Steering conversion done! (Very long!)

[Diesel]

A while ago I threw on Parts Mike's (http://www.partsmikeparts.com/tre_kit.htm) steering conversion and finally have everything dialed in and my death wobble gone (for now). I have the tie-rod mounted on top of the Dana 30 steering arms, so I had to raise the trac-bar at the axle in order to make it parallel to the drag link to prevent bump steer. So, since everything is done, I thought I would show some pictures of the set-up and also how I moved the trac-bar up. If you have any questions or comments, let me know.

Front View
http://www.fototime.com/36ED2C931F8E530/orig.jpg
As you can see, I mounted the steering stabilizer underneith the trac-bar on the same bracket. The was the stabilizer attaches to the tie-rod sucks and hangs low but it works for now. When I do the Rubicon in a few weeks, I will just take it completely off while on the trail. Also check out how perfectly parallel the drag link and trac-bar are! It is Rusty's trac bar that was shortened and I flipped it around so that the adj. end is at the axle. This provided for better oil-pan clearence.

Raised trac-bar bracket at axle
http://www.fototime.com/4A69F5BFCCA23B5/orig.jpg
The main bracket is a piece of my friends rocker skids that he cut off, which turned out to be the correct inner dimention for the trac-bar bushing and steering stabilizer. For lateral support, we added a triangular fin the goes from the bracket to kind of in front of the coil. For more stregnth, we welded a piece of strap from the bracket to the upper control arm bracket.

Top view of bracket (shows reinforcement strap to upper control arm bracket better)
http://www.fototime.com/964EAF16A67E41A/orig.jpg

Finally, what the kit looks like (Picture is from Parts Mike's web-site.
http://www.fototime.com/9CA928D5F69E1F8/orig.jpg

[xj4rocks]

I did a similar conversion last november. I'm still glad I did it. While my steering still isn't perfect. It's a hell of a lot stronger and in general better than it was before with the stock inverted y. Yours looks good.

[Gojeep]

I like the look of that setup too. Did you fit tapered insert in or are those tie rod ends big enough that you could just use a tapered reamer from the top!
Looks as though they would still work on my RHD!

How much lift do you have as I think with my 4" it would be nearly back to stock angles on mine!

Is that a good price for these parts guys?

[xj4rocks]

those are 1 ton TRE's that you can taper from the top.

Just a word to the wise, I needed rims with more than 4.5" BS to clear the TRE's once they went above the knuckles. Wes Carpenter I think was able to clearance grind the TRE's to fit on his 4.75" AR767's.

[Carpenter]

Originally posted by xj4rocks
those are 1 ton TRE's that you can taper from the top.

Just a word to the wise, I needed rims with more than 4.5" BS to clear the TRE's once they went above the knuckles. Wes Carpenter I think was able to clearance grind the TRE's to fit on his 4.75" AR767's.

I had to use 1/4" spacers along with grinding of the TRE's to clear the 4.75" BS rims at full lock. I think it all comes down to how deep you seat your TRE's and how thick the casting of the body of your particular TRE is. If my Allied beadlocks ever show up all my clearance issues should be solved and I'll be replacing the clearanced TRE. You definitely need at most 4.5" of BS, 4" would probably be best.

[xj4rocks]

yeah Wes, turns out my wheels were 4" when I had originally told you I thought they were 4.75" whoops......

[XJRob]

I would like to do this conversion as well, however I would like to buy the TRE's locally so that I have a receipt to go along with the Lifetime Warranty on MOOG TREs. I just can't find tubing cheap locally and not liking the idea of the welded in bungs. If this setup is not the '85 FS Blazer, what is it from; better yet part #'s???
Thanks

[XJRob]

Should I be able to find it locally??

[Diesel]

I bought my Reamer (aka taper thingy) from Goodson's (http://www.goodsons.com) part number TR-216-2. It is from a 85 K5 blazer, so you could get the TREs from any parts store. The part numbers are ES 2234R, ES 2233L, ES 2027L, and ES 2026R. The TRE on the pitman arm is a high angle TRE, but I don't know which of the above part numbers are to which TREs. I have 4.5" back-spaced wheels and I didn't have any clearance issues.
Bryan

[xj4rocks]

Tim Shaker at http://www.shakerbuilt.com/ can build you threaded tubing that's heavy walled both links for about $150 shipped I think. He taps the tubing (not welded in inserts) He already has the XJ measurements too. You just have to buy the TRE's locally.

You have to re-taper both knuckles from the top, enlarge the pitman arm taper and then retaper the passenger side TRE that has the hole in it. It's facing the wrong direction and is too small.

As part of this swap you'll have to move your steering stab mount. and your sway bar mounts. I found that I can just barely make it lock to lock if I moved those things. It starts to hit the coil bucket right as you get to full lock. (at least on my axle)

here's pics from when I did mine conversion back last fall. I haven't moved my axle track bar mount yet. I don't really experience any bump steer at the moment so I probably won't move it. The angles are close enough that bumps don't translate that much into the steering wheel.

http://xj4rocks.dyndns.org/xj4rocks/tech/steering/