Homebrew Over the Knuckle Tie Rod Flip

Advanced Warning!!

While this is a fairly basic modification there are still some things that will require more advanced knowledge and tools. There are ways to complete this that I have not included in this writeup because I cannot document them as I did not go that route.

This modification requires you to cut off your factory anti-sway bar mounts from the front axle or modify them. They will interfere with the new tie rods and ends and must be cut off or modified.

You will also have to remove the factory steering stabilizer mount and remount it differently or rebuild it. It will also interfere with the tie rods and ends. The interference from both of these mounts will keep the steering from traveling lock to lock.

If you want to run the front anti-sway bar and steering stabilizer, you will have to cut metal and fab up and weld on new mounts.

Once the inserts are inserted into the knuckle, the thickness changes and the tie rod end taper shaft will no longer go through the knuckle far enough to get a castle nut and cotter pin installed. You will have to use a cutoff wheel and cut about 1/8" from the bottom of the knuckle in order to reduce overall thickness of the knuckle or tighten the castle nuts very tight and install a very thin cotter pin.

This modification will also likely not work with factory 15" wheels. It may work with 15" aftermarket wheels with enough backspacing to allow clearance of the tie rod ends. My ZJ Cherokee has 16" Rubicon wheels and there is not even enough clearance to fit a grease gun nozzle onto the tie rod end grease zerk with the wheels mounted on the Jeep.

For those of us with either an XJ Cherokee, YJ/TJ Wrangler or a ZJ Grand Cherokee, with the inline six cylinder, we were shafted by Chrysler on our steering components and setup.

Instead of giving us the heavy duty, solid steel steering tie rod (from the drag link over to the left wheel knuckle) found only on the Grand Cherokee with a V8 engine, we got the skinny little hollow piece of tubing that wouldn't make a good drinking straw for the Tin Man.

This steering tie rod tube is small diameter, hollow, light weight and pretty much worthless for anything other than Mall Krawling. Hit a stump, rock or other hard object and it will fold like a tooth pick. It flexes when turning the wheels hard off road and makes steering feel weak and spongy.

Fortunately, there is a fairly cheap and easy method to upgrade this tube to a nice fat solid beefy rod and heavier duty tie rod end.

The left tie rod off of the V8 Grand Cherokee will fit with little modification. Add the drag link (and some fairly extensive modifications) from a right hand drive XJ Cherokee and you can then flip the tie rods over to the top of your knuckles and raise the steering rods about 3" higher. Not quite true high steer but a huge improvement over stock and adding strength and rigidity to the steering system.

This may change the angle relation between the track bar and drag link. If it does change it enough you will encounter bump steer. You can move the drag link up or down using a factory XJ Cherokee pittman arm (on a ZJ application) or a drop pittman arm for your Jeep model or you can get a drop track bar bracket to lower the track bar frame mount.

You can also just use the left inner tie rod and left outer tie rod end, from the V8 Grand Cherokee, and raise only your driver side tie rod to the over the knuckle position and gain clearance without using the RHD Cherokee drag link. This still raises your steering tie rod and requires less parts and a lot less modification.

Most of these parts can be acquired from a salvage yard, such as Pick-N-Pull, if you cannot afford new.

This write up will document the install and list all tools and parts needed to complete this job.

I am not listing any prices because I get a slightly lower price through my work and actual costs will vary according to where you buy the parts and where you are located.

Tools Needed
- 3/8" or 1/2" drive Ratchet
- Sockets from 13mm (1/2") deep well through 19mm (3/4") deep well
- Large socket for pittman arm nut (only needed if changing pittman arm)
- Pittman arm puller tool (not needed if you buy new pittman arm)
- Wrenches from 13mm (1/2") through 19mm (3/4")
- Good heavy hammer or small mallet
- Tie rod end "pickle fork" tool
- Pliers and side cutters
- Channel locks or slip joint pliers
- 1/2" chuck drill (electric or air powered)
- 3/4" diameter heavy duty drill bit for steel or 3/4" Unibit (step bit)
- Cut-off tool with metal cutting discs
- Access to a welder (optional but highly recommended)



Parts Needed
- Left Inner Tie rod from any year V8 ZJ Grand Cherokee (Car Quest Part # DS1312)
- Left side outer Tie Rod end from same V8 ZJ (Car Quest part # ES3096L)
- Tie rod adjuster sleeve from same V8 ZJ (Car Quest part # RES2079S)
- Tie Rod End at Pittman Arm (Car Quest part# RES3096L)
- Right hand drive XJ Cherokee drag link (Car Quest part #52006582) (only needed if doing full flip conversion)
- Pair of knuckle flip tapered inserts (available from TeraFlex or ARC Fabrication on eBay)
- Pittman Arm from any XJ Cherokee (may only bee needed for lifts over 5" on ZJ applications)


Here is a photo of the new steering parts along side the old steering parts for comparison.

Start by getting the front end lifted off the ground and safety stands under the front axle for support.

Remove the front wheels.

You now have good clear access to the knuckles and entire front steering parts.

Depending on what you have decided to do with this conversion, either the full flip conversion of both tie rods or just the driver side, you are now ready to start work.


If you are flipping just the driver side tie rod end to over the knuckle, then you only need to remove the castle nuts and knock the left outer tie rod end loose from the knuckle and the left inner tie rod end loose from the drag link. This will drop the entire left tie rod assembly from the steering system. Below photo shows how to remove the old tie rod end from the knuckle. This method works for all tie rod ends and the tie rod end at the pittman arm.






You are now ready to drill out the left steering knuckle and install the new tapered insert. I used a cheap 3/4" Uni Bit (stepped bit) to drill out the knuckle. It went through very easily with no issues at all. Drilling took about 15 seconds. Drill straight so the insert will fit properly. The below photos show the drilling action.






Make sure you drill a clean hole for the insert.




Clean the surface of the top of the knuckle to prep for welding. Use a small grinder or some sand paper.

Install the insert into the hole. You will need to lightly tap it to make it seat all the way.

Welding the tapered insert to the knuckle is optional but is highly recommended so that it stays put when, and if, you ever remove this tie rod end in the future. Otherwise, it will likely come out with the tie rod end.





Once the tapered insert is installed the knuckle is now thicker by about 1/8" due to the flange on top of the insert. You may now need to cut about 1/8" from the bottom side of this area so your tie rod end taper shaft will allow a castle nut and cotter pin. Removing metal from the knuckle is not recommended but it is an option. I was able to tighten the castle nut tight enough to get a very thin cotter pin installed.





To complete this partial tie rod flip you just need to install the new tie rod and outer tie rod end from the V8 Grand Cherokee, modify the left anti-sway bar link mount on the axle and reinstall the steering stabilizer. You can mount the left tie rod either way, with the adjuster in the center or out at the left knuckle. I ended up mounting the adjuster tie rod end at the left knuckle as it seems easier to gain access to make adjustment.








WARNING!!! Cutting and Welding required for this step!!
You will have to either cut off the anti-sway bar mount bracket from the axle or modify it to allow the tie rod end to clear when at full left wheel lock. You may be able to grind away part of the bracket to allow the tie rod to clear.

The following steps are for those that are doing the complete tie rod flip conversion on both sides. This is using the RHD XJ Cherokee drag link.

As on the left side the new drag link and tie rod will hit the anti-sway bar link mount and will also contact the steering dampener mount. Both have to be removed and remounted to work.









Good clearance now for the steering.

Continuing with the full conversion tie rod flip you need to drill out the right side knuckle and install the other tapered insert as shown in previous posts. Install the RHD drag link you purchased and attach the new V8 ZJ left tie rod and tie rod end as shown earlier.

Due to the tapered inserts having a 1/8" rim flange, the taper of the tie rod end will not extend through the knuckle far enough to get the castle nut to tighten enough to install the larger cotter pin that is designed for use. I used a smaller cotter pin until I have time to cut off the 1/8" of thickness from the bottom of the knuckle.

Install all the castle nuts, torque to spec and install cotter pins!! Don't forget the cotter pins!!

Here is a shot of the parts installed.







You will need to do a quick "back yard" alignment to get you to an alignment shop. This can be done by measuring across the back of the tires center to center and across the front of the tires center to center. You want to set the difference to about 1/8" less on across the front of the tires to give you a little toe in.

Your steering wheel will also be way off center. You can set this by letting the Jeep back down to the ground, turn the key to unlock the steering wheel, loosen the nuts to the adjuster at the pittman arm and turning the adjuster until the steering wheel centers. This will also affect toe setting so recheck the toe measurement again.



You also need to check the relation angle of your track bar and drag link. Depending on the amount of lift you have/don't have, and whether your track bar mount drops the mount point of the track bar, you may need to use the XJ Cherokee pittman arm to raise the drag link or use a drop pittman arm to lower it and bring it back into proper plane with the track bar.

Improper alignment of these two can/will cause bump steer.

Nice write up. Very cool.

Did you do away with the sway bar/mounts or did you relocate them?

Very cool, I vote sticky! :firedevil

The angle of the TRE at the passenger knuckle worries me a bit. It's already at a pretty decent angle when the Jeep is just sitting flat on the ground. What is it gonna look like when you flex out and the drivers side tire drops down a good bit?


Nice job on the install and writeup though. I just did the flip with my Currie tie rod and it was much easier than I expected.

xjtrailrider said:

Did you do away with the sway bar/mounts or did you relocate them?

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I cut them off. I will be fabbing up new link mounts Monday.

sunburned said:

The angle of the TRE at the passenger knuckle worries me a bit. It's already at a pretty decent angle when the Jeep is just sitting flat on the ground. What is it gonna look like when you flex out and the drivers side tire drops down a good bit?

Nice job on the install and writeup though. I just did the flip with my Currie tie rod and it was much easier than I expected.

Click to expand...

Since it swivels at the drag link attachment point I see no way it could not work perfectly. I would have to droop a whole bunch to bind it up I think.

NOTE: I need to make a correction on the need for a pitman arm. If you need to change to a shorter pitman arm to raise your drag link you will need the pitman arm from a YJ Wrangler or a TJ Wrangler. The XJ Cherokee arm and the 6 cylinder ZJ pitman arms are identical. The pitman arm from a V8 engined ZJ Grand is one inch longer (drops 1" down) over the XJ and 6 cylinder ZJ.

looks like you like the mac man too i love my long reach die grinder nice work.

Good job and very detailed, but you do know that this isn't new right?

Tally_XJ said:

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:roflmao::roflmao::roflmao: Good stuff man.

DeftwillP said:

Good job and very detailed, but you do know that this isn't new right?

Click to expand...

Thank you and, yes, I do know this is not new. I have yet, though, to see this conversion fully documented, with pics of each step, and a complete list of parts and tools needed. That is the only reason I did it was to fully detail and document this.

99mattxj said:

looks like you like the mac man too i love my long reach die grinder nice work.

Click to expand...

Christ! I cannot seem to get away from the Mac Tool Truck! Help me man! That long reach grinder came with a free 1/4" die grinder so I could not turn it down. Dammit!

I do have an assortment of Mac, Snap-On and Matco tools. I wish I had all the money I have spent with them back all at one time.

good write up. ive been wondering if this could be done. some one showed us it could be done. one question. i did not see or read where the steering stabilizer is now mounted. i have done the flip on the right side. also no longer run the sway bar.