Tie-rod Flip Question

Been looking into a tie rod flip....The flip at the knuckles is straight forward, and will raise the knuckle end of the drag link equally so. This will flatten out and reduce the drag link angle.....buuuuttttt....there is a thing as raising it too much. Depending on where the steering box is mounted (specificially its height) and the pitman arm, the pitman arm end of the drag link could end up lower than than the knuckle end (a sort of reversed drag link angle).....is it possible to use the same TRE flip sleeves to flip the drag link to the top of the pitman arm mount? Obviously, this scenario is using a flat (no drop pitman arm)......but is there such a thing a 'raised' pitman arm as opposed to a drop pitman arm if needed - that would allow for standard drag link mounting from the bottom into the pitman arm.

Here are a few pics for reference....thanks to Doug's pics, here is sorta of what I am getting at....Doug has a relatively low mounted saggy box with flat pitman arm, and the drag link is nice and horizontal (minimal drag link angle)....you can imagine if the tie-rod and drag link are flipped at the knuckle in this situation, but the drag link to pitman arm connection is left as is, the drag link would sort of have a 'reverse' angle....

 

Try the pics again.....



This jeep has I think the BDS spings - or at least something very similar. Flat pitman arm, no TRE flip. If you flipped the TRE and drag link at the knuckle, I think it'd be very close to having a reverse drag link angle.....its not like it would be undriveable - heck, most jeeps have some 'normal' drag link angle, even if its not ideal, and the driving effect of 'normal' vs 'reverse' drag link angle is the same. But having reverse angle sort of offsets the advantages of raising the them in the first place with the flip kit (for me at least, its about added clearance and getting them above the center of the axle carrier to create a bit more clearance with the front diff cover and the leaf spring clip.

This is truly the cause of the issue, but may be what it is......I don't 'need' to flip the TREs, just thought it might be nice.....just don't want to ream out the knuckle holes as there is no going back after that.

 

that is the cast iron single piece mount I think....same as a commando....It mounts to the inside of an open channel frame rail? In other words, it wasn't originally used with a boxed frame rail?

I think in 76+ they went to the 2piece stamped metal bracket that worked with boxed frame rails?

 

ok...good to know....didn't think about re-using the inserts 'upside down'. As these knuckles have already been studded etc, don't want to waste them.

 

ok....didn't think that front plate appeared until the 76+, but I am probably wrong. I remember having it on my CJ7....but by then the box mount was the 2 piece stamped metal.

I got what I needed....I can go ahead and ream the knuckles without concern. If the drag link ends up too high, I can reverse/undo the flip and use the sleeves from the other side. I still think its possible to flip the drag link at the pitman arm, but we can cross that bridge if needed at some later point. I just didn't want to waste a set of good studded knuckles if the flip didn't work out.

 

nope...well at least on mine, you can keep the Y-linkage with the drag link connecting into the TR on the front side.....just have to turn the TREs 1/2 turn on both side in the same direction (ie one threads in 1/2 turn, the other threads out 1/2 turn (to keep the overall length between them the same).

 

FWIW - there are double TRE's that have opposite 'bends' in them if clearance with the drag link connection is an issue....These pics are from Sam at Parts Dude....one TRE is the standard CJ style (which I believe was originally located up near the bellcrank with the OEM double tie rod steering), and the other is a commando double TRE which I believe (?) came with OEM ross box but crossover style steering with the double TRE down by the passenger knuckle - sorta the way most of us have swapped the original CJ style.....so no matter how your set-up, you should be able to get a double TRE that 'bends' the way you need to clear the drag link connection.

 

For my set up....I currently have the original CJ style double TRE:


With a flipped set-up, I replace that with a commando style double TRE to keep the bend the same, but yes, you do have to ream out the hole on the TRE and use a flip sleeve. But, most TRE flip kits come with 3 sleeves anyway since they expect you are working with a 2 hole knuckle on the passenger side.