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Stock D30 OTK Steering

Kingkong0192

NAXJA Forum User
Location
New Milford, CT
What's the best way to do OTK steering on a stock XJ D30 axle?

I'm thinking about doing the JCR 1-Ton but I'm not positive yet.

I want the steering to remain tight and responsive. I'm pretty sure I want OTK but am looking at the under the knuckle 1 ton as well. Seems a lot easier. Is this even worth doing or should I do it up all at once?

I don't think I want the beefy currie setup either.
 
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I know your said stock D30, does this mean that you don't want to swap out your stock knuckles for WJ knuckles? Having run OTK on stock XJ D30 knuckles and using WJ knuckles, the WJ setup is FAR superior in both steering precision and improved braking. Win/win.
 
It's actually for a friends jeep. I don't think he wants to buy WJ knuckles and what have you.

Says he has death wobble and wants to just replace the steering and trackbar all together.

I'm pretty sure he's trying to keep it cheap and eliminate DW.
 
Jcr style will have tie rod roll (yeah you can do the spacer thing to bandaid it)
WJ isn’t cheap
Jb bracket won’t really be cheap either and I can’t find much info on XJs running it
Currie is a good setup but not cheap

I would suggest your friend just fix what’s broke.

I have been looking at steering upgrades myself and would love to find a used currie setup and use a goforit flip on the driver side. The JB conversions bracket also looks decent but I cant find many xj guys who run it.
 
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Drill& ream but he'll have some slight bump steer until he goes to an over the axle trackbar setup. If he's using the stock steering you'll drill driver's knuckle and use an incert.
 
OTK crap steering won't fix death wobble.

Replacing whatever is worn out will.

There aren't a ton of options for stock d30 that don't result in undesirable side-effects.

WJ is a good option if you are interested in a decent amount of fab-work to keep the drag link parallel and retain full turning radius

Currie is the best bolt-on option, and with a tapered insert for the driver side knuckle the tie-rod can be flipped.

Inverted T can be ok if you can keep the drag link relatively flat, but that is tough to do on an off-road rig. Once you get any angle on it, it will develop a dead spot and no stupid spacer is going to fix it.
 
WJ gets pricey. That $100 setup had the wrong unit bearings, and was all junk yard parts. To do it right, you need a new trackbar, trackbar bracket on the axle side, new tie rod, tierod ends (offset ones), new drag link. Then you have to worry about the brake calipers clearing your wheels. You can grind those, but then you've removed material from your calipers and it will still be close to the wheel. I got free knuckles, and I'm into the swap for about 500 bucks, and that's not counting going up to 17" wheels/tires (needed tires anyway). So in reality my free WJ knuckles will end up running me about $2000. :)
 
I just did the iron rock off road kit and so far I love it. I do plan on doing a wj swap by spring and ill wind up using some of the iron rock stuff to make it work.

Any mods done to his jeep?
 
WJ gets pricey. That $100 setup had the wrong unit bearings, and was all junk yard parts. To do it right, you need a new trackbar, trackbar bracket on the axle side, new tie rod, tierod ends (offset ones), new drag link. Then you have to worry about the brake calipers clearing your wheels. You can grind those, but then you've removed material from your calipers and it will still be close to the wheel. I got free knuckles, and I'm into the swap for about 500 bucks, and that's not counting going up to 17" wheels/tires (needed tires anyway). So in reality my free WJ knuckles will end up running me about $2000. :)

WJ can be done on 15" wheels if you do it right.
 
Like I said, grind calipers, wheel spacers, etc. Yes, it can be done, but it depends on the wheels, back space, etc. I would've had to grind my calipers to clear the 4" BS 15" wheels. Since I was getting new tires anyway, I just bit the bullet and bought them. I never did check to see if my offset TRE's would clear the 15" wheels. Ideally WJ should be 16" or 17" wheels.
 
TRE/wheel clearance view using 16x8 Jeep Moab wheels with a 1.25" billet adapter and offset TRE's

IMG_9722-2.jpg


Build thread
http://naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=913774&page=9
 
TRE/wheel clearance view using 16x8 Jeep Moab wheels with a 1.25" billet adapter and offset TRE's

Yup, the reason I went to bigger wheels. I'm still entitled to whine about it. :) What did you use for a trackbar joint at the axle end? I've got the JKS bracket to install but it's 1.625" inside and most heims are 2". Thinking I'll do a 7/8" heim using the rubicon bracket frameside and then I picked up a 1.625" bushing from poly performance. Will have to go to 9/16" bolts..
 
Don't do it.....I started out with a poly bushing at the axle end of the trackbar and quickly found there was too much play, so I swapped it out for a heim. I'm using the JKS axle bracket as well. Just run spacers on the axle heim, problem solv-ed.
 
Don't do it.....I started out with a poly bushing at the axle end of the trackbar and quickly found there was too much play, so I swapped it out for a heim. I'm using the JKS axle bracket as well. Just run spacers on the axle heim, problem solv-ed.

Looks like RK makes the correct spacers.

�RK03428 7/8 to 14MM Mis. Spacers 1.625 IN 14MM.

Looks like you're running a small RE joint at the frame side? I'm impressed with the RE joints, 6 years in my XJ and they were still tight when I pulled them out. Hmmm. 7/8 helms on both ends?
 
Yes, small RE joint at the trackbar frame end. Mine is still tight after 6+ years and 80k+ miles.
 
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