drag link on a lifted scout

[Mud Girl]

when i bought my scout it had a "modified" drag link on it; they have basically cut and welded the piece to "Z" under the springs. What is the correct/ best way to do this?

[P&L Black Smoke Customs]

The absolute best way, is to buy a drop pitman arm for your steering box and a new drag link, (which you can buy from Napa or just about any quality auto parts store) ,,, depending on how much suspension lift your Scout has. If you have up to 5 inches of suspension lift that should work for you. The only down side to the drop pitman arm is the last one that I bought from Rancho was about 2.5 inches shorter in length than the stock arm. This causes you to loose a substantial amount of turning radius. I informed Rancho of the problem but I don't know if they have remedied it.
If your truck has more lift than that you can use a Z bar drag link. I believe D&C Extreme makes one. I have no personal experience with there's but I have not heard of any complaints about there products. I make them myself but I just moved and am curently opening a new shop in TN and have none ready at the moment. If you have any other questions please feel free to ask. Talk to you later, Paul

[TN800As]

I'm in Kingsport (home town Livingston near Cookeville). I'm restoring a couple of 69 800A's. Not there yet, but will need some body work.

I have a couple of spare drop pitman arms. I converted both 69's to power steering.

[P&L Black Smoke Customs]

I would shoot Mud Girl a PM about the drop pitman arms, she might not have her settings on to know when someone responds to her post. As far as body work we don't do that yet. I hope that this business will take off and we will be able to hire someone to do that kind of thing.
I have 2 model 800's myself. I have not started on either of them yet. One is a 71 Comanche and the other one is just a plain 67. Everything I had that was cancer free I brought with me from California. I brought a lot of Scout ll parts with me but only enough 800 for what projects I have right now.
The last 800 I built I converted to all Scout ll axles, power brake and power steering. What power steering are you using? Talk to you later, Paul

[cstmscout]

Sorry to disagree but the absolute best is to go with high steering conversion but it's a little pricey. Secondly, If you want a dropped pitman, I have two of them you can choose from for only $50.00...that being said I would highly suggest not doing the dropped pitman if you have a scout ll....hence why I have two of them. The pitman arm on the scout ll is very long and the drop doesn't maintain the radius needed for quick response steering. I tried them on my SOA lifted scout ll and hated the play I felt in the steering. I put my factory pitman back on and bought the dropped drag link and it worked perfect. Damian at DandC Extreeme is a great person to get a hold of for your drag link. His is reinforced and I put it through torture without problems.

[TN800As]

Hello from east of Smokies

Both conversions I used scout II steering box and pump from old Travelall / PU. Jeff at IH Only North was very helpful with all parts (several things needed between steering column and steering box). My current pitman arm is straight from CJ, but I plan to lift a bit and will probably need a different one in the future.

Let me know if you need any 800 parts, I have the feeling I'll end up with some spares before this is over. Bob