Replacing MC Trackbar?

[jlewissystem]

After talking to both metal cloak and steers smart I decided to go with the under the knuckle setup. I figure if there is an issue I can change it up later. Metal Cloak did mention they are developing their own steering kit. It however won't be ready for almost 6 months. With my lift going on right after delivery, I'm not going to take the chance of crappy/wondering steering or DW in my first 5k miles. I'm just doing the steering upgrade right away. Cost of doing business I guess. I will be pairing the SS drag and Tie Rod with the MC Track bar. I don't see at this point why it wouldn't do the job exceptionally well.

Please share results, i'll be going the same route!

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[Ck51010]

I’ve also decided to go with the Metalcloak 3.5 lift and the full Yeti setup (Track Bar, Bottom Mount Draglink w/Attenuator, Tie Rod). Will have everything installed in a few weeks and post up my results.

 

[Huehue80]

I have currently installed on my JLUR the full MC 3.5 game changer kit with the SS tierod, top mount draglink, and relocation bracket. I have a falcon nexus stabilizer 2.2 installed with a tierod clamp conversion done.

Before the steering was installed I did not have DW just some bump steer and lose feeling in the steering.

Caster has been set to 6 degrees.

After installing the SS top mount draglink and tierod. The steering feels night and day. It feel less binding and very tight through the steering wheel. The adjustable tierod and dranglink are awesome so easy to set just right. I still have the MC track bar but could see the advantages of the SS adjustable TB.

Install was a breeze besides removing the draglink off the pitman arm. That sucked.

Very clean look and feel. No clearance issues and all steering components are almost parallel.

 

[LUV2JEEP]

I'm fixing to install Metalcloak 3.5" game changer and wanted to tighten up the steering and prevent chances of DW ahead of time just like some of you. Doing the top mount draglink makes perfect sense to correct geometry on a lift pushing 4". Why does SS have the following note for their draglink??

***NOTE*** A MINIMUM LIFT HEIGHT OF 3.5" IS REQUIRED FOR A TOP-MOUNT DRAGLINK. PART #79022001 (TRACK BAR RELOCATION BRACKET) IS NECESSARY WHEN FLIPPING YOUR DRAGLINK - IT MAINTAINS PROPER TRACK BAR AND DRAGLINK GEOMETRY. FOR THOSE RUNNING METAL CLOAK LIFTS, WE DO NOT RECOMMEND A TOP MOUNT DRAGLINK FOR THEIR 3.5" KITS.

 

[Artemis]

I was told by metal cloak and steers smart that below a certain lift height ie. 3.5" the drag link doesn't clear the frame. They were kind of obtuse about it but said that Lite Bright only had their over the knuckle system on for about a week. They then changed it over to an under the knuckle DL. Maybe @Kevin8086 can chime in here and speak to that.

 

[LUV2JEEP]

The last sentence of their note seems to go against the first sentence. I was really hopeful that a top mount was part of the DW solution.

 

[Kevin8086]

You can run the top mount drag link “IF” you are willing to run 4 pucks for bump stop on the passenger side. MC has too much uptravel and the drag link flip kit will hit your frame unless you run 4 pucks. We went back to a bottom mount because we wanted all the up travel along with down travel.

 

[AZDustMuncher]

You can run the top mount drag link “IF” you are willing to run 4 pucks for bump stop on the passenger side. MC has too much uptravel and the drag link flip kit will hit your frame unless you run 4 pucks. We went back to a bottom mount because we wanted all the up travel along with down travel.

Since you have actually had your Jeep with both the top mount and bottom, I'm curious if your on road handling was any better with the top mount compared to the bottom?

 

[LUV2JEEP]

Since you have actually had your Jeep with both the top mount and bottom, I'm curious if your on road handling was any better with the top mount compared to the bottom?

My question is similiar. So it really has no affect on steering and DW doing a top vs bottom mount?

 

[rustyshakelford]

Since you have actually had your Jeep with both the top mount and bottom, I'm curious if your on road handling was any better with the top mount compared to the bottom?

I can’t imagine there is much difference. The angles are nearly perfect with the bottom mount

Brett

 

[Artemis]

You can run the top mount drag link “IF” you are willing to run 4 pucks for bump stop on the passenger side. MC has too much uptravel and the drag link flip kit will hit your frame unless you run 4 pucks. We went back to a bottom mount because we wanted all the up travel along with down travel.

Thanks Kevin! Did you feel any difference in performance or response going to the UTK? I imagine running the ram under there you probably didn't notice much of a change.

 

[LUV2JEEP]

Spoke to Steer Smarts today and was told I could/should do the top mount draglink with Metalcloak 3.5" game changer. Apparently it's the 6pak shocks that cause the interference. They need to be a little more specific regarding their note I mentioned above. I'm doing Falcon 3.3 shocks. Hope the helps!!

So instead of Steer Smarts saying "we don't recommend our top mount draglink with the Metalcloak 3.5", they should say "we don't recommend our top mount draglink with Metalcloak 3.5 lift paired with 6 pak shocks and those wanting maximum up travel".

 

[AZDustMuncher]

Spoke to Steer Smarts today and was told I could/should do the top mount draglink with Metalcloak 3.5" game changer. Apparently it's the 6pak shocks that cause the interference. They need to be a little more specific regarding their note I mentioned above. I'm doing Falcon 3.3 shocks. Hope the helps!!

It's not the shocks themselves it's the up travel you have with them. You're still going to have to run enough bumpstop no matter what shock so you're not bottoming out on your shocks or hitting the frame with your drag link.

 

[Huehue80]

This is from an email response from Justin at SS.

In regards to bump stop – be sure you are running at minimum the amount of bump stop as you have lift.

Secondly, make sure you have full droop or decompression, and then add the appropriate bump stop. If up travel limits the amount of droop and or interference with the draglink, then you should convert back to
Bottom mount.

I am running the rocksport shocks for my MC lift. I'm just going to add all 4 bump stop pucks that came with my lift. I don't do high speed Off-roading with my Jeep just slow rock crawling in Moab and Sand hallow.

I'm a bit frustrated with the response I do get from Metal cloak when I ask a question. Very vague and not helpful. SS actually tries to any the question as an actually helpful human would do.

If I decided to change the drag link back to bottom mount I can just buy the tire mount side of the drag link so I don't have to remove it of the pitman arm again.

 

[LUV2JEEP]

This is from an email response from Justin at SS.

In regards to bump stop – be sure you are running at minimum the amount of bump stop as you have lift.

Secondly, make sure you have full droop or decompression, and then add the appropriate bump stop. If up travel limits the amount of droop and or interference with the draglink, then you should convert back to
Bottom mount.

I am running the rocksport shocks for my MC lift. I'm just going to add all 4 bump stop pucks that came with my lift. I don't do high speed Off-roading with my Jeep just slow rock crawling in Moab and Sand hallow.

I'm a bit frustrated with the response I do get from Metal cloak when I ask a question. Very vague and not helpful. SS actually tries to any the question as an actually helpful human would do.

If I decided to change the drag link back to bottom mount I can just buy the tire mount side of the drag link so I don't have to remove it of the pitman arm again.

I'm sure the most important aspect of the draglink and trackbar are that they are parallel. I'd sure like to know though if raising both passenger end points (making them more horizontal) helps the jeeps steering any. I could save a little $$ on the track bar relocation bracket.

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