LTD MJ
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Columbus, IN
Made major unexpected progress today.
Gene stopped by just in time to see me starting to prep my WJ axles for surgery and we started playing with the idea of keeping the rear put together and running coils in the back. After a few measurements and a good pep talk, Gene sold me on the the idea of doing a coil setup. With a couple 24" control arms, some spring pads for the frame, and some custom frame mounts for the A-arm, I'll be in business for the rear. The shock brackets are already in the right place:
Now - we also decided that the 1 3/8 overall difference in width on the front coil perches vs the XJ's 36" coil spacing wasn't bad enough for the pain in the ass I was going to deal with relocating the WJ brackets.. so we gave it a shot and what do you know.. with a little of Gene's elbow grease and handy work, it was essentially a bolt in axle. Stock WJ control arms and all! In the pics it's sitting pretty tall due to the lack of about 600lbs of body and engine. We couldn't get a pic of this, but with both of our 220+ lb asses pushing down on the front end, the control arms level out nicely and the steering geometry will be great. It was really my lucky day!
I'll need to get an adjustable track bar and possibly shorten the drag link, but other than that.. I used the MJ coils (for now) which on top of the WJ coil perches sit about 3" higher (free lift kit!), stock WJ control arms and I'm sitting purdy!
That 1 3/8" overall spring difference isn't even noticeable (sorry for blurry pic):
nice stock WJ tube control arms:
notice the sway bar even lines up... Really couldn't have done it without Gene's help.. made life much easier!
Whoever said a WJ axle isn't a direct bolt in to an XJ/MJ obv never tried. Can't tell you the number of times I've read that online... posers. I recommend if you want to build a bit wider rig on 31s to 33s.. run out and buy the WJ d30 before others catch on that it is in fact a bolt in with little work.. then you can do rear 1.5" spacers/adapters to match up the width and be able to run all the cooler newer WJ, JK, Commander etc 5x5 rims! JK 18's are for sale all day on CL for 500-600 bucks! :nono:
SHITCHYA!
Gene stopped by just in time to see me starting to prep my WJ axles for surgery and we started playing with the idea of keeping the rear put together and running coils in the back. After a few measurements and a good pep talk, Gene sold me on the the idea of doing a coil setup. With a couple 24" control arms, some spring pads for the frame, and some custom frame mounts for the A-arm, I'll be in business for the rear. The shock brackets are already in the right place:
Now - we also decided that the 1 3/8 overall difference in width on the front coil perches vs the XJ's 36" coil spacing wasn't bad enough for the pain in the ass I was going to deal with relocating the WJ brackets.. so we gave it a shot and what do you know.. with a little of Gene's elbow grease and handy work, it was essentially a bolt in axle. Stock WJ control arms and all! In the pics it's sitting pretty tall due to the lack of about 600lbs of body and engine. We couldn't get a pic of this, but with both of our 220+ lb asses pushing down on the front end, the control arms level out nicely and the steering geometry will be great. It was really my lucky day!
I'll need to get an adjustable track bar and possibly shorten the drag link, but other than that.. I used the MJ coils (for now) which on top of the WJ coil perches sit about 3" higher (free lift kit!), stock WJ control arms and I'm sitting purdy!
That 1 3/8" overall spring difference isn't even noticeable (sorry for blurry pic):
nice stock WJ tube control arms:
notice the sway bar even lines up... Really couldn't have done it without Gene's help.. made life much easier!
Whoever said a WJ axle isn't a direct bolt in to an XJ/MJ obv never tried. Can't tell you the number of times I've read that online... posers. I recommend if you want to build a bit wider rig on 31s to 33s.. run out and buy the WJ d30 before others catch on that it is in fact a bolt in with little work.. then you can do rear 1.5" spacers/adapters to match up the width and be able to run all the cooler newer WJ, JK, Commander etc 5x5 rims! JK 18's are for sale all day on CL for 500-600 bucks! :nono:
SHITCHYA!