Yeah, but if you mount it that way it won't do anything - the pitman arm will be in about the same position. You're going to have to make a mount to put the horizontal part of the box beside the rail just like the stock unit in order for the pitman arm to be lower and clear the oil pan...

 

Nope! I beg to differ.You will see when I get it all finished. I had to go to work so I need more time to finish, will post pics. The steering rods are under the pan with lots of clearance throughout the suspension travel. All that is done, just finishing up the track bar.

 

Looking forward to seeing it....

 

So here are some pics of the p/s box upgrade

 

OK, so now I see. You didn't mount it with the box inside the rail, BUT you didn't mount it with all of the original bolts through the "frame" horn like the stock setup either.

You kind of compromised and made a dropped mount below the frame for a couple of the bolts and only put one mounting bolt through the frame.

Looks like you ended up with about 3" of pitman arm drop. From the second picture (with the oil pan in the background) it looks like that will be enough to get you the clearance you need?

Looks nice and strong too - the braces are a nice touch.

 

Yea, the box is also farther back than the stock location to give more room for the radiator and oil cooler. I'll get some pics of the tie rods and trac bar installed as soon as I finish with the bump stops and crossmember and get it all back together for the last time (hopefully!) I also need to make drop brackets for the sway bar.

 

Well I finally finished the steering overhaul.

 

NICE! Not to be a gloom and doomer, but you may find that you have a bit of an issue with what is known as "bump-steer".

It is a common issue with Cherokees when the track-bar and steering drag link are not pretty close to being parallel. When you hit a bump that compresses the front suspension, as everything moves up and back down the track-bar and drag-link swing through different arcs and the positions of their ends (relative to the steering box) changes. This can result in the front wheels getting pushed (steered) a few degrees to one side and back. Hence the name "bump-steer".

It can make the vehicle feel kind of "squirrely" when you hit a bump (like the expansion joints at each end of a bridge) at high speed.

IF you find that you have that problem (and with the frame end of the track-bar 3"-4" higher than where the drag link connects to the pitman arm, I'd say the odds are about 2 to 1 that you will) there is a fairly simple solution. Fabricate a new track-bar bracket that drops the frame end of the track-bar down until it is nearly parallel with the drag link, and modify the track-bar (take the bend out of it and make it straight), and that will solve the problem - guaranteed.

I currently own 3 Cherokees and just scrapped a 4th one. Of the 4, 3 are/were lifted (and the 4th one will be too once I finish my diesel swap), and I've seen this issue MANY times. Not just on my own rigs but on lifted Cherokees owned by others as well.

Nice clean looking fab work though. If you end up with bump-steer, I'm sure you will be able to make the necessary modifications with no trouble...

 

Looking good!!! Next time i'm at the pick-a-part, i'm gonna get me a Ford steering box!!!!

John

 

Maybe you haven't noticed but the steering looks nothing like a factory cherokee now! I fixed the "bump steer" with the tie rod set up being more like a full sized 4x4, ie the right side and left side are now conected with one solid tie rod, unlike the scissor effect of the stock set-up.Yes the track bar mounts are not on the same plane but you would have to hit some HUGE bumps to get any squirlly steering. The factory setup sucked because the toe was constantly changing(bump steer) when the suspension traveled normally, now the toe stays set reguardless of the suspension travel. I have used this setup before with no issues, durring normal driving the axle side to side movement is minimal and not even detectable from the drivers seat.

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Thanks John. Yea the box worked out real nice, plus it gives me more room for the radiator. Did you use a 4.0 rad? I am using the benz one but it gives me the option of using an aftermarket crossflow aluminum(I have one for my mustang and it will fit perfect now). Although I can't use the stock benz p/s pump because the bracket hits the p/s box, I could have cut off some of the lower portion of it (the ac mounting points) but it just took up way too much room, so I am using a p/s pump with a remote resevoir mounted low and my a/c pump will mount above. Working on all those mounts now. Are you thinking about hooking your a/c up? How are you progressing?

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BTW Cheeper Jeeper, as I recall you told me the f150 box would'nt work either, but as you can see it turned out as I had planed. If you have any doubt about my fabrication skills, I suggest you take a look at my thread "Rolling Vengence" in the Ag and Lawn equiptment section. I may not know as much as you, but I tend to hold my criticism untill I have all the facts. Then again I could be wrong about this too! Just sayin.