No way I would ever cut and weld a pitman arm... If anything, I would go full hydro first or build a new pitman from scratch. But, fwiw..I put an 8" LA lift from rusty's on a friends 00 xj and it came with a pitman that had a lot of drop and it steers fine/ has no bumpsteer. Not that I would ever recommend rusty's for anything, but I guess you could ask them