Badmunky

Ok so I have a D44 up front and my tires don't seam to turn as far as they should.

First I did not build this Cherokee. I bought it the way it is. (May have gotten in over my head a bit)

I am some what new to the 4x4 thing. I have not done much work on them other then normal repairs. I come from road racing, and just got in to off roading recently.

Here are some pics of the Jeep as it sits now.


















There is a lot wrong here. I know that. I have a long list of things that need to be fixed on this thing. That really strange steering setup is one of them.

Right now I am doing research on the steering system.
I have several parts picked out so far.

2002 S10 4x4 V6 steering box.
2001 WJ 4.7L power steering pump.
All new power steering lines with power steering cooler.

But that is as far as I have gotten.

From what I have found so far the pitman arm is not correct for the axle I have. I need one with the same drop, but longer center to center.



The front axle is a D44 from a 77 Chevy 3/4 ton. Its been converted to a drivers side drop and has Rubicon CM shafts in it. It was fully rebuilt with 4:11 gears about 11k miles ago.

Yes that is the stock track bar. No I have no idea why the PO did that. Yes I will be replacing it and redoing the brackets for it.


Shockingly it drives great!
I bought it to use as a trail toy but life got in the way and my wife ended up using it as her daily driver for the last 18 months or so.
We have trailed it a few times and it dose good. But the steering angle being limited is a problem that needs to be fixed.

The current pitman arm is a drop arm for an XJ.
Its 4.5" of drop, and 5.5" center to center.

I need one that is also 4.5" of drop but 6.5" center to center. This should fix my problem.

I have been told that a WJ pitman arm is 6.5" center to center but I also see places listing pitman arms as fitting the XJ and the WJ. If the WJ is longer, then it would not work well on a stock XJ so it should not be listed for it right???

I need help here guys. Wife wants this fixed, and so do I.

This axle/steering/ and suspension will be going away at some point, but for now I just need to make it work until I can get the rest of the parts I need to install the new axles I have for it next year.


Thanks for the help!

unidentifiedbomb

Let's also talk about that botch job of the coil brackets.... Looks like their made from track bar brackets.

Badmunky

The VARY stupid coil brackets are made from 1/4" flat plate. There strong as hell, but stupid. And NO I did not make them ether. LOL

I bought this mess mostly as you see it.

Fred/N0AZZ

I'm surprised that it drives as well as you say on the highway, that D44 is not a first choice to use in an XJ for sure. I'm not a fabricator by any means but one on here should be able to help you some with that project, I can see more money spent on the correct parts and to make it safe.

89eliminator

does the draglink just mount to a piece of plate welded to the tie rod?

Larry's XJ

That looks a lot like one my son looked at in Lake Orion about 4-5 yrs ago.

andrewmp6

How long have you owned this jeep,It looks familiar to me.