Screwd up 6

Sooo I have blow tie rod ends. They are a couple months old. I have the 4.5" lift and stock pitman arm. I was told that if I get a longer pit man arm i will get bump steer and possible death wobble. What can I do to fix my problem? I circled in red the ones that are crushed/blown.

I was told that by a Rough Country rep

Hoooper

yeah, you dont need a longer pitman arm, not seeing what that would have to do with bad TREs anyway. are you saying those TREs are only 4 months old and have already failed, or that your lift is 4 months old and now the TREs have failed?

Screwd up 6

Tie rod ends are less than 3 months old. A lower pitman arm would make the tie rod parallel to the ground and not put the tie rod end bushings at a "jammed" angle

Hoooper

Oh, I interpreted longer as longer, not dropped. Yeah that would help decrease the angle but at only 4.5" of lift you shouldnt need it and it would hurt your angles a lot unless you also drop your trackbar mount. after you lifted, you didnt center the steering wheel by pulling the pitman arm from the steering box and centering the wheel that way did you? I ask because I am 4-5" and my angles arent nearly that steep. After lifting youve got to lengthen the drag link to keep the steering wheel centered, but another way to do it (not correct because then your box isnt centered) is to pull the pitman arm, straighten the tires and steering wheel, and reinstall the pitman arm. Doing it that way would definitely result in steeper angles than the proper way

Screwd up 6

Its frustrating because i spent almost $900 for a 4.5" lift and was told its all i need to be fuctional. I did NOT remove my pitman arm, I just loosened draglink sleeve twisted it til the steering wheel was strait again following these instructions...
http://go.jeep-xj.info/HowtoAlignment.htm

Im just looking for a solution. They are clearly in a bind but I cant figure out what to do

mcguyver_xj

pitman arm length would have no effect on those tre's and were did you buy you get what you pay for in tre's and if you don't grease them after installing the fail quickly they get put togethor with enough grease to not rust not enough to function properly...

advanced auto parts + MOOG = lifetime warranty and really good tre's

Screwd up 6

Greased them after install before ever driving it.

Hoooper

you may have just gotten some garbage TREs, or even the wrong ones. your angles dont look that bad to wear out TREs in 4 months. Unless of course you are doing a lot of really rough wheeling with big tires and steering hard into rocks all the time. If they are being worked to their max all the time the slot will elongate and theyll get really sloppy. So, what exactly is bad about them? are they separated? really sloppy? roll badly?

Screwd up 6

I dont wheel hard, only one time since ive installed them...on sand haha. Its a 2wd and my daily driver. Its def my mall crawler. Ill get a pic of them in a second to show you. They are the right ones tho, they were exact same as my stockers were.

Screwd up 6

Passenger side...

Skunkape

Isnt that the drag link side?On mine you cant just replace the TRE on that side its all one piece that goes up to the dampner and the adjusting sleeve.Did you replace the whole thing?

Screwd up 6

Yes it is. that is what i did less than 4,000 Miles ago. The drivers side is just as bad but Im waiting for my phone to send the pic so I can post it too.

Screwd up 6

Drivers side.....

Gee oh Dee

Where the pitman arm attaches to the steering box should not be adjustable. There should be a key in the teeth, forcing it to be installed on the steering box in one specific place.

If it wasn't made this way you could in theory set the truck up so it would not steer one direction.

Skunkape

X2,yeah it can only go on one way.Could be you got some crappy TREs.I wheel the crap out of my Xj and @ 4/2 or 5'' and no drop pitman and never had a issue with TREs(but I do keep spares just in case)Are they making a racket or is the steering funky?Could be just the boots are shot.