i've noticed alot of u who did a SAS used a dropped pitman arm and i was wondering why?
couldnt u reuse the factory pitman arm and have the trac bar match the drag link? or flip the tie rods over the knuckle and then make the trac bar parellel to the drag link?
thanks

Chris

I flipped, used dropped and made my track bar parallel to my drag. I felt it was the best way to get added steering clearance, keep the tierods from being already maxed at road height, and this eliminated any bumpsteer.
My setup has worked extremely well thus far.

I would realy have to get under the rig to look again, but I would think that you would have a pretty good angle if you didnt use a drop pitman on both the drag and track. Is there a reason you dont want to use a drop?

When you lift the steering box relative to the knuckles, the center drag link ends up pushing down/pulling up on the tie rod rather than moving it horizontally. That's bad in lots of ways, especially for the steering gear.

i got it thanks. dont want up and down leaverage

the reason i was thinking of using the factory pitman arm is b/c it would put the drag link more parellel to the trac bar if i use the factory 78 lower trac bar mount and make a low profile upper mount but i dropped that idea.

Damon- whats the specs of ur lower trac bar mount. i like the design.
its really hard to fine a 2 1/4"x 2 1/4" - 1/4" thick square tubing to slide over the lower trac bar mount. :banghead

Chris

Originally posted by 78bronco460
When you lift the steering box relative to the knuckles, the center drag link ends up pushing down/pulling up on the tie rod rather than moving it horizontally. That's bad in lots of ways, especially for the steering gear.




can you please explain a little more how it is harder on the steering gear? I am having problems picturing it.

Originally posted by jopes
can you please explain a little more how it is harder on the steering gear? I am having problems picturing it.

It's just that the steeper the angle the more force you have up/down than side to side. Think about this: What if the tie rod was not located vertically? Let's say it could slide up and down in tracks. So, you're sitting there and go to turn the wheel, do you think the steep drag link will actually turn the wheels, or just push the tie rod down in it's imaginary tracks? I vote for the latter, less resistance there.

Now, in the real world, the same is true for suspension travel; as the axle compresses it's kinda trying to drive the steering box and pitman arm UP as much or more than it tries to drive it over. Clear as mud?

It's just a matter of angles. This also holds true for hydraulic steering; you want to have that ram perfectly parallel to the tie rod so it's ONLY pushing the tie rod side-to-side. If it's not parallel it'll try to push the tie rod AWAY from the axle and pretzel it no problem.

I've got a stock one to put back on. :cool:

mine sits directly on top of the axle, not over the stock mount Chris. so far it has worked very well.