Thread: steering upgrade!

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  1. #1 steering upgrade! 
    Senior Member Grand Slam West Planner
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    so my stock steering (ball joints and such) is going bad fast and I'm thinking this would be a good time to upgrade but money is real short and slow right now!

    any ideas on where to look for a bolt in heavy duty upgrade?
    "ZJ's were designed with the intention to take 1 really good hit, and fold up. As long as the occupants walked away, it was a success. In the wheeling world, we expect our vehicles to take multiple really good hits, drive out of it, and run the obstacle again!"
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  2. #2 Re: steering upgrade! 
    Senior Member it usually runs fine's Avatar
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    I got the Rugged Ridge steering off of ebay. I love it. Cost me less than 200 to my door. Basically identical to jcr one ton steering, except the tie rod ends are tapered instead of remaing 7/8 all the way down to bolt into the stock jeep knuckle.
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  3. #3 Re: steering upgrade! 
    Senior Member canadian_driver's Avatar
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    well if your ball joints are bad new steering isnt going to fix that
    This person should be taken as seriously as a heart attack while piloting a zeppelin over a bacon factory, which is the most serious of heart attacks, because if that zeppelin crashes into that bacon factory all of us will be without bacon and that simply will not do.
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  4. #4 Re: steering upgrade! 
    Senior Member Grand Slam West Planner
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    Pretty sure he's talking about the links...those are ball joints too

    I'm interested to hear about the Rugged Ridge steering...It'd be nice to learn about a good upgrade that could potentially be migrated to another rig if necessary.
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  5. #5 Re: steering upgrade! 
    Senior Member canadian_driver's Avatar
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    i suppose technically tie rod ends are ball joints.......


    well as for steering ive got the uturn set up, its great but not cheap, the currie steering upgrade is a little cheaper and ive herd good things about it
    This person should be taken as seriously as a heart attack while piloting a zeppelin over a bacon factory, which is the most serious of heart attacks, because if that zeppelin crashes into that bacon factory all of us will be without bacon and that simply will not do.
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  6. #6 Re: steering upgrade! 
    Senior Member Grand Slam West Planner
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    Quote Originally Posted by it usually runs fine View Post
    I got the Rugged Ridge steering off of ebay. I love it. Cost me less than 200 to my door. Basically identical to jcr one ton steering, except the tie rod ends are tapered instead of remaing 7/8 all the way down to bolt into the stock jeep knuckle.
    thank you that is not bad price on there website http://www.ruggedridgesales.com/Tie-...it-PRD234.aspx!
    hwy vs. off-road beating handles well?


    Quote Originally Posted by canadian_driver View Post
    well if your ball joints are bad new steering isnt going to fix that
    the whole setup aka tie rods, tie rod ends (ball joints) needs replaced as the stock equip just does not hold up to the off-road abuse.
    Last edited by Stealth Crawler ZJ; 07-16-2010 at 12:37 AM.
    "ZJ's were designed with the intention to take 1 really good hit, and fold up. As long as the occupants walked away, it was a success. In the wheeling world, we expect our vehicles to take multiple really good hits, drive out of it, and run the obstacle again!"
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  7. #7 Re: steering upgrade! 
    Member conedizzle's Avatar
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    I had the RR steering for about a year and a half and it was fine on the highway. If you do go that route I would recommend getting some of the poly spacers from JCR, I had one at each knuckle and didn't have the dead spot in the steering some others have experienced. However, the second black trail I hit at Rausch Creek I bent the tierod. It wasn't bent terribly and was still useable (actually I didn't even notice until after the 3 hr ride home) but it was bent. I recently switched to the IRO OTK steering and so far I love it, very beefy and very tight on the road, haven't wheeled with it yet though.
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  8. #8 Re: steering upgrade! 
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    Im in this boat as well, not ready to buy just yet but looking into an upgrade very soon...most of them say they are for the 4.0 only...why wouldnt I be able to use them on my 5.2?
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  9. #9 Re: steering upgrade! 
    Senior Member it usually runs fine's Avatar
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    Yea..That's bullshit my friend, they're all the same. Im super happy with my rugged ridge steering, Its thick enough where i have hit it hard on rocks and just left grooves in the metal, no bends though. The only problem I had was the boots tore on my first trip but I put these on and haven't looked back. http://www.4wd.com/jeep-parts.aspx?c...d=358&plID=276. Very good deal IMO. Handles well on road also.
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  10. #10 Re: steering upgrade! 
    Senior Member jborushko's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kauzi Zj View Post
    Im in this boat as well, not ready to buy just yet but looking into an upgrade very soon...most of them say they are for the 4.0 only...why wouldnt I be able to use them on my 5.2?

    yeah why not!?

    ...when i swapped my motor from 4.0 to 5.2 i retained all my 4.0 steering, the only thing i have wrong with mine is that the tie rod twists but thats not cus it hits anything, i just think i fudged it up somewhere... bad rod end whatever... btw i have Rusty's tierod/draglink conversion..

    but all my old steering will be going away when i get my new axle in there anyway, to make way for some ballistic fab stuffs
    96 ZJ swapped in 5.2, 242, 14bolt rear, big ugly home brew bumper, 7.5" of lift in the front 9" in the rear, long arms, hummer wheels with 37s... (dont worry front axle is next)

    It should be heavy. Weight is a sign of reliability. If it doesn't work, you can always hit him with it.

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  11. #11 Re: steering upgrade! 
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    Not sure what the difference is on the aftermarket stuff but V8 ZJs use heavier steering components than the 4.0Ls do. However its all interchangeable.

    In fact thats often a low buck upgrade for the XJ/TJ crowd to upgrade from their steering to V8 ZJ stuff.

    My guess is that for the aftermarket crowd they are just looking at stock part numbers. They build a steering system for a TJ and then see that the XJ uses the same part numbers and then so does a 4.0 ZJ so they are good to go. Oh, but not the V8 ZJ, its got a different part number so it must be different, cann't guarantee it will fit. They never bothered to actually look under a V8 ZJ or try it, just compared factory part numbers.

    Anyway if you have a 4.0 ZJ you can get a small upgrade by going to the V8 stuff, not much though as I believe the TREs are still the same size. Just beefier rods connecting them.
    1998 5.9er, 6" Claytons Long arm, D30(elocker), Rubi D44 rear, TJ Addco rear sway bar, WJ knuckles/brakes, 4.10s, 33s, 9.5ti

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  12. #12 Re: steering upgrade! 
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    Kevins/JKS WJ knuckle swap.
    04 Dub -- Longarms, JK44, 9" ARB's etc.
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    93 ZJ: longarms, 231D, 35's, 44/Hi 9", ARB's, etc. -- Sold
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  13. #13 Re: steering upgrade! 
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    TRE's are bigger too, parts store screw up the other day when I ordered new ones and sent me the 4.0l ones.
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  14. #14  
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    Sorry to bring this thread back from the dead but I have a question for you guys running the Chevy TREs in an inverted t. Do the poly spacers help the dead spot enough to make it ok on the street? I was planning on picking up some DOM, inserts, and Moog TREs but I have read a lot of people don't like the inverted t. Has anyone used the Chevy TREs and setup an inverted y? The tierod would meet the draglink closer to the knuckle but I can't see why this would be a problem.
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  15. #15 Re: steering upgrade! 
    The class retard Lifetime Supporter ajmorell's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sbrach View Post
    Sorry to bring this thread back from the dead but I have a question for you guys running the Chevy TREs in an inverted t. Do the poly spacers help the dead spot enough to make it ok on the street?
    Yes. I have the JCR setup, which is pretty much what you are describing and have no issues at all with it on the street.
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  16. #16  
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    The jcr is an inverted t. Supposedly the poly spacers eliminate the dead spot. That is what I was planning on making and if you like yours this may be the route I go. What I was wondering is if you can use the same parts but set it up like the factory inverted y which doesn't have a dead spot by design. Basically the long tre on the passenger knuckle with the hole in it would connect to the drag link and the end that would go on the drag link would go on the passenger side of the tie rod and connect to the hole in the long tre.
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  17. #17 Re: steering upgrade! 
    The class retard Lifetime Supporter ajmorell's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sbrach View Post
    The jcr is an inverted t. Supposedly the poly spacers eliminate the dead spot. That is what I was planning on making and if you like yours this may be the route I go. What I was wondering is if you can use the same parts but set it up like the factory inverted y which doesn't have a dead spot by design. Basically the long tre on the passenger knuckle with the hole in it would connect to the drag link and the end that would go on the drag link would go on the passenger side of the tie rod and connect to the hole in the long tre.
    I'm sure you probably could do it that way. I think there is some issues with how the toe changes in an inverted y compared to an inverted t but I'm not going to pretend to know exactly what those issues are.
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  18. #18  
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    True, that's the main disadvantage of an inverted y. I don't think it's that big of a deal though. Both the stock setup and the currie setup are inverted y. ideally I would go crossover otk but I can't justify spending that much on a D30. So now I just have to decide between one ton under the knuckle inverted t and one ton under the knuckle inverted y. If no one has tried the inverted y I guess I can be the guinea pig. It wouldn't be hard to change it to inverted t if it doesn't work out.
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  19. #19 Re: steering upgrade! 
    My avatar isn't animated Lifetime Supporter SirFuego's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sbrach View Post
    Supposedly the poly spacers eliminate the dead spot.
    They do. But don't expect them to last. I ran them for a little bit and my passenger side spacer was obliterated in a couple trail rides. Maybe it was tightened down too much or maybe my knuckle wasn't reamed deep enough to really tighten down the spacer.

    The main problem I had with the inverted T was how exposed the passenger side TREs are. The one that connects to the passenger knuckle needs to be reamed to accept the drag link TRE, so it's not like you can just run to the parts store, pick one up, and bolt it in. I bent one of the long TREs and two of the drag link was -- but that only happened due to my Helen Keller driving style.

    That said, I ran mine without a steering stabilizer and it handled much better than stock.
    Last edited by SirFuego; 03-09-2012 at 06:22 PM.
    Quote Originally Posted by SB406
    I think that's your signature move.
    "The Former"- Lay Jeep against obstacle in trail. Mat gas pedal. Form Jeep to the shape of obstacle.
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  20. #20  
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    Well the spacers are cheap so I can keep some on hand.
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  21. #21  
    The class retard Lifetime Supporter ajmorell's Avatar
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    Jared, that's interesting. I haven't replaced a single one of those spacers yet and I have a lot of miles on mine

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  22. #22  
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    Are you guys running one on both knuckles?
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  23. #23 Re: steering upgrade! 
    My avatar isn't animated Lifetime Supporter SirFuego's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ajmorell View Post
    Jared, that's interesting. I haven't replaced a single one of those spacers yet and I have a lot of miles on mine
    I also suppose that if the knuckle was reamed a bit too deep, too shallow, or slightly crooked, it perhaps could have contributed to the wear and tear. I never really worried about it enough to investigate why I had issues since I only bought them because they were cheap.

    I ran mine on both knuckles, but I heard only the passenger side was needed.
    Quote Originally Posted by SB406
    I think that's your signature move.
    "The Former"- Lay Jeep against obstacle in trail. Mat gas pedal. Form Jeep to the shape of obstacle.
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