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chopshop
12-07-2005, 12:53 PM
from my local board:
(this is my 93 zj)

I BRAKE FOR DEATHWOBBLE

almost had to get a bumpersticker made up. ;D
i had a homemade tracbar with a polyflex joint at the top end, uca bushing at the bottom end. the upper joint was toast. and i gave a buddy a steering box bolt to get out of the woods after a broken box a few weeks ago, then parked the zj for a week and totally forgot about it. went wheelin and busted my box. haha, it's his fault!!! ;D

nah, just good incentive to get rid of the intermittent wobble i've had for months. the longarms really need a good tracbar. it is one of only 3 frame attachment points on my radius arm style set-up, i needed more beef.

i figured i could put the tracbar over axle, and ditch the steering stabilizer if i got the geometry right. eventually, i will have a flipped tie rod set-up, and the draglink will be perfectly parallel once that is done. this new set-up, although not exactly parallel, is performing very well. it has a tiny tiny bit of bumpsteer on rolling whoop kind of bumps at speed, and ZERO deathwobble, even with no shock. no bumpsteer on quick bumps like expansion joints on highway overpasses. that used to be the worst!! so i'm pretty happy with it.

The steering box is off a 80-up Wagoneer, it has a 4th mounting hole and a bigger bore than my stock box. (<--- edit: is this right? it steers soo much easier, i changed nothing else, pump, etc. )
It steers like it has 235's on. quite a bit more assist, luv it.
J20 boxes have an even larger bore for more assist.

my stock lines and pitman bolted right up. 79 down wag boxes use a flared fitting on the hoses, and will not bolt up. the 80-ups have o-rings. the steering intermediate shaft also slips right on.

this all applies to xj/zj/mj/yj//cj, note the year the fitting changed if you are working on a cj.

so really the only thing was to make a 4th hole in my frame for the box, other than that is bolts up. pretty simple, huh?

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y166/chopshop69/077d31c0.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y166/chopshop69/9cb28d25.jpg


i cleaned off the stock brackets on the d30, and removed the upper trac bar bracket. fab'ed up new ones.

The first job on my new little mill was to cut brackets for the hiems. fun, tidy and clean looking. (well, when i paint it...)
Used Competion Engineering 3/4 x 3/4 hiems for the tracbar. the bar itself is 1.25" sch.80. big fat Grd.8 bolts thru with DOM tube spacers milled flat.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y166/chopshop69/e155124f.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y166/chopshop69/39cdc422.jpg


i lathed down and welded coupler nuts into the pipe to recieve the hiems. this is a d30, i feel pretty confident using pipe, not tube. she's only little. i used the same mat'l on my rear upper arms and they have proven more than adequate for 33's.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y166/chopshop69/9bfa799c.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y166/chopshop69/5e674497.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y166/chopshop69/7d066e16.jpg


jeez, the pic makes the angle look way less than //. it's better than that, the ZJ is parked on dirt, it's leaning a bit!!

Jan

Kraqa
12-07-2005, 04:08 PM
welds look like crap. cool tho. Without a bend in his track bar it will contact the pumpin under flex. i doubt he even though abotu that.

ELLLLLIOTTTTT
12-07-2005, 04:17 PM
how will pipe hold up as compared to DOM?

Kraqa
12-07-2005, 04:20 PM
SCH80 is some thick pipe. alot of alaskan guys use it for Links. cause its cheep and available. it shoudlbe OK. althoguh my from track bar has to be 5/16" DOM so........we;ll see but i'm pushing more weight (axles and tire ect...)

chopshop
12-07-2005, 06:12 PM
that was the last thing i'll ever weld with "baby beads" i upgraded to a 135A hobart with gas. yup, they look like shit. i didn't even knock the slag off, i was late for the trail, up all nite.

the trac will not hit the pumpkin. see the little angle on the upper bracket? that is there to clear the pumpkin. my front axle is pushed forward 2" right now, and i built the new bracket to accomadate another 2". as well as that, it's bumpstopped. I dought you even thought of that. :p

yeah, the pipe - it's fine for a d30 and 33's, 35's. that's all i'll run be running on this axle. when/if going bigger, i'll prob. be redoing a lot of stuff, so making a new trac is not a big issue.

thx fer lookin

ELLLLLIOTTTTT
12-08-2005, 02:46 AM
that was the last thing i'll ever weld with "baby beads" i upgraded to a 135A hobart with gas. yup, they look like shit. i didn't even knock the slag off, i was late for the trail, up all nite.

the trac will not hit the pumpkin. see the little angle on the upper bracket? that is there to clear the pumpkin. my front axle is pushed forward 2" right now, and i built the new bracket to accomadate another 2". as well as that, it's bumpstopped. I dought you even thought of that. :p

yeah, the pipe - it's fine for a d30 and 33's, 35's. that's all i'll run be running on this axle. when/if going bigger, i'll prob. be redoing a lot of stuff, so making a new trac is not a big issue.

thx fer lookin

thats what i figured. you'll love the new hobart w/ gas.... its like night and day.

chopshop
12-08-2005, 03:55 AM
just a note on the easier steering - i thougth the waggy box might have a "medium" sized bore between the stock zj and the J20 wag, but the easier steering i'm feelin turns out to be 3.0 ratio compared to 3.5 of the wag box. simple gear reduction.

beerz. (smiley fingerin you) gimme the fuckin link if i'm gonna be givin it. hahha

Jan

ptownTSI
12-11-2005, 02:31 PM
3 or 3.5 ratio? that must be a typo. the stock ZJ box has very "fast" steering at 12:1, meaning its harder to turn with big meats on it. could maybe the new box be like a 14:1 ?

chopshop
12-12-2005, 11:41 PM
oops. i was counting turns of the steering wheel to go lock to lock.