• Welcome to the new NAXJA Forum! If your password does not work, please use "Forgot your password?" link on the log-in page. Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] if we can provide any assistance.

Crossover Steering Done [pics]

freerider15

NAXJA Forum User
Location
FoCo, Crawlorado
Well I had been comtemplating doing this for a while, and finally got off my arse and got it done since the funds were finally available. i would REALLY like to thank Chris Lasater, as he did all the welding and a good deal of fabbing with me to get this on. Now to the tech stuff. I used The Teraflex Highsteer Knuckle, a real easy swap onto the Jeep. The Tubing is 1.5" x .25" DOM as well as its Inserts and Jamnuts from PSC. The TRE's are ZJ rod ends, decided NOT to go with heims for steetable, DD reasons. I originally had it OTK, but I lost too much turning radius (hitting stuff, like the coils), so I just ran it back UTK. The Trackbar Over Axle Bracket is from Kevinsoffroad.com. A bit of modifying was need to be done on the OAB to get it to work, some of the bend needed to be taken out, another notch put in it, and some of the side cut off, but it works great. We shortened up the tracbar, and it steers like a dream. If there IS any bumpsteer to it, I can't notice it. I drives and handles better than EVER, and rides smooth "like it was on rails." If you look really hard yes I have already put a LITTLE bend to it, got really hard on it playing on the leftover Comp. course at the Southern Colorado Expo. The only real pain about the setup was that I am having to run it UTK, but oh well, its not a stock Tie rod anymore! HTe other is that all the TRE's are left hand threaded, kind of making it a PITA to adjust things. I chose this setup for certain reasons after having looked at alot of aftermarket systems. I liked phatjeeps setup, but it has heims, and a full flex the trackbar likes to hit the Tie rod. Alot of the other setups out there just used peices that bolted onto the stock knuckles, and would pretty much only accomodate 6" of lift. Here are some pics to show the setup:

Stock steering before everything:


Parts of Steering:













Playing around with the Setup:






Just one of the Jeep...


Parts/Price list:
*Tera Knuckle (used) - $250 ($16.00 shipping), $300 New
*Tubing, 9', LHT Inserts, and Jamnuts - $125.11 + $9.82 tax
*ZJ MOOG TRE's- 4 x $32.925 = $143.70 (CO sales tax included)
*Fabbing - $50 (still owe Chris $5 :laugh3: )
*Go-Fer-It flips (OTK setup), NOT needed in my case - $40.00 shipped
*JKS OAB $49.95 shipped to my door

Grand Total: $684.58

I know its too $$$ for some, and some will say go with pre-built setups. By all means I encourage looking, as DJ (91 Jeep Project) and I discussed this for a long time, as well as me reading about steering setups nearly everynight before i went this route.

Oh, and if you gonna reply about "polishing the turd," save it, and go somewhere else please. I don't have the $$, time, or fab ability for a 44 front, I'm 18 and work at Target so as you can imagine. That and im leaving for school in Cali in not so long... so time is not plentiful.
 
I'll keep my turd polishing comments to myself... but howcome you didn't do the over the knuckle conversion for the tie-rod? It really helps to have it up out of the way of things.
 
I have not heard about that problem with the OTK before. Were you using a RHD centre link to do it or were you using straight tube? I'm to do mine and have already ordered all the parts so you have me worried now.
 
Never had any problems hitting the coils when I did over the knuckle on my old D30. Some of the guys have had that problem with hysteer on a D44, but never heard that on a D30.

Ditto...........a lot of work and expense to still have the tie rod sit that low.
 
91 Jeep Project said:
I'm just givin' him some shit Richard. I'm the one that put this crazy idea in his head in the first place. You could consider me the brains behind this little endeavor. Justin was the investor and Chris did all the dirty work............. :laugh3:

Ahhh........I thought someone was just being a smart ass like me.

:D :D
 
91 Jeep Project said:
:roflmao:................well I was, Justin just would have been the only one to pick up on it.............:D

So, did you come up with the under knuckle tie rod idea? :gag:


:wave:

:laugh3:
 
Ahh... maybe I should read the whole post before I comment in the future... (duh).

Anyway, I would try whatever you can to get that tie-rod back up there... what's your caster like if the tie-rod is hitting the coils on full steering lock? I only say this because I've seen a few setups almost exactly like yours with an OTK tie-rod and no clearance issues there, so I know it can be done...

I can't say whether or not the steering arms on the knuckles on my D44 stick out further than yours (they must, but I haven't measured and compared to a D30), but I'm running stock wagoneer steering OTK with no clearance issues at all, that may just be because of longer steering arms on the knuckles.

Other than that little thing, I like the setup. That Tera knuckle and the add-on trackbar bracket look like they make things a cinch to perform this type of steering... much safer than some booty-fab pieces welded onto the pass. knuckle like I've seen before... that's frickin' scary. :)
 
Last edited:
freerider15 said:
The tube's width creates problems mounting it OTK...as I had it mounted OTK when I first did it...


I feel ya on that one. My inverted T setup is made of 1.5" .25" wall DOM and is mounted over knuckle. But I had to gring my spring cups WAY down so the tubing wouldnt hit it at full lock. Despite my best efforts I think it still just barly touches at lock.
 
1000 points to you for being pre-college with a sweet late model xj.
mine salutes you
IMG_0109.jpg


oh, and nice job on the steering too
 
Goatman said:
Never had any problems hitting the coils when I did over the knuckle on my old D30. Some of the guys have had that problem with hysteer on a D44, but never heard that on a D30.

Ditto...........a lot of work and expense to still have the tie rod sit that low.

Thanks mate, that makes me feel a lot better ;)
 
Back
Top