I'm looking into getting an aftermarket steering system and was wondering what the difference between all these kits are. I'm looking into JCR one ton utk and otk, iron rock offroads otk, currie, teraflex hi steer, motion offroad's otk. What's the difference, and I've heard people saying Heims are terrible. Cost aside, what would be the best kit? And is it better to move the track bar on top of the axle?

 

both of these threads shoudl help you out. both are pretty new and still on the first page of the forum.

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f67/re...-setup-133528/

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f59/ir...eering-133401/

 

I've been following these threads and that's what sparked my interest . I'll see what happens in them

 

otk means over the knuckle.
utk means under the knuckle.

otk obviously has more ground clearance than utk.

high steer has more ground clearance than both, but you pay for it.

heims vs tie rod ends are personal preference. a high quality heim will provide years of service whereas a cheaper heim can get dirt in there, and squeak and wear out prematurely.

i'm a fan of the one ton chevy tie rod ends many of the manufacturers use. especially seeing that im in the northeast and we get a lot of road salt in the winter.

 

I got a JCR OTK kit sitting at the house waiting for install.

 

Which brands use chevy 1 tons ?

 

the ones that advertise that they do.

pretty sure serious offroad, and jcr to name a couple

 

i have zero issues with my iro set up. ive beat the crap out of it too. no unusual noises yet either. ive had it on for about 13 months. its been sumberged in water, sand, louisiana mud, slammed into tons of rocks. still no noises or issues. also they are one of the beat companies to deal with in my opinion

oh and yea its set up a little different than most, but it hasnt caused any issues

 

crap i meant to put this in my post

 

might just be the pic. but do i see something wrapped around the heim on top of the knuckle? and whats that yellow thing?

 

im going to go with the UTK JCR 1 ton...JCR makes some bada** stuff

 

yes, thats how you sheer straps while transporting the jeep. good thing i didnt know how it looked and added a few more "just in case"

 

I have the IRO OTK setup as well and was just curious...how do you get your drag link to stay in place? In the instructions, it says to turn the ends down parallel so they contact the stops, but that lets it flop upwards when you hit bumps and whatnot, and the weight just brings it right back down on the stops again. The clunking gets a bit annoying. I tried offsetting them so that it couldn't rotate either way but that leads to: How tight do you have to get those clamps the make sure the drag link doesn't spin on the ends? Short of using a 1/2" drive with my feet pressing into the tires to really torque the ever-loving **** out of them, my drag link keeps wanting to creep down until it's banging off the tie rod. None of this hurts anything, it just makes me wonder what the hell I'm doing wrong.

Other than that, it's a great kit and feels very solid. I can't feel any difference from the stock setup when it's on the pavement. Snaps to center out of corners, is easy to turn...couldn't be happier with it performance-wise.

 

i dunno why your having that issue. mine barely moves through bumps and stuff. plus its a big loud cherokee so a little more noise doeant matter to me.

 

thats what happens when you use heims on both ends of a bent link

you could probably put a rubber or poly spacer of sorts to combat this on one of the heims. the tie tod that goes from knuckle to knuckle doesnt require much misalignment and shouldnt wear one out too quickly. even a delrin spacer would probably be good to go on just one of the knuckles. the drag link on the other hand will probably eat them up much quicker.