Pitman arm zerk fitting scoring tie rod

buildbigboats

buildbigboats

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While replacing front diff fluid last week I noticed that the zerk fitting on the ball joint of the drag link to pitman arm has been scoring a little groove in the tie rod. Can't figure out why this is happening and what to do to fix it. Background...2006 TJ Unlimited is new to me, have had it about 3 months, has what I calculated to be 2-1/2" lift. Steering is nice and tight no death wobble at highway speeds. Nothing particularly strange looking underneath. Can't see what is out of place or shifted to make this happen but it definitely is. Anyone able to provide some clue as to what might be going on?. Thanks in advance
 
Here are a couple pictures. I put a wrap of tap around spot, drove a bit to confirm...tape is cut.

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Gollywomper said:
Hard to tell from those pics, but it looks like you have a drop pitman arm with a stock track bar.
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^^ can you include a picture of your frame side trackbar mount?

It looks like whoever set up your suspension didn't test how it all works. Ideally you'd pull the springs and test full stuff, left/right stuff, full droop, and all those while turned left/right. This wouldn't be a surprise if that is done.
 
Update and more pictures. I knew I had to replace the stock tie rod because it had a groove cut in to it. Not deep and pitman arm ball joint zerk still was ok but felt i now had a weak point. Yesterday replaced stock rod with solid zj rod that also has a slightly dip at location in question. Still have same problem. Seems to be only scratching the paint but still not right. After looking more today agree that I have what looks like a drop pitman arm. Not sure why. Maybe I need to replace with stock. Drag link and track bar look almost perfectly parallel which i thought is what we need to have. If I go to stock arm seems angle of link would change and throw off this relationship. Also attached picture of track bar to frame connection

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buildbigboats said:
Update and more pictures. I knew I had to replace the stock tie rod because it had a groove cut in to it. Not deep and pitman arm ball joint zerk still was ok but felt i now had a weak point. Yesterday replaced stock rod with solid zj rod that also has a slightly dip at location in question. Still have same problem. Seems to be only scratching the paint but still not right. After looking more today agree that I have what looks like a drop pitman arm. Not sure why. Maybe I need to replace with stock. Drag link and track bar look almost perfectly parallel which i thought is what we need to have. If I go to stock arm seems angle of link would change and throw off this relationship. Also attached picture of track bar to frame connection

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You should consider removing the dropped pitman arm since your trackbar isn't relocated. That alone should keep that zerk from hitting the tie rod. I'd bet you're getting a good bit of bump steer too, due to that dropped pitman arm.
 
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Typically a drop pitman arm used with stock track bar mounts is a recipe for poor handling and bump steer. Have you noticed any wandering issues or steering wheels jerking when hitting bumps?
 
Yes...feels like driving on ice or like pickup with bed really loaded and front end/steering very light
 
I think you're correct about replacing pitman arm. It's the only thing that makes sense to me. Nothing else looks out of place that would make these two things foul each other.
 
buildbigboats said:
Yes...feels like driving on ice or like pickup with bed really loaded and front end/steering very light
Click to expand...
Yep, that's because of the geometry of your steering. Restoring that pitman arm to OEM should mostly fix this for you as the trackbar and drag link should be parallel.
 
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would put a stock pitman arm on. only other solution is to play with axle placement or bump stops. hard to tell from pics but looks like axle is pretty well centered and springs look correct. pitman to track bar is aligned mount to mount since that sets the cycle, not matching a bent bars angle.
 
I had the same on the YJ after I added a ZJ pitman arm which is said to be Ok for a max 4" lift. I think some vendors are selling the OE ZJ arms TJ/YJ as drops. Its apparently a tad longer/lower that a TJ/YJ arm. The same part # is listed for 84 thru 06 TJ/YJ Jeeps.
 
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