tie rod and drag link question

[lostmyrocks]

I have noticed that some jeeps have the tie rod that runs from steering knuckel to steering knuckel and some have it from one steering knuckel to the drag link which attaches to the other knuckel. My question is dose it matter and if so what is the diff?

[OU812]

I’m not the expert but I can tell you that YJs have the tiered that goes all the way across and the TJs have the split Y where the drag link attaches to the passenger knuckle. I know that you can buy the knuckle to knuckle tiered setup for the TJ.

[Materdaddy]

http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billav...ngresearch.htm

[lostmyrocks]

Ok, so the yj comes with an inverted T and the tj comes with and inverted Y. Kinda goofy! Any way, the thing is I am not real concerned with what I have only if the change from a T to a Y is worth the effort or not realy. I only looked at the first link, so after I post this I will take a look at the second link. Thanks you provided some excellent info.

[lostmyrocks]

Thanks Matterdaddy! the links that you attached have great info on all sorts of stuf. I still cannot locate an answer as to the Y or the T steering, which one is more preferable. I am going to step out and say it dose not matter, and its ok to run what you brung. After all of this, I am interested becouse the D30 lp axel that I bought has a spider hd tie rod and drag link set up. When I compared it to the stock set up, I found out it is different. So the question was obvious, whats better? any way the steering stabilizer will need to be relocated to the tie rod with a kit, or I can try to flip it around and put the shaft end on the axel and the body on the rod. It cannot stay in the original location becouse it would hit the track bar bracket. If any one would like to elaborate I am open to ideas.

[seapahn]

Here's a pic of mine stock TJ vs "new" (several years ago) which is the u-turn cross-over setup:



I have a 6" lift and with the stock Y setup, I had very noticeable bump- and brake-steer which is basically caused by the toe changing as the suspension compresses and uncompresses (from what I understand).

With the new setup, the tie-rod is solid between wheel to wheel and it definitely rides much much better ... not to mention the overall strength improvement. In my case though, I took a nice hit in the turning radius that I get with the new setup but I'm fine with living with it. The Ackerman angle (click for details) is also messed up a bit I think and you end up dragging a front wheel a bit when doing tight turns (probably also what affects the turning radius) ... again, not much of a problem for me.

[lostmyrocks]

Not to sound like a broken record, but dose it matter what steering T or Y is run? I see the difference in the them, and I understand the ackerman angle. It seems that both the T and Y style do not seem to make any substancial difference except maybe in the turning radius.

[Rock_Crawler_97]

personal experince

Its really a matter of prefernce for the most part. However, for my experince i have ran several different types... But i will compare 2 main ones... 1st one being Currie, Its like the stock Y setup but just well built! But other than being a lot stronger i didnt notice any difference than the stock version. Turning left and right where and flex was all the same. However now i run the Krawler X-Factor setup and love it. It is a T style. I measure the currie flex than took it out and installed the X-factor. The difference was i got 1 1/4 inch more flex with X-factor. But at the sametime the X-factor had himi joints, so am sure that played a part in it. The only draw back that i notice and prpbably because they informed me was the turning radius... It doesn't turn to the right as much as it does with a Y setup (apparently lots of T's have this problem from what am told) But at the same time it wasn't really noticeable. Not like you make a lot of u-turns to the right. Also the fact i have a twin stick that allows me to do a front dig solves that problem is it ever became a problem... Another benefit to the T style is that it allows you to add Hydro assit to it later on down the road if u choose too... So yea i will never go back to a Y setup. Well like i said this is my personnal experince, so hopefully you found it helpful.