WJ Brakes without major steering mods?

Yeah Yeah I know, another WJ knuckle thread...

I really really want to upgrade my front brakes. I'm running 2" of lift, and I'm happy with my OEM steering setup. I know this doesn't make much sense since WJ knuckles on an XJ are far from OEM. Unless the WJ knuckles placer your steering in harms way, I'm not interested in over the knuckle setups, reaming the knuckes, and all of the tuning that comes with it.

My biggest concern is the trackbar. I don't look forward to having a new Trackbar mount welded on. I can easily take the knuckles and JKS spacers to a certified welder, but the trackbar mount is another story.

So is anyone running WJ knuckles and brakes with somewhat OEM steering? Particuarly the OEM trackbar mount? If so, what was involved? I've searched quite a bit, and most people running this setup have 4.5"+ lift. I want to keep the small lift, factory steering, with the benefit of big brakes.

You only have to modify your drag link and tie rod when doing the WJ conversion because it is a true cross over! Tracbar stays as is unless you want to modify it! Maybe you should research a bit more before you attempt this mod!!

If you keep the trac bar in the stock position I don't think you will be able to get very good angles with the WJ setup.

-Alex

Ba-Riedo said:

If you keep the trac bar in the stock position I don't think you will be able to get very good angles with the WJ setup.

-Alex

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Explain! I see no problem with it? Yet the ones I have seen and am doing myself have all new stuff welded on the axle ie.... truss, ca mounts, shock mounts, coil buckets and tracbar mount!

you need to raise the track bar mount to make the drag link and track bar parallel, the passenger knuckle has a separate mounting area for the drag link and tie rod, the drag link being about 2" higher than the tie rod.

redneckboarder said:

you need to raise the track bar mount to make the drag link and track bar parallel, the passenger knuckle has a separate mounting area for the drag link and tie rod, the drag link being about 2" higher than the tie rod.

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this is on the WJ passenger side knuckle right?

Markos said:

Unless the WJ knuckles placer your steering in harms way, I'm not interested in over the knuckle setups, reaming the knuckes, and all of the tuning that comes with it.

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If you leave the WJ steering UTK, the tierod is below the axle tube. Hangs down incredibly low and is extremely vulnerable. It's not that hard to flip it OTK. Use some go-fer-it weld in inserts for the tie rod, and build yourself a draglink using the large GM "1-ton" TREs.

http://www.goferitoffroad.com/products.htm

Yes you will have to ream the top draglink arm on the knuckle, but you won't need a RHD draglink TRE which I had only been able to source from Crown.

Markos said:

My biggest concern is the trackbar. I don't look forward to having a new Trackbar mount welded on. I can easily take the knuckles and JKS spacers to a certified welder, but the trackbar mount is another story.

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You can keep the stock trackbar mount if you run the steering UTK, but as I said before, this leaves the steering extremely vulnerable.

Buy this track bar mount and have the same welder weld this on and shorten your track bar, not that hard to do.

http://store.jksmfg.com/merchant2/m...0_925&Store_Code=JKS01&Category_Code=FABParts

Markos said:

So is anyone running WJ knuckles and brakes with somewhat OEM steering? Particuarly the OEM trackbar mount? If so, what was involved? I've searched quite a bit, and most people running this setup have 4.5"+ lift. I want to keep the small lift, factory steering, with the benefit of big brakes.

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First off, the WJ runs a crossover style steering setup, that is the draglink and tie rod have separate mounting points on the passenger side outer steering knuckle.

The XJ OEM steering setup is an inverted-y, meaning the draglink mounts to the passenger side steering knuckle and the tie rod connects to the draglink which connects to the driver side knuckle

While I personally have not tried to put an inverted-y setup on WJ knuckles, crossover is better IMO as there is no toe change during suspension travel. Mine felt great even with no steering stabilizer.

ColoradoRaptor said:

Maybe you should research a bit more before you attempt this mod!!

Click to expand...

Gee do you think? Perhaps I should post some questions on . Oh wait, that's what I'm doing now...

MoparManiac said:

If you leave the WJ steering UTK, the tierod is below the axle tube. Hangs down incredibly low and is extremely vulnerable. It's not that hard to flip it OTK. Use some go-fer-it weld in inserts for the tie rod, and build yourself a draglink using the large GM "1-ton" TREs.

http://www.goferitoffroad.com/products.htm

Yes you will have to ream the top draglink arm on the knuckle, but you won't need a RHD draglink TRE which I had only been able to source from Crown.



You can keep the stock trackbar mount if you run the steering UTK, but as I said before, this leaves the steering extremely vulnerable.

Buy this track bar mount and have the same welder weld this on and shorten your track bar, not that hard to do.

http://store.jksmfg.com/merchant2/m...0_925&Store_Code=JKS01&Category_Code=FABParts



First off, the WJ runs a crossover style steering setup, that is the draglink and tie rod have separate mounting points on the passenger side outer steering knuckle.

The XJ OEM steering setup is an inverted-y, meaning the draglink mounts to the passenger side steering knuckle and the tie rod connects to the draglink which connects to the driver side knuckle

While I personally have not tried to put an inverted-y setup on WJ knuckles, crossover is better IMO as there is no toe change during suspension travel. Mine felt great even with no steering stabilizer.

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Great info. Thank you very much for the clarification. There are many many threads on this, but none of them break down the steering geometery comparison. Pretty much every thread focuses on changing the steering, and I wasn't sure if it was absolutely required or not. Since my tires are small, the low hanging parts aren't ideal.

Vanco PBS can hook you up with OEM XJ knuckles that have been set up for bigger brakes. I've heard good things about the Vanco setup.

Most def VanCo has a good product and stands behind it.

Van is very polite and informative, call him up and ask about it. The kit sounds expensive at first, but I can assure you its cheaper than buying the parts to do a WJ setup new.

Phil said:

Vanco PBS can hook you up with OEM XJ knuckles that have been set up for bigger brakes. I've heard good things about the Vanco setup.

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The $750 cost of the Vanco setup was swaying me, but I don't see the WJ swap being any cheaper. The cool thing about the WJ swap though is that you'd get all new steering components for about the same price as vanco brakes. Truth be told, I'll probably go with the Vanco kit. There are too many variables with the WJ setup. A lot of people will say it's easy, but there are numerous posts with people trying to hash out their DW problems after the WJ swap is complete. My OEM steering setup works great, and I don't plan on lifting.

The crappy part is that Van just ended a $100 off group by on his brake setup (jeepforum).