Steering for 95 YJ w/ SOA

[rjh]

Did you convert to full hydro, Spune? Otherwise I'm curious how you steer without a drag link. That's the thing that converts the rotary motion of the steering box into the linear motion required to steer the Jeep. It connects the pitman arm to either the passenger knuckle (WJ setup or "crossover" steering) or directly to the tie rod (TJ setup or "inverted T" setup). I don't have a YJ so I'm not positive, but I think it uses the same inverted T the TJ uses, but it may be an inverted Y. In any case though, the stock steering setups in all Jeeps involves the use of a drag link.

In every instance I've seen where the tie rod is flipped on the WJ knuckles, people have used a stock or straight pitman arm for clearance. Mine is a stock TJ arm. Cory fabbed his flat one becuase he's got even less clearance up there than I do (2.5" of lift I think, vs. my 4").

I still have a steering stabilizer on mine; the bigger tires wear everything out faster and the stabilizer keeps it from wobbling as much on the road. If you do a good crossover steering setup and everything is nice and tight (no worn TRE's or bushings), you shouldn't need one. I drive without mine sometimes, but if I want to go more than 35-40 mph I put it back on.

[spunebil]

I use the ..........Force !..........:razz:






actually



I was thinkg tracbar.....

not draglink..........:D

[mujeeper]

Any recommendations on where to come across custom threaded tubing for the tie rod & drag link? I bought some for a WJ, but they apparently are too long.......oops

[rjh]

I used this stuff... had to cut the tie rod down maybe 1-2 inches, but it's threaded far enough into both ends that we could split the difference when shortening it and took 1/2-1" off each end.

[mujeeper]

Ya, I looked into that, but was trying to watch my budget given everything else I've done so far and upgrade the steering later. I was planning on calling them to see what they can do for my application, but I figured it's just a heavy pipe with internal threads. Should be able to get that locally & jam nuts & can just go to Ace.

I may go ahead and try that though.

[rjh]

Good luck finding those jamb juts locally. I must've gone to 10 places (hardware stores, fastenall, other specialty shops, etc) and finally gave up and just ordered them.

[mujeeper]

What's is it that makes them so hard to find? The thread type? They're just nuts. Figured Ace would have that. Is Ace NOT the place?

For cutting it down, how did you do that without damaging the threads?

[rjh]

Nope, nobody had anything that large, or 24mm with the right pitch, etc. I found some that were close, but no cigars.

I didn't actually cut it. I had Mike do it while he was doing some other work on my Jeep at 4x4 Land. I would assume he used a bandsaw and a tap to clean the threads up afterward... I've cut threaded rod with a sawzall before in a pinch and just used a die to clean up the cut and it worked fine.

[mujeeper]

Just spoke to JKS tech line. Their Tie Rod (PNOGS955) is 38" long & drag link (PNOGS956) is 20" long. Both have 3.25" threaded ends & jam nuts are about 1/2"....In case someone else is interested.

I'll do the math to see how it fits. I have a circular saw with a diamond carbide blade that I can use too. Not dure if this will cut better than a sawzall with a standard steel blade. I'm soon to be finished so I'll provide pictures and a brief write up when I'm done.

[Guest]

I appologize for not reading the whole thread, but if your looking to cut something I have a metal chop saw and a power hack saw your welcome to come out to the shop to use...

[mujeeper]

Ok.....about done with the whole project, but got an issue with the brakes. I flipped the calipers pass to driver, driver to pass side because the hose connection is closer that way. THe other way would stretch my alreaded extended braided SS lines. I took it to NTB for the aligment and to check the issue with the brakes & they couldn't figure it out. They said that it could be air in the line since in order to bleed the lines, the bleeder screw needs to be up top, not at the bottom like I had (whoops). So they flipped them while they bled them, but still had the issue. The issue is, there isn't much brake to it. When you pump the brakes, they get stiff like they should, but let go and press the brakes again and the pedal goes to the floor. One theory was, the brake booster is bad, but since the brakes do get stiff, that theory probably isn't right. Another theory was there is air in the brake master cylinder and it needs to be bench bled.

I plan on flipping my calipers to the right sides, reroute my brake lines so I can flex (maybe get longer lines if I they're out there), and bleeding the BMC. I've never bled a BMC, but it seems simple.

Any suggestions?

Also, I was planning on doing a write up on this mod. Considering I knew almost nothing on brakes and steering prior to the mod and now the whole thing is about done, I thought I could explain it in detail and cover the PITA steps that the more experienced fly through, but us rooks struggle with. Any suggestions with that?

[rjh]

I had the same problem; my RE lines from the 4.5" lift weren't long enough after the swap. I think they're ~20" lines. I ended up picking up a pair of 24" lines from Clayton to replace them. The only issue there is they're almost TOO long, and I've rubbed most of the plastic cover off both lines. If you use a spring or zip-tie to keep them against the shock, that probably wouldn't happen though.

All I did was bleed my lines from all 4 corners (furthest from master to closest, i.e. pass rear, driver rear, pass front, driver front).

To bleed the lines, I used an empty water bottle with 1/2" of brake fluid in the bottom and a couple feet of aquarium air line. Drill a hole in the top of the bottle lid and feed the tubing in so it's under the level of the fluid at the bottom of the bottle. Put the other end over the bleeder valve on the caliper. Take a pair of lineman's pliers and crimp the tubing and then loosen the bleeder screw. Tell your "helper" (my 8-yr old) to press the brake all the way to the floor, as you open the jaws on the pliers. Brake fluid (and probably air) will squirt out into the line. While the helper holds the pedal on the floor, crimp the line again and tell them to let up. That will suck fluid from the master into the line instead of from the bottle. Just keep doing that until you get a full tube of clean fluid, with no bubbles. Repeat at each corner. Make sure not to let the reservoir under the hood get low or you'll suck air in that way..... as the water bottle fills up, empty it occasionally (not back into the reservoir - fresh fluid is CHEAP).

did you end up needing the 1/4" spacers for the calipers? i figured out why I didn't need them -- I used the WJ caliper bolts which have a little stand-off built into them -- they bolted right up to the knuckle with no need for any spacers. the only spacer I used was on the outside of the knuckle for the unit bearing, to center the u-joint in between the ball joints.

[mujeeper]

I got the brakes bled without a problem (minus the #@$* bleeder screws that were stripped. Ended up with 2 that were. One was on the new caliper. Fortunately, I had an extra front caliper (salvage yard screwed up) so I used that one instead. THe rear one was taken to NTB. After all the work I've done, I didn't have the patience to deal with a stripped screw. My issue now is that the brakes aren't working how they should. I'll take care of the calipers and lines, but I don't think that will solve my issue. NTB couldn't figure it out. I can pump them and they feel solid, but let go & press again and there's not much there. I heard from a mechanic friend, that if left open long enough & enough fluid to leave the lines, that the brake master cylinder may need to be bled and to do that it needs to be taken off. Something about a valve or something getting flipped backwards when it runs out of fluid. New to me, but I've never messed with a bmc....until now I guess

I haven't had a chance to measure what length lines I have (got them from Rusty's), but I did consider using a spring to pull the line back, but I like the idea of rerouting the lines. I'm not sure how easy it is to bend the existing lines, but my biggest concern is accidentally pinching a line too tight and cutting off flow. I'm still on the fence with longer lines with a spring or rerouting lines, though.

I ended up needing the 1/4 spacers, but it was close. I bought some hot dipped washers from home depot for pennies which measured to about 1/8" so got 8 instead of 4. I fitted with no spacers, 4 spacers, & all 8 & 8 was the best layout.

[jagular7]

Take it to a shop and they can pressure bleed the master. It can be done in the vehicle. Its basically the opposite of what you just went through in bleeding the brakes. You put brake fluid, under pressure, into the caliper and it blows through into the master.

There are kits out there as well if you wanted to do it at home by yourself.

[ovrszd]

Actually the MC can be bled simply by removing the lid, have someone slowly push the brake pedal just slightly, not moving the internals more than an inch and let off. If you see bubbles escaping into the reservoir as the cylinder is pushed there's air and you need to repeat the process until you see no air.

Maybe I should have read this whole thread. The MC would only need bled it you ran it out of fluid while pumping the brakes or if it's new.

The pedal issue you describe is more likely brakes out of adjustment than air in the system. But that would require drum brakes on the rear?? Air in the system can create the need to pump the pedal but usually just has a spungy feel. A strong pumped up pedal indicates brakes out of adjustment. Drum brakes are old school, they require attention.

Again, not having read the thread, the only other cause for having to pump the brakes is if you have changed the combination between the wheel setups and the MC. For example, with Mary Jane, I swapped axles from a FSJ GW into MJ. That gave me larger brake systems at the wheels. I used the MJ factory MC and booster. I had low solid pedal. It took almost all the stroke of the MJ MC to actuate the larger brakes. I had to swap in the GW MC and booster. Now I have full, solid pedal.