turn, the draglink pushes up and down on the tie rod, causing it to roll before actually starting to turn. this causes a dead spot in the middle of the steering. it is worse with a steeper angle on the draglink, and not as bad if your draglink is more parallel.

the spacer is designed to sit between the TRE and the knuckle and helps stop some of the roll.

hopefully that makes some sense.

personally, i have been running an inverted-t steering setup for the last year without a spacer, and I am getting rid of it soon. i dislike the dead spot and am going to go back to an inverted-y (stock) steering configuration
 
mbryson

mbryson

.......a few dollars more
Supporting Member
Location
Bountiful, land of rocks
IntrepidXJ said:
When you have an inverted-t steering system, the tie rod goes from knuckle to knuckle and the draglink connects from the pitman arm to the tie rod. the downside of this steering is that when you turn, the draglink pushes up and down on the tie rod, causing it to roll before actually starting to turn. this causes a dead spot in the middle of the steering. it is worse with a steeper angle on the draglink, and not as bad if your draglink is more parallel.

the spacer is designed to sit between the TRE and the knuckle and helps stop some of the roll.

hopefully that makes some sense.

personally, i have been running an inverted-t steering setup for the last year without a spacer, and I am getting rid of it soon. i dislike the dead spot and am going to go back to an inverted-y (stock) steering configuration
Click to expand...


Inverted T = early Bronco style?

Inverted Y = Jeep "system" ?
 
IntrepidXJ

IntrepidXJ

Registered User
Location
Grand Junction, CO
J-trucks used to come with an inverted-t steering setup and came with these spacers from the factory:

TJSpacers.jpg


people have found them in the junkyards, but no one has been able to find a new source for them.....and have made their own instead
 
IntrepidXJ

IntrepidXJ

Registered User
Location
Grand Junction, CO
mbryson said:
Inverted T = early Bronco style?

Inverted Y = Jeep "system" ?
Click to expand...

i don't know what the EB steering system was?

inverted-t: tie rod goes knuckle to knuckle and drag link goes pitman arm to tie rod

inverted-y: draglink goes pitman arm to knuckle and tie rod goes draglink to knuckle

IMG_9945.JPG


top: stock steering (inverted-y)
middle: currie steering (inverted-y)
bottom: rugged ridge steering (inverted-t)
 
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