WJ steering, knuckles, breaks, and rim size

I need new brakes on my 87 comanche. but I'd also like to swap in the WJ steerying system and 16" discs.


that's straightforward enough...I know what I need parts-wise for it. brakes, calipers, rotors, hubs, knuckles, tie rod, drag-link.


BUT the one thing I'm having trouble figuring out is what to do about having a larger disc. can I retain my 15" rims or must I go up to 16" rims on this?

I'm guessing the latter, unless I were to have minimal backspacing.

my tires are 15x7 american racing steelies and I don't know/don't care what the backspacing is.

can anyone enlighten me?

BTW I searched so don't preach about that please.

If you don't know, you probably need to go to 16's. I run 16" Champion beadlocks, prior to that I ran 16" American Racing alloy wheels - and I have about a half inch clearance to my WJ calipers.

Some 15 steel wheels with 3.75" backspacing will just slide over the WJ calipers, but if you "don't know/care what the backspacing is" you should count on new wheels.

I have cragar soft 8s.

15x8 with 4" of BS and they barely clear my Teeves calipers. I don't know if I'd clear Akebonos without grinding them down.

Mine:
15x8 alloys with 3.25" B.S. running Akebono Calipers and Teraflex Off-set TRE's on the OTK tie-rod.

cal said:

If you don't know, you probably need to go to 16's. I run 16" Champion beadlocks, prior to that I ran 16" American Racing alloy wheels - and I have about a half inch clearance to my WJ calipers.

Some 15 steel wheels with 3.75" backspacing will just slide over the WJ calipers, but if you "don't know/care what the backspacing is" you should count on new wheels.

Click to expand...

yeah. I have no problem getting new wheels. shoulda posted that.


the wheels/tires can be used on my brother's cherokee. I'm probably best off just going to 16's since I also need new tires. mine are pretty much worthless. did OK in the mud today, but probably helped in causing severe trans overheating...I just lost some function in 1st gear so we will see if a trans flush and lucas trans fluid helps for now. I've got 3 spare aw4 transmissions for it so no biggy.


Anyways, you guys think it's just easier to run 16" rims? I've got a line on a wrecked (rear) WJ with 25k miles and can get the whole axle for $75 w/o ring and pinion. It was religiously greased and the brakes are fresh within 1k miles so I am not going to be adding performance calipers, rotors, or offset TRE's to make it work.

jeepcomj said:

yeah. so I am not going to be adding performance calipers, rotors, or offset TRE's to make it work.

Click to expand...

huh?

You have to add either offset TRE's or the stock WJ TRE's (but with a new tie rod like JKS) to make it work. Otherwise you'll have clearance issues. Can't use stock tie rod cause it's too long.

um.

there is NO way that the track bar has anything to do with the steering components.

do you mean drag-link? I will be using everything from the WJ.


besides, the track bar is already an RE since the truck is 6.5" up in the air...as my signature says.

jeepcomj said:

um.

there is NO way that the track bar has anything to do with the steering components.

do you mean drag-link? I will be using everything from the WJ.


besides, the track bar is already an RE since the truck is 6.5" up in the air...as my signature says.

Click to expand...

OOPS. No idea why I typed trackbar, meant to type tie rod.

lol. okay.

then why is a stock WJ tie rod too long? they are the same width wheel base are they not?

jeepcomj said:

lol. okay.

then why is a stock WJ tie rod too long? they are the same width wheel base are they not?

Click to expand...

Never actually tried it myself, but heard NUMEROUS times that the stock tie rod is too long.
Do some searching and I'm sure you'll find it.

Otherwise maybe someone else will chime in.

lol.

I have hex stock to make tie rod out of so no biggy