Is it possible or safe to cut a pitman arm and make it drop more. I ask because theres really no one who makes a big enough drop for 8" of lift on a Cherokee. Not looking to get flamed or anything, i just wanted to know if it possible
Nope, I have been stuck on the trail behind someone that tried this. Ended up breaking. He had 20+ in his group that got held up and then we caught up to them and he held up our group of 30+. The heat will weaken the arm and it sees tons of force. There must be something done with all the people lifting to 8 inches on a cherokee that is a valid solution.
Nope, I have been stuck on the trail behind someone that tried this. Ended up breaking. He had 20+ in his group that got held up and then we caught up to them and he held up our group of 30+. The heat will weaken the arm and it sees tons of force. There must be something done with all the people lifting to 8 inches on a cherokee that is a valid solution.
Yea thats what i was afraid of, I called DC at DC4wd who i order all my stuff and he said really the only people that make one is Skyjacker and it cost $180 though, i just wanted to see if there was alternative, but i would rather it be safe.
I saw a guy do it on a full size chevy, it broke the first time he tried to turn in a mud hole. The whold cast to mild steel thing doesn't work so well.
Not wanting to shake it up too bad... But most pitman arms are a high quality cast, if not forged... Were not talking about the same type of cast material that you'll find on axles...
While I don't recomend it if you are not a good welder, you can cut and weld one... Mine has been cut, plated and welded for 5 years with no issues.... Just make sure to weld slowly, de-stress the weld and then let the whole thing cool evenly while submerged in sand....
This was using a YJ and S-10 Pitman arm together...
I've not dealt with 8" of Lift on a Cherokee before, but you want your Track bar and Drag link Parralel. As you lift it on a Coil set up the move together (i.e. stay parallel). You should be ok shouldn't you, unless you're worried about the Turning radius of a school bus.
That is just scary. Glad I moved out of state. Two things to not skimp out on is steering and brakes. Both put other peoples lives in your hands. $180 for a safe pitman arm seems cheap to me. I have lost a pitman arm while going 70mph and I will say it scared the crap out of me and a few people around me. This was caused by a safety pin shearing and the nut backing off. I would hate to think of what would happen if the guardrail wasn't there or if someone was closer to me.
i have welded on several pitman arms and haven't had a problem on trail only rigs though. In fact we made crossover steering with 4 wheel drive steering boxes by taking 2 pitman arms cutting the splined end off of one indexing it on the box and laying the other one under it and welded it up, worked great no problems and had crossover for 20 bucks. In fact the second one i did the guy is still running it and i guess it has been probably 3 years now. I did use 110/18 rods with my stick welder instead of a mig welder, those rods are awesome.
Never welded a pitman arm, but have stick welded a few steering arm ends on spindles on our old Stock Cars, to correct ackerman, and never had a problem. They held up to crashes that destroyed spindles and A-arms.
Just get it done right
BTW...pretty sure there are no "cast" pieces in a steering system. And Im VERY sure nothing is "cast iron"!!
Pretty sure everything is forged, except, maybe the Steering box housing
I've installed a few Rock Krawler 8" kits, the pitman arm from them I believe is only $40. I'd have to double check, but I had one on my last truck for 2 years. They also have a lifetime warranty.
A drop pitman arm will induce bending loads in the sector shaft for which it was never designed to handle since most boxes come with relatively flat arms. The more drop, the higher the bending load. Obviously there is a factor of safety in steering systems and usually you can get away with a small drop arm. A long drop arm would probably be fine cruising the mall, but heavy off road use might takes it toll on the sector shaft. I had a drop pitman arm on my FS Bronco, and broke the sector shaft after a little less than two years of wheeling. I'm sure it varies from box to box too.
Yep, I'd bet the big drop pitman arms impart some serious load muliplication on the sector. But then, so does everything else involved with a lift and big tires, huh! LOL!
Yea thats what i was afraid of, I called DC at DC4wd who i order all my stuff and he said really the only people that make one is Skyjacker and it cost $180 though, i just wanted to see if there was alternative, but i would rather it be safe.
