Looking for Tie rod?

[billyjack]

Hoping you guys can help me. I'm looking for a heavy duty "steering tie rod"
Everything else is upgraded and now I have bent the ball joint on the end. Also when I installed the 5.5 rubicon long arm lift on my 96' Cherokee the steering tie rod would hit where my disconnect mounts to the Dana 30. Is this normal? I just heated up the spot that was hitting and bent it out a bit so it would clear when turning right. Maybe I installed something wrong I don't know. So my questions are:

1.) where can I find a heavy duty steering tie rod ( the one from the axle to the pitman arm.)

2.) What am I missing here.. The tie rod arm when turning right hits the sway bar disconnect at the bottom.

[4.3LXJ]

You bent the ball joint. That is hard to do unless you have too much flex in the suspension to accommodate the range of motion of the tie rod end. Is that what happened?

[XJ Wheeler]

Got a pic of the steering/suspension?

[billyjack]

That might be the problem.
This is a all new set up for me on my XJ so I'm still learning what I can and can not do.

[billyjack]

The pic above is the best I have. I will get some better ones.

[4.3LXJ]

I was hoping for a pic of the offending tie rod. But from that flex pic, I think you are exceeding the range of motion.

[billyjack]

Ok so I had two problems causing the issue at hand.
1.) range of motion
2.) I had to heat up the end of the tie rod to bend it out a hair so that the "lower tie rod end " would clear the sway bar disconnect mount.

For some reason with this set up I could not turn right with out the tie rod end hitting against the bottom of the disconnect mount. So we decided to try something a little different to keep from changing the angle of the steering tie-rod end. We changed the height of the sway bar disconnect mounts on the frame. Now the tie rod end slides under the sway bar mounts with no interference. Here's some pics.

[billyjack]

We cut off the same mount from another axle and grinded it to set on top of the existing, then we cut off the area that was causeing the interferance and welded it up.

[billyjack]

Finished product is a higher mount for the disconnects and room for the tie rod end to clear.

[4.3LXJ]

I have done that before too. Be sure to do the other side too

[billyjack]

Thanks for the heads up 4.3 LXJ