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WJ knuckle swap ??

truck7575

truck7575

NAXJA Forum User
Location
georgetown
I understand there are three different variants of hubs that have came on cherokees over the years and that if you use 1999.5 or later hubs that you need to use the JKS spacer. Can anyone tell me if either of the other two variants of the hubs would allow me to run without the spacer? I have older hubs and newer shafts and I dont want to have to go buy new hub bearings unless I absolutely have too.

Thanks
Rick
 
YOU NEED TO RUN THE SPACER!

99.5 + hubs with spacer is the only way to do it correctly
 
well i've been searching for it for about 10 minutes now but cant find it anywhere, maybe it was removed. but there was a thread titled "WJ knuckle conversion the CORRECT way"

it was quite a few pages of people arguing over if you needed the spacer or not, and the general consensus was yes, you need to run the spacer.

my setup: WJ rotors redrilled, WJ knuckles w/ the bigger calipers, JKS spacer, 99.5+ hubs
 
thats unfortunate because there was alot of good information in there in-between all the arguing.
 
truck7575 said:
so no stock hub will work without the spacer... period?
Click to expand...


The JKS spacer is to get the axle u-joints to line up with the ball joints. There is no way around this.

Using the different hubs only changes if you will have to space the brake calipers/rotors. That depends on which rotors you use though too.
 
I understand the reason for the JKS spacer, what I need to know is if I use an older hub what else will I have to do to make the setup work? Is it just that I will need to center it up in the caliper using a couple of washers between the caliper and the caliper mounting bracket? Is this safe to do?
 
YYes you will have to stack some washers in between the caliper bracket if you use different hubs. I would opt against that because you wont get the full engagement of the caliper bracket bolt and brakes aren't something you want to fail.
 
only problem with ebay is that if you dont get a name brand ( which are never cheap ) then you know know the quality of what parts you are getting. I ordered some from Advance Auto, with my discount I got them for $50 a piece with tax and new with 1 year warranty
 
Could anyone tell me if the Caliper bracket mounting bolts from the XJ will work in the WJ knuckle before I spend a bunch of time and PB rust busters trying to get them off?
 
no, they are not the same from what i remember. the WJ caliper uses a big 18 mm bolt

i'm pretty sure the XJ caliper uses 12mm or 1/2 or something like that
 
You have the have the correct cailper bolts (that SAFETY thing). Get the caliper bolt from the dealer. Only a couple of bucks each. Also get 4 washers that are 1/2" hole and aproximately 1/4" thick for spacing the caliper out the same thickness as the JKS spacer.
 
So I want to use my aftermarket tie rod ends for my XJ and the tie rod end holes are a lot smaller in the WJ knuckles, why is this? Are the Xj tie rod ends really that much beefier? Secondly, I was thinking about using tie rod flip inserts, the ones where you drill it out to 3/4 inch then tap in the insert, I seen them on goferit offroads site. These should work with the cherokee tie rod end right? Has anyone encountered this problem and how did you deal with it?
 
Everything I've heard was that the WJ & XJ steering parts were the same taper... Strange.
 
XJ/WJ TRE taper is the same. Flipserts should work, check TRE/wheel clearance to be sure.

With the 2000 unit bearings you shouldn't have to space anything as long as you use the WJ rotors (redrilled of course). Spacing issues come into play if you run the Sport trac rotors.

Hope that helps some.

-Destroyer
 
Yeah I am an idiot, I was trying to install the tie rod on top and of course it wouldnt go in since I havent drilled it out and used inserts yet and of course it fits fine win inserted from the bottom. Are the goferitoffroad ones the best? Anyone have any experience with any others?
 
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