DOM Steering upgrade on SAS Nissans - Coilover radius arm or SUA leaf or 3 link. SOA is similar. (Update 2/3/2009)

The stock Nissan Pitman Arms can easily be reamed on all pre 2005 Nissans that came with steering boxs. The R50  Pathfinder is the only exception since its Rack and pinion. The Pitman can be reamed from top or from bottom for GM tres. 83-2004 style are covered here.

The pitman could be longer for the popular Dana 44 SAS option. The length of the pitman does not allow full turn. There is an aftermarket pitman arm made for toyotas that fits the Nissan boxs.

New replacement longer pitman arms.

Stock Toyota (86-98) pitman arm. Note since SAS require a new pitman there is a few brands on the market.

This the flat version and the drop style.

This is the Trail Gear brand Pitman designed for SAS compared to a 93 Nissan version. Toyotas have a TRE builtin.

Installed on my 93 D21. Its beefy and designed for FJ TREs. I reamed it for GM tres.

Some steering options for SAS.

  1. One is the tap the DOM.

  2. Weld in bung style DOM.

Weld in bung style. This is much easier, faster and cheaper than tapping the DOM.

 

These bungs are 1" ID with 7/18 18 tpi

 

Steps to fabricate Steering:

Option 1: Tapped version

  1. Buy 7' of 1 1/4" .219" wall DOM tube.

  2. Cut a piece of DOM to OVERALL length of 26" drag link.

  3. Cut a piece of DOM to OVERALL length of 41" drag link. 

  4. tap one end 7/8 18 tpi left hand - wttool.com is cheapest

  5. tap one end 7/8 18 tpi right hand threads - completeoffroad.com

  6. buy 3 tres and one drag tre listed above. - auto parts store.

  7. Buy jam nuts as needed. NOT ALL TREs come with jam nuts.

  8. Buy 1.5 inch per foot degree reamer (more details below)

  9. Ream pitman from top or bottom, your choice, from top works best for all But SOA.

  10. Ream the pass side TRE if not going high steer.

  11. Install on truck.

  12. Adjust toe first.

  13. Adjust draglink second. Make sure you have equal swing left to right.

  14. Adjust steering wheel last. Center the steering wheel. There is a dot that tells you where center is. You cant use that anymore.

Option 2. BUNG STYLE

  1. Buy 7' of 1.5" .250" wall DOM tube.

  2. Cut a piece of DOM to OVERALL length of 26" drag link. You have to measure the exposed bung length X. See picture 1 For example my bungs in picture 1 have 1" exposed once slid into DOM. So I cut the DOM to 24". Then insert the 2 bungs now the length is 26".

  3. Cut a piece of DOM to OVERALL length of 41" drag link. You have to measure the exposed bung length X.  See picture 1

  4. Weld in a 7/8 18 tpi left hand bung at each end - make sure one end is Left hand thread and one is right hand thread.

  5. Buy 3 tres and one drag tre. - auto parts store.

  6. Buy jam nuts as needed. NOT ALL TREs come with jam nuts.

  7. Buy 1.5 inch per foot degree reamer

  8. Ream pitman from top or bottom, your choice, from top works best for all But SOA.

  9. Ream the pass side TRE if not going high steer.

  10. Install on truck.

  11. Adjust toe first.

  12. Adjust draglink second. Make sure you have equal swing left to right.

  13. Adjust steering wheel last. Center the steering wheel. There is a dot that tells you where center is. You cant use that anymore.

Picture 1 and 2

NOTE: High steer uses DIFFERENT TREs. A ES2234R is used on the High steer arm. The drag link is longer.

All Nissan W/D21 and W/D22 use a 26" Drag link and a 41" tie rod if using a Waggy Dana 44s (Other Dana 44s will be slightly different lengths) - tested on CALMINI coilover kit, SUA with leafs and custom 3 links.

TIE ROD.
Tie rod with a es2233L (hole) and a es2234r

Drag Link:
ES2027L for pitman arm (high angle)
ES2026R for pass side

The ES2027L and ES2026R are stock 1985 truck GM drag link ends .
The ES2233L and ES2234R are tie rodends's. The ES2233L has the steering stabilizer hole that has to be reamed opposite of taper.

Reaming a Pitman arm.
First you need a 1.5 per foot Reamer. A drill press is best. I have done them before with a 1/2 drill but you need very slow speeds.

Test fit often while reaming!!!

TRE ream is similar. Reaming the pass side TRE for the drag link.

 

It can be done with a hand drill but its very hard to go slow enough.

Test fit while reaming often!!!

These pics are on a 2000 Nissan Xterra with the CALMINI SAS coilover kit. Reamed the pitman from the top to keep the drag link parallel to track bar.

The HUGE TRE just clears the frame. 2000 Xterra pictured.

All painted.

92 WD21 Pitman puller is super tight.

93 D21 Pitman puller is looser. Minor grinding to puller to fit.

94 WD21 Pitman has plenty of room for puller.

Example of reamed and unreamed. These are the smaller 91-92 version. 93-2004 are much thicker but same overall length. The taper is different for the TRE. But that is enlarged anyway with SAS. 

There is two different tapers for the W/D21 series. Both get reamed out for SAS so there is just Spline differences to be concerned with. Note the 83-90 splined steering box  is much smaller than the 91-2004 style.

 

Testing Carnage.

I have never had any TRE wear out yet. But I did bend one. The DOM is very strong so the weak link is the TREs. I noticed on my 80 miles trip home my steering was too much toe in. I noticed my TRE was slightly bent.

Any questions or corrections just email Me. My email is on the menu bar up top.