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I'm in need of a pitman arm that is 4" lower/dropped than the factory XJ pitman arm. Does anyone have a suggestion on where to locate such a piece? I've looked at various vendors and it's hard to tell whether their pitman arms are actually lower or not (because they reference so many vehicles at once).
Last edited by CLSegraves1; 12-30-2018 at 05:33 PM.
I'm in need of a pitman arm that is 4" lower/dropped than the factory XJ pitman arm. Does anyone have a suggestion on where to locate such a piece? I've looked at various vendors and it's hard to tell whether their pitman arms are actually lower or not (because they reference so many vehicles at once).
What is the reason for a 4" pitman arm drop? Did you do something different with the track bar stuff?
I would be scared to use a Pittman arm with that much drop, if you Jeep is lifted enough to where it requires that much drop you need to get a high steer kit.
From your profile it says you have a 3" lift. My Cherokee has a 5.5" lift and I don't even have a drop pitman arm. There shouldn't be a need for a 4" drop pitman arm, and really you probably shouldn't need a drop at all.
My profile info is long out of date. My XJ is currently sitting at about a 6" lift with double sheer heim ends on WJ knuckles. The axle is forward 2" from factory.
It's an entirely custom setup and I'm in the process of re-designing the track bar and drag links to:
improve on-road manners (even though the two bars are the same length and there is no bump-steer, with their high bar angle the body want's to "wobble" over bumps at 80MPH)
increase drop (the front suspension has nearly 10" of drop from ride height which is more than the heim ends can take when angled and the steering binds)
By dropping the pitman arm end of the drag link 4", I add a good 4" of drop to before the steering binds. This will also get the drag link (and in turn allow me to put the track bar) parallel to the ground at ride height. This will minimize arc length change on the street which will improve the road manners.
I will be building a bearing brace on the steering box and installing a hydro-assist as part of this whole revamp. As such, the steering box will be well braced (the entire frame rails have been reinforced and there is a steel plate behind the steering box) and with the hydro-assist will take most all of the load off the box itself.
If I can't find the appropriate drop pitman, I can just build it (wouldn't be the first time I've built a pitman). But being able to buy and mod is faster and easier. current setup
Last edited by CLSegraves1; 12-30-2018 at 08:48 PM.
My profile info is long out of date. My XJ is currently sitting at about a 6" lift with double sheer heim ends on WJ knuckles. The axle is forward 2" from factory.
It's an entirely custom setup and I'm in the process of re-designing the track bar and drag links to a: improve on-road manners and b: increase drop. The goal is to have these two bars parallel to the ground at ride height to minimize arc length change on the street (this comes from 20 years of building road race oriented vehicles). I will be building a bearing brace on the steering box and installing a hydro-boost as part of this whole go around.
If I can't find the appropriate drop pitman, I can just build it (wouldn't be the first time I've built a pitman). But being able to buy and mod is faster and easier.
current setup
Will this work for you? It says for jeeps with 6"-7" lift
Thanks. Yeah, I've looked at that one but I'm not sure.
I'm going to call Rough Country in the morning to ask them for a specific length as a "6-7 inch lift" doesn't exactly tell me how much of a drop the pitman has. It would seem logical, but without numbers, who knows. I was hoping someone would pop up and say "Oh yeah, what you need is XXXXXX from XYZ Company. I used it and it's 4" drop".
here's my set up with 12" travel bilsteins and the only thing I plan to do is get a zj pitman arm since my angles are a hair off. Handles fine. Handled a little better with the track bar under the axle, but I think it's mostly because there was a bushing absorbing some shock instead of just heims. I haven't noticed any issues with heims binding since I did the ota track bar so I'd want to say you should be fine. But to answer your question I've tried to look at drop pitman arms (out of curiosity and possibly to move up to the higher hole in my ota track bar mount for flatter angles) but none I have seen have their drops listed. Just "drop pitman arm for x amount of lift" which isn't really true if you ask me since it's not based off lift.
Also, just looked at the picture again and didn't see a sway bar. A sway bar would greatly improve onroad handling. Another thing, do you have high misalignment spacers on the pitman arm? I see them at the knuckle, but can't tell at the pitman arm.
Attachment 403923 here's my set up with 12" travel bilsteins and the only thing I plan to do is get a zj pitman arm since my angles are a hair off. Handles fine. Handled a little better with the track bar under the axle, but I think it's mostly because there was a bushing absorbing some shock instead of just heims. I haven't noticed any issues with heims binding since I did the ota track bar so I'd want to say you should be fine. But to answer your question I've tried to look at drop pitman arms (out of curiosity and possibly to move up to the higher hole in my ota track bar mount for flatter angles) but none I have seen have their drops listed. Just "drop pitman arm for x amount of lift" which isn't really true if you ask me since it's not based off lift.
Interesting that you aren't running into bind on your drag link. I've been running my "current/old setup" for almost a year now and before it hits 10" of drop, the steering binds. Without the steering, I can literally drop the axle on the floor (17" drop) and dump the springs.
That's the same issue I'm running into on the pitman arms. "X inches of lift" doesn't mean anything, it's purely marketing to make it easy for people who just want to slap parts and go. I wish they would include the physical drop of the pitman arms in their specs.
Originally Posted by SatiricalHen
Also, just looked at the picture again and didn't see a sway bar. A sway bar would greatly improve onroad handling. Another thing, do you have high misalignment spacers on the pitman arm? I see them at the knuckle, but can't tell at the pitman arm.
Sway bar is off right now while I revamp the front suspension (less to work around). I'm running the Curry Antirock sway bar for an XJ and it handles nicely. My issue isn't sway/tip/death wobble/etc., it's that when I hit a nice big bump at 80MPH, the entire front of the body "shifts" left/right as the suspension cycles (vehicle travels straight but it's really not a comfortable feeling).
Yes, I'm running high misalignment spacers on the pitman end of the drag link as well. The picture looks like it does because of how I had to mock up the drag link under the pitman arm (2" drop) so I could model what I was trying to accomplish.
So are you saying you normally run the drag link over the pitman arm, but moved it under just to see how it would be with a drop? Because if that's the case just run it under the pitman arm. That's how mine is and I can pull coils out without touching my steering. At least I've done it before... I had mine over the pitman arm before I went OTA with the track bar and I did have binding issues when turned and flexed the drag link would contact the pitman arm.
So are you saying you normally run the drag link over the pitman arm, but moved it under just to see how it would be with a drop? Because if that's the case just run it under the pitman arm. That's how mine is and I can pull coils out without touching my steering. At least I've done it before... I had mine over the pitman arm before I went OTA with the track bar and I did have binding issues when turned and flexed the drag link would contact the pitman arm.
I have been running my drag link under the pitman arm (see below):
You can see the stock (cast) "arm" of the pitman arm as well as the steel brace I added to make it double sheer. Up to this point, I have been running the drag link between these two points (so again, "under" the pitman arm). For this mockup, I moved the drag link under the brace (2" down from where it has been running). I want to drop it another 2" from where it currently sits (so a total of 4" drop from "under" the pitman arm).
It says 3.5". I thought the TJ pitman was shorter than the XJ, hence that might only be an 1" or so lower than the XJ pitman. Or am I missing something?
12-30-2018, 05:25 PM
Need 4" lower/drop pitman arm
here's my set up with 12" travel bilsteins and the only thing I plan to do is get a zj pitman arm since my angles are a hair off. Handles fine. Handled a little better with the track bar under the axle, but I think it's mostly because there was a bushing absorbing some shock instead of just heims. I haven't noticed any issues with heims binding since I did the ota track bar so I'd want to say you should be fine. But to answer your question I've tried to look at drop pitman arms (out of curiosity and possibly to move up to the higher hole in my ota track bar mount for flatter angles) but none I have seen have their drops listed. Just "drop pitman arm for x amount of lift" which isn't really true if you ask me since it's not based off lift.
