steering for front leaf conversion

anyone know of a compleat kit or something close to it?

thanks

kliph said:

anyone know of a compleat kit or something close to it?

thanks

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who would ever want leaves in an XJ? that would be stupid... and pointless... Even better - who would want leaves in an MJ?

thanks for your input...

He was just messing with u.... i think haha

oh yea... and I'm 99% sure no one makes a kit. But i could be wrong. Let me know if u find one.

iv herd that MORE has a YJ set-up they can mod. so that it fits but..i think its a pretty penny to have it done so... but im still looking otherwise ill figure out my own way but im lazy

I would definitly consider converting to all coils. This is due to the tavel and durability that I get out of my front coils. I cant see any good coming out of having leaves in the front, but I know that people do it. I just cant see why. I have also been thinking of converting to air bag suspension. A hobo down the road told me that a bag of marshmellows also makes for a good soft tasty ride. This way, i'll never have to think about tieing down a cooler. If I get hungry, I'll simply get out of my jeep and take a bite. He said that I can fabricate a tupperware casing to keep the marshmellows water and mudproofed. If you get thirsty, simply keep some apple juice or beer in your windshield wiper fluid resovior. Do I have to think of everything? Man, some people.

yeah if your looking to do leaf conversion in the front its quite simple if you know how to use a torch and a welder and are willing to weld to your frame. i had a buddy do it and he got brackets and stuff to weld to the frame from a shop and had some leafs he took off a tj i think it was...when he got done he put the tires on; dropped it down and the i6 motor which is a heavy one dropped the front end down so far it was ready to be a low rider. he got pissed off and just put it back to stock even thought before that he had like an 9 inch lift on it. but i would probally guess your gonna need some helper leafs or something if you havent concidered the weight of the engine yet.

just sharing anothers experience though

but i would have to say it would be pretty sweet if you had leafs all around and were planning to have a huge lift.

93xjdriver said:

had some leafs he took off a tj i think it was...

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im 10000% sure your memory is wrong on that one...


yes i was jokeing about the leaves - trying to pull brettM in here

Steering would be completely custom because there arent many people running leaves in an XJ - and not many people = no kit to do it...

here is something to get you started:
http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/Steering/Steering_Index/SteeringIndex.htm

kliph said:

anyone know of a compleat kit or something close to it?

thanks

Click to expand...

Are you keeping the 30 up front? If so, you aren't going to find a steeting "kit" for use with front leaves. I assume you are looking for something different because your leaves are interfering with the tie rod/draglink??

Provide us with a little more info on exactly what's happening and we might be able to point in a better direction

-jm

im going to keep the 30 up front. i found a high steer set-up on rusty's but i dono if it will work...anyone got any ideas?

kliph said:

im going to keep the 30 up front. i found a high steer set-up on rusty's but i dono if it will work...anyone got any ideas?

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most people convert to leaves to make an axle swap easier and cheaper...

but i guess the steering would be the same custom stuff...

good luck finding flat tops for a d30 though...

might look at what the CJ/YJ guys are doing on Pirate with their d44's and d60's for ideas (and BrettM with the leaf sprung MJ)

though hi-steer arms - ....

At one point I had the oportunity to get a free 76 Blazer. All parts intact except the engine (Minor details). The axles were both fine. I thought of switching out the axles, transmission, transfer case, somehow onto my XJ. Old blazers have leaves all around. The only part that sucked about this is the fact that it was sitting up in syacuse NY and I didnt have a trailer to tow it. My daD donated it. Somone got a kick ass vehiel for cheap. The entire Blazer was fine, except for the engine.

What i'm getting at is, you can make this mod, but do you really want to? Im not you, but I would have never paid for that blazer, I only would have done it if it were free. There are many cool ways to spend a buck on an XJ.

Brian

Heres a few pics of mine, the leaf part is easy, steering is the hardest part, Im running a dana44 with high-steer arms, good luck with that 30. I believe there are a few setups that will work with the 30, Rustys will not, but I think M.O.R.E makes a kit, and you might could get away with using a WJ knuckle.

yeah, im pretty sure MORE has the parts i need, and with the purches on the 30 i can just make them, thats not a big deal. the steering is the only thing holding me back right now. And for those wondering, im doin this set-up because its so simple. with front leafs i dont have as much crap to deal with when lifting and on the trail so..for me its just the easy way out

Damn, you guys are so "Hard Core" on here anymore. Why bust balls if you don't truely have an answer. He was asking a good question. That Marshmallow deal... Ahhh... Ahhhhhh... that was so stupid!

Anyway, if your wantin some leaves up front, ditch the 30 and head for a 44 out of a wagoneer. Of course you want a drivers drop on the dif, unless your into some serious swappin'. I'm using the afformentioned Waggy front D-44. There are some over the knuckle drag link mounts on E-bay I've heard. I think M.O.R.E. has them as well. I have one, but was in a friends shop, don't know where it's from. I'm using the Waggy tie rod, which is still under the knuckle, but higher than the stock XJ coil set-up. I'm also going to run a fabbed track bar (that's right, track-bars with leaves help get rid of the old CJ wander), that is from a cherokee, cut down and sleeved. The drag link I think will also be from the Waggy.

The leaves are easier to set up on an MJ (which is what I'm doin' this on), than the XJ. The lower CA arm mount on the MJ is alot stronger. That's where the back of the leaf mounts too, the old lower CA arm mount. The front I'm using a 3" confer shackle attatched to a cut off main leaf eye from an XJ (leave about 3"s of leaf on there). Then I have a shim plate 1/4" under the cut main leaf, then attatch to the unibody frame with two grade 8.8's per side, and welded to 1/4" steel front bumper per side. I'll get some pics up soon.

I'm using 4" procomp leaves from a YJ up front and out back a backyard build a pack.

I'll get pics of steering and all soon. Steering is definitely the hardest part of the swap from coils to leaves.

WHY DO IT?... It's CHEAP... PROVEN... ,and STRONG

-well I picked up a free front waggy D-44, and bought a Waggy 20 (one piece axles, not the same as a CJ 20) for $76 bucks. Still lookin' for the Waggy 44 though, for the rear. Now I just need some lockers and some 4:88's.

-design is simple and flexes as well as most of your coil set-ups.

-Did I mention I get lock-out hubs and 6 lugs too. No expensive hub kits from a ford bronco II.

You all should play nice on here. we're not all hard core B.S.er's, this aint the Pirate board, thank God!!

Greddy

I truly don't see the benefit of front leaves just to keep the D30. Like was said before, I went to front leaves in order to make my D60 swap easier.

As far as steering goes, PSC makes a nice kit for the XJ:


Makes it so nice not to have a drag link or a steering box or pitman arm, etc...

Wait for the leaves until you have an axle to swap in at the same time.

Jay

lol im gonna end up getting the D44 and putting it on a yota...but who knows we will see later on down the line...thanks for the input everyone

I should tell you too, that this expertise comes from a good friend of mine. He has two Comanches that run leaves up front. I've seen one of them run off-road, and it works very well. He has the leaf swap down to a science. I'll get some pics.

Greddy