angrybob

As title states, Pitman arm hits the tie rod end on compression. Its dug out a fair amount. This is a 4-wheeling weekend toy so it sees some hard use, but clearly something is wrong.

Relay rod is stock. Pitman arm, and tie rod ends were replaced with stock parts less than a year ago. Nothing appears to be bent.
EDIT - something is definitely not right. The top of the idler arm is also contacting the bottom of the frame frame. I have an extra relay rod to which I can compare the current one. Maybe the relay rod is FUBAR.

Aftermarket stuff: 33" MT-R's, Rancho 24mm t-bars (cranked about 1"), 1.5" BJ spacers.











Any help would be appreciated.

ksti

Is it possible to move inner tie rod end to the hole above and use a longer sleeve? I can't tell if there would be a clearance issue.

Luvmeye22re

I would replace the idler arm and go from there, it sounds like it's bent and I bet the bushings are fried.

angrybob

Its one of the things I checked. Arm is not bent and I have brass bushings and no slop.

angrybob

That's where the OE steering stabilizer goes. I want to keep it stockish in terms of geometry.

Zpd426

Well something is bent for sure. Looks like its got to be one of only a few things.

Bent: Pitman arm. Tie rods. Spindle, Relay Rod, Frame, who knows could be the crossmember that holds the A arms is bent forward or a lower A arm itself is bent forward.

Edit: after looking at the picture again maybe your crossmember is crushed up toward the cab on that side where the A arm connects. Looks like there is some deformity of the metal there.

Ive seen some other threads about this. try searching. maybe someone figured it out.

Zpd426

Hope these might help a little. Looks like your pitman arm? So the center relay rod must be bent also?

angrybob

Need to improve my 'quick' inspection skills

Looks like everyone was right to some degree...

Idler arm, driver's side ITE, passenger's side OTE, and relay rod all bent. Pitman arm seems OK.

Idler Arm was from Autozone with lifetime warranty. Also have an idler arm brace on order.

Gotta investigate some heavy duty stuff apparently. And NO...SFA is not in my future

ksti

Good to hear that's its no major issue.

Zpd426

The Sleeves are from the Blazeland LT kit.

Luvmeye22re

Glad to see you got it figured out. You must run that thing pretty hard!

Where are you getting the brace from? The only place I've found is NWOR and I would prefer to avoid them for personal reasons.

angrybob

Normally, I have great mechanical sympathy. I was knowingly way too hard on the skinny pedal and steering system this time.

Of all the wheeling I've done in AZ, the hardest hill is 1/4 mile from my house. I'm 1 for 5. It's my nemesis. I made it up the very first try when the ground was virgin and fully compacted. Since then I've loosened it up with each subsequent attempt and now its a gnarly, rocky steep silt bowl...and I love it. I also hate it.

Normally I crawl over stuff with great care (I have a 4.7 gear set), but on this hill you will simply dig in with 1st gear. Gotta balance speed and finesse and I obviously lacked the latter on this last run at it. I think I'm going to cheat and wait until after a good rain.

I just got back from Oreilly's with a new warrantee idler arm in hand. I'm replacing all of the tie rod ends for sport which will leave me a spare of each. Fortunately, I had an extra relay rod and another spare is on the way.

Now its just a matter of a couple hours putting it all back together.


Yes NWOR. Admittedly its been quite an adventure trying to get the part. In fact, its been since July. I am surprised they are still around with the way they handle inventory. In July I asked about the idler arm truss and got "any time now they should be in" In August it was "call back at the end of the month (August)...we'll be getting in a hundred or so". Last week it was "should be in by the end of the month" (September). So I had to ask if he asked the manufacturer when they were going to ship. He said no...with the long silence between us afterwards. He also said that there is a shortage of metal coaters right now.

They are the only ones that sell it so I'll wait. My welder is not a TIG and my aluminum welding is limited. It really doesn't seem that difficult to do a homemade job, but I just don't have the interest.

Zpd426

Total chaos has a big ass reinforced steering component... not sure if it is the idler or pitman. But you have to drill out something or change something to use it. so you cant go back to the stock one(they love to do that). and its like $470.

I need to get a backup steering setup for my rig... Im sure one day I will have the lead boot on my right foot.

Wish i had a nice hill by my house that sounds like fun.

angrybob

replaced all above parts, aligned and all is well.

NWOR idler arm brace as of 10/2 - "call back in 30 days...the manufacturer lost some tooling".

Sweet.

angrybob

After hounding them for almost a year, I FINALLY have a NWOR idler arm brace in hand. They had a shipment of 75 of them come in. Part in hand only, but seems pretty beefy. Link to part is here. $75 + s/h.