What the Hellwig is going on here?

[skrit]

Stock lift, JD HD lower coil cups with sway bar connections, Hellwig front sway for stock lift.

This looks way too close to the stock style pitman arm for my comfort. Thoughts?

 

[Jaybr]

Maybe flip the bolt/pin for a little more clearance, but I don't think those parts move any significant amount toward each other.

 

[Yeller]

Do they actually make contact? If not it will be fine. Remember, “everything so close you can’t slide paper between it and not touching is perfection.” Or that’s the moto in my shop anyway. Although sometimes we miss the mark some, cycle, cycle and cycle stuff and sometimes it still touches unexpectedly

 

[73azbronco]

Yeah you unclip sway on dirt, so it is no problem, and on road thats enough clearance i think

 

[skrit]

They do not touch. I'm going to index the pitman arm straight back like I've read @DirtDonk say to do in several of his posts. That will probably add more clearance.

Also thought about flipping the drag link to the top of the pitman arm. Would that be a dumb idea?

 

[skrit]

Arm reindex did not help except when the wheels are straight. Oh well, I'll leave it like that. Disregard the thought of flipping the drag link connection. Forgot everything is tapered and I'm not going to drill it out. So the only thing that actually hits is the lynch pin. I might have to remove that quick connect and replace with a bolt.

The joys of aftermarket upgrades

 

[Broncobowsher]

Take the roll pin out of the pin.
flip the pin around and install from the other side.
Lynch pin now on the side that the roll pin is in your photo.

 

[.94 OR]

What happens when the tires are straight and you bound the front end?
Does the pivoting motion from the track bar get you close to touching?

 

[skrit]

Take the roll pin out of the pin.
flip the pin around and install from the other side.
Lynch pin now on the side that the roll pin is in your photo.

Good idea. I'm having to wrestle the tires by hand so it's not easy to check clearances but I'm doing it. Speaking of not easy...honestly, the quick disconnects are very difficult to remove even with ultra slick on them. I'm sure they'd get easier after the bushings soften up... so, I'm just using the standard hardware on this side for now with the steel inner bushing inside the poly bushing. (You have to remove/ not install them using the pins)

If the Duff lower coil brackets arms were just 0.5" shorter then I think that would be a better design to accomodate all lifts, styles of steering boxes, drag link ends and pitman arms. I'm not going to modify them.

This is as close as the pitman gets which I'm fine with.

 

[skrit]

What happens when the tires are straight and you bound the front end?
Does the pivoting motion from the track bar get you close to touching?

I don't have a way to test that at this stage of the build but will in the future.

 

[gnsteam]

Great post shrit. I am getting close to the install of my JD kit. With a JD 2.5" lift with the same spring cups. I will try to remember to post my results to this thread. To show the difference if any.

 

[skrit]

Great post shrit. I am getting close to the install of my JD kit. With a JD 2.5" lift with the same spring cups. I will try to remember to post my results to this thread. To show the difference if any.

Will probably work much better since your frame/pitman arm will be 2.5" higher and will clear the coil cup brackets.

 

[Soylent]

Why don’t you send a pic to Hellwig? They built an early bronco in their shop so they may be able to comment.

 

[skrit]

Why don’t you send a pic to Hellwig? They built an early bronco in their shop so they may be able to comment.

that's a good thought but the issue is not with Hellwig. If I used their mounts that came with the kit there likely would be more clearance. I opted not to use the Hellwig mounts because I liked Duff's (Lick Creek's) solution with integrated brackets on the lower coil cup and what I thought was an easy to use disconnect.