WJ Vs. Teraflex knuckles & Vanco brakes?

[XJ_ranger]

I enjoy my dedenbear d44 knuckles ...

Phil likes his tera knuckle, but doesnt like his stock brakes...

Ive had good luck with all the teraflex items ive purchased (quality wise - not shipping)...

Ive heard good things about the vanco...

 

[cal]

I haven't seen a vanco kit fail in at least two days!

Interesting kit, but twice now I've seen a caliper fail. If you buy one, get some quailty calipers from a third party.

I have to say that while I was there in person for the 'second' failure, I can't find any evidence of the first one, anywhere.

VanCo actually tracked me down today and asked about it - as he had never heard of a prior one and wanted to make sure all was right.

A Fn' + for good service.

 

[JNickel101]

I already answered his question in my first post and high lighted that in bold typing.

No dude, I wasnt talking about you! I was talking about everyone else who's asking you (and me) questions! :cheers:

Anyway, my .02, I've got a S.American XJ D44 sitting at home thats gonna go up front in my Jeep. I also have a WJ axle that I was going to take the knuckles and brake calipers from and do that swap. The Tera knuckle is nice, but you still use your stock calipers...and I got the whole axle for about the price of a Tera knuckle, so....

I thought about doing the Warn Hub swap, but now, these "new" knuckles have me rethinking my plan. Maybe I'm wrong, but for the price of a Warn Hub conversion, I could get these other knuckles and then go get some hubs and brakes from a pre 1987 Jeep. Still trying to figure out which ones and the strength differences here. Was trying to find out via this thread, but got flamed for not saying I was going to use the high steer arms. Yeah, I know they're there...but so are the stock arms. My main reason for wanting these "new" knuckles is that the hub conversion seems like it would be more cost effective, but I dunno...

 

[Root Moose]

I have the Warn 5.5" kit on my WJ knuckles. I'm pretty certain that going with the Reider knuckle would be cheaper.

I'm not sure which old style hub/spindle assembly I'd use. For 5 on 5.5" there is Jeep, Ford 1/2 ton and IH Scout. The Ford is the strongest but sticks out way far. The other two I'm not certain - may be a wash in spite of the bad ju-ju surrounding the Scout hubs (plus I have some NIB Warn Premiums in the shop...).

How did you acquire your SA D44? Is it a HP D44 center on 30 outers? Cost? Might be an interesting option for the next build.

Btw, does anyone know who makes the knuckle for Reider? Is it a Dedenbear peice?

 

[JNickel101]

I stole it from Hugo Chavez himself. Rat bastard.

Yes, its basically a Rubicon front 44, but High Pinion. I paid quite a bit for it, but its rare, cool, and a great conversation piece. And after being here (sandbox) for a year, I figured I'd treat myself.

Are the Jeep 5-5.5" hubs only 19 spline? Or is that the Fords? The website for those knuckles mentions Chevy hubs too...?

 

[Root Moose]

Not certain about the hub spline counts. I do know that the Warn hub kit is 29 or 30 - something like that.

Warn has a box of parts to upgrade everything but at that point ...

Need to look at Mr Ns page I guess.

As for the SA D44 - I'd run that in a second if I could get my hands on one. The 30 outers don't bother me in the slightest.

 

[karstic]

I have to say that while I was there in person for the 'second' failure, I can't find any evidence of the first one, anywhere.

VanCo actually tracked me down today and asked about it - as he had never heard of a prior one and wanted to make sure all was right.

A Fn' + for good service.

I'll be stopping by Vanco in the morning to see if we can figure out what went wrong.

 

[karstic]

Vanco because with a WJ conversion you won't get customer service.

Vanco just replaced a caliper and set of pads, basically no questions asked.

 

[hot_rod_hooligans]

After some helpful information from mrblaine over at JF in the TJ forum, I am trying to get a quote from Solid for a HP version of their "Stronger than Rubicon axles" D44, with D30 inner knuckles, as for the rest:

"If I were you and I just did this, put on the Vanco brakes, get the Currie steering and flip the driver's side to the top of the steering arm. You'll have to relocate the swaybar link mount 1" higher, but that's easy. Puts the tie rod above the top of the axle tube and any more than that is a waste because of the other issues it causes."

 

[XJCreeper]

I picked up a Teraflex knuckle and am happy with it. I upgraded the rear brakes with the Teraflex rear disk brake kit and the braking for me is decent all around. I got the offset Teraflex TRE's and had some tubes fab'd. With the Teraflex knuckle you have to use the Teraflex TRE's or they will not seat right to flex. Here's a pick of my setup:

To get it installed I had to raise up the sway bar link: