Tierod flip on RHD jeep
I thought I would share my latest workshop efforts in the continual improvement of the ol Jeep.
At my last outing I bent my tierod and draglink like the proverbial banana, so once home I looked at options to just strengthen what I have but found that I was really only putting a bandage on an arterial bleed as the factory rods were very small and had minimal wall thickness. So I thought the best option would be just to make my own tierod and draglink, how hard could it be! Very actually.
See the problem I have is my CJ is a genuine RHD and whilst you can buy anything for them you can't buy specific RHD parts (or minimal at that) thus any steering upgrade parts don't fit/work.
See on a RHD setup (as shown below) the draglink goes from the steering box to a odd looking tierod end on the LHS knuckle that is in fact part of the tie rod bar itself then this goes across to the RHS knuckle.
But on a LHD jeep the draglink goes from the steering box to the first hole in the RHS knuckle then the tierod goes from the second hole in the RHS knuckle to the LHS knuckle, simple ah, so you think well why can't you just mirror this on the LHS? Answer the LHS knuckle has a short arm and only one hole.
So why not just upgrade the steel section size and leave as per factory? Well unfortunately the factory bars only just clear the leafs at present so there is no room for additional thickness tube.
So the next idea was to flip the factory setup to the top of the knuckle and all will be fine however, no the odd looking tierod end is bent the wrong way and if you flip it, it will point the wrong direction and foul on the diff cover (at the least).
So after weeks of pondering and asking questions I found out that the US postal service commissioned a RHD Jeep called the DJ Jeep and these had a double hole LHS knuckle and a setup mirrored from the LHD jeep.
So I have now purchased a DJ knuckle for the LHS, 4 special threaded inserts for the tierod ends, 4 new tie rod ends (LH/RH) and 3 special tapered inserts to allow the flipping of the tie rod to the top side of the knuckle and 2m of 35mm CDS 7mm wall tube.
So here's the mock up pre welding
At my last outing I bent my tierod and draglink like the proverbial banana, so once home I looked at options to just strengthen what I have but found that I was really only putting a bandage on an arterial bleed as the factory rods were very small and had minimal wall thickness. So I thought the best option would be just to make my own tierod and draglink, how hard could it be! Very actually.
See the problem I have is my CJ is a genuine RHD and whilst you can buy anything for them you can't buy specific RHD parts (or minimal at that) thus any steering upgrade parts don't fit/work.
See on a RHD setup (as shown below) the draglink goes from the steering box to a odd looking tierod end on the LHS knuckle that is in fact part of the tie rod bar itself then this goes across to the RHS knuckle.
But on a LHD jeep the draglink goes from the steering box to the first hole in the RHS knuckle then the tierod goes from the second hole in the RHS knuckle to the LHS knuckle, simple ah, so you think well why can't you just mirror this on the LHS? Answer the LHS knuckle has a short arm and only one hole.
So why not just upgrade the steel section size and leave as per factory? Well unfortunately the factory bars only just clear the leafs at present so there is no room for additional thickness tube.
So the next idea was to flip the factory setup to the top of the knuckle and all will be fine however, no the odd looking tierod end is bent the wrong way and if you flip it, it will point the wrong direction and foul on the diff cover (at the least).
So after weeks of pondering and asking questions I found out that the US postal service commissioned a RHD Jeep called the DJ Jeep and these had a double hole LHS knuckle and a setup mirrored from the LHD jeep.
So I have now purchased a DJ knuckle for the LHS, 4 special threaded inserts for the tierod ends, 4 new tie rod ends (LH/RH) and 3 special tapered inserts to allow the flipping of the tie rod to the top side of the knuckle and 2m of 35mm CDS 7mm wall tube.
So here's the mock up pre welding
