JKS over axle track bar bracket

[1990JEEPXJ]

i was just stating that was what someone mentioned. not that it was absolutely necessary when using them.

 

[ericfx1984]

You can't double shear a TRE.

you can always take the TRE off and install a rubber or a heim

but what if you turned the TRE 90 degrees and mounted it that way??

 

[sunburned]

Wow, I think a few of you guys have no idea what you're talking about with all these random questions. Please just sit back and watch the convo instead of confusing everyone while trying to join in.


Well as far as the comparison goes: I'm looking at the Ballistic Fab steering kit which is $260 for all the heims, adapters, misalignment spacers and DOM. It uses 3/4" bolts in the knuckles and pitman arm, which are pretty damn strong. Gonna put hydro assist on it, which will take a lot of stress off the drag link, so running a single shear pitman arm heim won't be too bad after all.

I currently have the Currie steering setup. It uses solid bar and big beefy TRE's, but they have the stock taper. I've never seen anyone break these, but I did see a dude break a big beefy Teraflex TRE, which is pretty much the same design with stock taper. Since these are proprietary, I'm not going to find these at any parts store and they cost a bloody fortune from Currie to replace.

As little as I drive mine on the road anymore other than in the snow or long trips to wheeling spots, I doubt I'll wear out the heims anytime soon. Plus, I've never worried much about 'street legal' with my vehicles (loud catless mustangs, lowered cars, lifted jeep, etc) so why worry about it now?

 

[1990JEEPXJ]

Well as far as the comparison goes: I'm looking at the Ballistic Fab steering kit which is $260 for all the heims, adapters, misalignment spacers and DOM. It uses 3/4" bolts in the knuckles and pitman arm, which are pretty damn strong. Gonna put hydro assist on it, which will take a lot of stress off the drag link, so running a single shear pitman arm heim won't be too bad after all.

thats the kit i bought. and im not running hydro assist obviously. i DD mine and it has worked great. heims are still quiet and tight. but i did have to clearance the JKS bracket a tiny bit on the passenger side edge because my draglink would rub it slightly when turning full lock to the passenger side. you can sort of see the rounded egde in the picture i posted earlier in the thread. not saying it will be an issue for all, but it may occur depending on your set up.

 

[Lowrange2]

I ran the JKS bracket for almost 4 years so far. Never one problem.

 

[94xjstud]

I used the ballistics 3/4 steering kit on mine and it worked great

First I used it with the OTA mount from Rusty's offroad

But due to some bad welding on my part and how it mounted it broke so I went with a ballistic mounts instead which I liked alot better.

 

[sunburned]

You guys have any issues with the tie rod hitting the diff cover? I have a ruff stuff cover and I'm kinda worried I might have to clearance it a bit. Oh well, mod mod mod.

And yeah, I think since my axle is pushed forward 1-2", the drag link will probably hit stuff lol.

 

[xcm]

if the tie rod is straight, it'll hit the diff cover for sure, ESPECIALLY on a ruffstuff...

 

[sunburned]

Guess I just break out the cut-off wheel and welder again lol.

 

[Dustys]

Revival of old thread!

To the one who asked about tierod hitting the diff cover if you use an offset TRE it won't.
I have WJ knuckles and ordered these off set TRE's from RuffStuff. They were $36
http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/TREOFF.html

 

[whitexj98]

Revival of old thread!

To the one who asked about tierod hitting the diff cover if you use an offset TRE it won't.
I have WJ knuckles and ordered these off set TRE's from RuffStuff. They were $36
http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/TREOFF.html

Have you installed them yet? Depending on backspacing of wheels they may or may not clear the rims.

 

[XJEEPER]

I've installed a few and always add a gusset at a Right Angle from the backside of the bracket to the axle tube.

What Frank said.

 

[sunburned]

Since this thread was revived, might as well throw in my updates!

I installed a Ballistic truss and the JKS bracket at the same time in preperation for OTK steering. Everything integrated well and I added gussets all over the place. Also integrated the truss into my 3-link upper mount for lots of strength.

After this, I installed the ruffstuff 7/8" heim steering kit but forgot to take pictures. Basically I ran the tie rod from knuckle to knuckle, then ran the drag link from pitman arm to tabs on the top of the tie rod. I didn't want to double stack the heims on top of the knuckle because I didn't really have time or capability at the moment to add a tab on the knuckle.

To make sure the tie rod didn't hit my Ruff Stuff diff cover, I cut a huge chunk out of the top corner and plated over it. There is almost an inch of space between the diff cover and ring gear, so this wasn't an issue.

Of course, the tie rod ended up hitting both coil buckets pretty hard and limits my steering a lot. The only way to fix this problem is to cut off the stock coil mounts on the axle and weld on new ones that are centered over the axle, which would also require a new track bar bracket other than JKS. Just running the steering as is since I'm trying to sell the Jeep now anyway.

 

[brianglawson]

you guys running the JKS bracket, did you drill the holes out for larger bolts? that looks like much larger than stock hardware

 

[1990JEEPXJ]

It's 1/2" hardware. Which is what most aftermarket trackbars use, or at least they should.

 

[sunburned]

Yes, I'm thinking that's a 9/16" bolt on the axle side of my track bar, but I can't exactly remember. I do remember drilling out the whole bigger though.

 

[CartsXJ]

Here's a couple of pics of my Dana 30 rebuild. WJ, knuckles, truss, JKS T/B mount, RUffstuff TRE steering and 3/4" hiems on the trackbar. Only thing I has to do was machine down the high angle spacers to fit the spacing of the JKS mount.

Stock spacers

Machined down to fit, sorry miss the picture of them mounted up.

 

[sunburned]

My tie rod hits the buckets way before full lock. How does yours not interfere?

 

[Vanimal]

Machined down to fit, sorry miss the picture of them mounted up.

a little hardinge chucker, or a clone?

 

[1990JEEPXJ]

My tie rod hits the buckets way before full lock. How does yours not interfere?

He uses tie rod ends that are offset. Not heims