The automatic has 3 forward positions, (over) Drive, 3, and "1-2". Pretty silly, on many of these mountain roads 3 is too high and if you put it in
1-2 it kicks into 1 unexpectedy. Anyone know if you can modify the trans to go into 2 without enabling low?
The thing has a 4 inch lift on it, the pitman arm would be a 4 inch drop if the shaft was vertical, but it's angled so it has effectively no drop and the drag link is at about a 10-15 degree angle, probably causing the oversteer. Is this a drop pitman arm, or stock?
That sounds perfect, except for this part, After more than 12 years of providing the CompuShift Plus to Jeep Cherokee owners we have decided to discontinue manufacturing the product. We have reached this decision after careful consideration of the demand for it over the past couple of years which has been insufficient to warrant continuing. This website will remain up in order to warn Cherokee owners of the safety hazard that the aw4 automatic transmission presents to operators, when used in the 1-2 shift position. Thank you to all of our past customers. Jim Nasset
THere is a mod you can make to the wiring of the TCU to get what you want, I think Bill provided it.
Re: the pitman arm: You said oversteer, do you mean bumpsteer? The drag link should be parallel to the track bar or you will get bumpsteer. If the DL and TB are parallel you it's a stock pitman and you should be OK. If not, whoever installed the lift installed a drop pitman arm, and that's not good for the front suspension on an XJ, TJ, WJ or MJ.
There we go, the King of Links has come thru again. Thanks Bill.
Matt, whatever you call it it oversteers on the curves. I'm not sure what you mean here, the stock setup should have parellel rods, right? Since I have a 4 inch Skyjacker lift, your statement seems to say the opposite. A drop pitman arm on a lift is a bad thing?
By bumpsteer, do you mean that each time you go over a bump the thing wants to pitch sideways? I have this problem with my '02 Durango when I go over a particular set of bumpy railroad tracks on a curved road at about 45 mph. The dealership said "huh?" Pete
Historical note: On CJs, YJs, FSJs and other vehicles with proper leaf springs on the front, you had to have a drop pitman arm with a lift kit, because the link from the pitman arm to the knuckle is designed to be horizontal in the rest position. On your vehicles with wussy coil spring front suspensions, there is a different steering link design, where it is more important that the links be parallel. Here use of a drop pitman arm is contraindicated. From what I have read here, some of the manufacturers of lift kits for these vehicles include a drop pitman arm, because customers expect it, because they can charge markup on it, or for some other reason not related to sound engineering principles.
I looked at the diagram of the steering components in the TJ FSM, and I just couldn't figure out, why the engineers would take a system that works, and is possible to understand, and morph it into something like that. After you look at it a while, it starts to make some sense. How it works that is, not why they use the newer system. The important thing is that the track bar and the drag link be parallel, or approximately so, in the steering neutral, straight ahead, suspension neutral position. If you look at one of these front ends, and imagine the axle or the vehicle bouncing up and down, then it looks as if the track bar and the drag link follow each other fairly closely, with respect to angle, for quite a bit of spring travel.
For a mild lift kit, they stay parallel enough, that a drop pitman arm would not be needed at all. For a more radical lift, then a mild drop pitman may be needed. From the pictures, I am thinking half the drop, that would be required with a YJ for example. Lowering the steering box would not be practical, although theoretically it would work. I hope this is some help. I don't have this type of steering myself. I have seen Cherokees, where it looks almost as if the drag link and the tie rod are both pointing straight down, and I have thought, "That can't be right!" But you have to look at the alignment between the track bar and the drag link, if there are bump steer problems. As always, the steering should be aligned properly too. Dropping or raising the suspension affects that, in a way that is different from the YJ/CJ steering linkage.
I went to look at a neighbor's 96 ZJ, (2wd, 2.5 L, bad computer!), and it has the same pitman arm, so mine is definately stock. I will be ordering one and then building a steering box brace.
I am probably way off base here, but don't you just need to relocate the track bar with a new bracket on those types of suspension and leave the pitman alone?
Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail >
If you wanted to do it right, you would get a drop pitman arm (of the proper offset of course) and relocate the track bar both. Then you would maintain the proper, original steering linkage geometry.
I live in Colorado, which must be the world capitol of lifted vehicles, and it does appear that very few Jeep owners, or owners of any lifted vehicle for that matter, have the desire to do the job right. Once they get the body up there, and the huge tires installed, the posers call it good. Tie rods pointing in all directions, tiny half ton axles...
Oversteering on a curve is not related to the drop pitman arm.
That is more likely to be too soft (too low psi) of tires or miss matched front to back brands of tires or a shot bushing on the track bar will cause oversteer. A shot ball joint on the frame end of the track bar will cause oversteer.
A friend from this group, Snowboardripper had a 4" I think lift put on and had oversteer. We looked close and found the track bar bushing was bad and the ends were just plain loose and needed a wrench on them if I remember right.
One way to tell is to sit inside and cut the steering from pin to pin while watching the nose of the Jeep or even just rock it right and left. If the track bar has issues, the nose of the Jeep will go side to side with the steering. Only the wheels are supposed to move, not the body of the Jeep.
If you need a pitman arm, the steering wheel will jump radically side to side when you hit a bump. It can easily move more than 1/4 turn depending on the bump.
Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail >
He is only talking 10 deg. or so. I would think the track bar bracket might do the trick. Or nothing at all might be needed. He isn't describing bump steer but oversteer. Maybe a bad track bar end?
Maybe, another rule is to never install a lift kit, or indeed any performance enhancement, without making sure that all the base components are in good condition, bolts are tight, bushings are tight, alignment is within specs, tire pressure is reasonable and so forth. And then once you have your performance enhancements installed, mindful of the increased wear that is now likely, increase the frequency of maintenance inspections.
Nothing like taking stuff apart to see what's wrong with it. The stamped steel link on the axle end of the track bar is broken, allowing it to pivot a couple of inches when under a hard load, like cornering on mountain roads but not when rocking the body parked. I cant even find this part of websites selling trackbars and frame end mounts, so i will make one.
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