Outer steering tie rod joint, necessary room for safe movement

On a 3B, how much room does the tie rod joint [that meets with the steering knuckle] need around it to move appropriately and safely?

I'm doing a brake upgrade on a Mitsubishi Jeep (3B clone) and ran into an issue of fitting 10" backing plates on. The steering knuckle arm curves outward, as seen here:


There is just a small gap between the tie rod and backing plate, as seen here:


If it's not enough room, what would my options be? (Grind backing plate? Disc brakes? Replace knuckle?)

 

or adjust the steering stops so they don't make contact.

 

If you get ANY clearence there, it should be enough. The TRE relationship to the backing plate will be nearly stationary. I would just grind a bit on the backing plate. I do not think changing the knuckle will buy you anything as they are all the same AFAIK.

 

Whew... Thanks!

Ran into another problem, the drum is making contact with the TRE. The drum needs to be 1/4" off the hub to spin freely. Would 1/4" of as wide as possible washers on the studs (between the drum and hub) be safe?

At 1/4" there is still overlap of the drum and backing plate and the shoe stays in full contact with the drum. Ideally I'd like to make a shim 1/4" thick to place on the hub, but I don't have the fabrication skills/tools.

 

Hmmm, found a 1/4" thick wheel spacer. Perhaps this will work:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/GOR-SP603

 

The drum is a bit more of a problem. Using the spacer, 1) will the shoes still remain entirely in the drum 2) will you end up with a big gap that lets debris/dirt into the drum?

 

Yes, the shoes remain entirely in the drum. No, there is not a gap (about 1/8" overlap of the backing plate by the drum).

 

The drum face needs the support of the hub. Take that away and the drum will flex, work harden, and come apart. Do not put a spacer between the drum and hub. If you need to space the drum out you need to find the source of the problem and fix it. Ignoremmy earlier post about steering stops. Must have been asleep as that won't fix your problem. Maybe some cj knuckles with the straighter arms might fix the problem or if it's just a small amount maybe you can slightly clearance the backing plates and have the drums machined so they clear. Years ago there was another thread about this very thing sommaybe a search might turn up some info as well

 

What if I were to make a spacer to the dimensions of the the hub face? (ID 4-3/16", OD 7-3/16", 5 on 5.5 pattern 5/8" bolt holes) Would that provide enough support?

 

Drums are new and are completely smooth inside (no lip).

Agreed. Given my situation (can't go back to the stock 9") I think that I'll run what I have while I start the search for (and save up for) new knuckles and either 11" drum backing plates or 1/2t chevy disk parts.

 

I don't know what this is, looking it up now.

 

Oh duh, I forgot to subtract out the thickness of the drums, so all I need is a 1/16" wheel spacer.

 

I found a guy locally with US CJ knuckles, so I'm going to install them. Since this moves the TREs 1" inboard on each side, this may lead to a domino effect that requires replacing the tie rods. So I'm preparing to do a 1-piece tie rod conversion (per http://www.thecj2apage.com/forums/1-piece-tie-rod-conversion_topic16770.html) should I need to replace anything. If all goes well, I'll have things done properly (10" on the rear, 11" on the front, and none of this spacer action, and stronger tie rods).

 

For future readers of this thread, w3srl's comments looks like the simplest and safest method.

Per http://www.film.queensu.ca/cj3b/Tech/DiskBrakes.html :