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V8 zj tie rod on the drag link?

Demonoid369

Demonoid369

NAXJA Forum User
NAXJA Member
Location
Salem, OR
the other day I was doing a alignment on my xj and noticed that the drag link connecting to the pitman arm had the same size shaft as my zj tie rod. I know the stock tie rod on the pitman is kinda dinky, was wondering if anyone has tried swapping it out to a zj tie rod with the zj sleeve? Would it work? Would the pitman need to be drilled out?
 
You would be better off just getting the complete V-8 ZJ tierod and draglink assembly and change it out. It will work with your stock pitman arm and knuckles. The joints and bars are much heavier duty, but fit in the same size holes and have the same taper...
 
The V8 ZJ drag link is the same material and TRE style as the stock XJ drag link, but has slightly different geometry to it (IIRC the steering damper mount point is twisted a bit on the ZJ one). Only the V8 ZJ tie rod is an upgrade, and will result in the same TRE being used at both the pitman arm and driver side knuckle.

V8 ZJ tie rod + XJ drag link FTW.
 
The V-8 ZJ tierod and draglink are completely beefier than the XJ setup in every way. It doesn't even have the same shape, just has the same basic layout.
 
Not 100% true. The zj draglink is only an upgrade for older cherokees. I don't know what year it changed but my 99 has the same draglink as a zj.

edit: as pointed out right above your post
 
anthrax323 said:
The V8 ZJ drag link is the same material and TRE style as the stock XJ drag link, but has slightly different geometry to it (IIRC the steering damper mount point is twisted a bit on the ZJ one). Only the V8 ZJ tie rod is an upgrade, and will result in the same TRE being used at both the pitman arm and driver side knuckle.

V8 ZJ tie rod + XJ drag link FTW.
Click to expand...

Its early for me and I'm on my first cup of coffee, so you are saying if I used the adjustment sleeve on the v8 tie rod, I should be able to mount the v8 tie rod end to the dragline and pitman arm?
 
IdahoEagle said:
You would be better off just getting the complete V-8 ZJ tierod and draglink assembly and change it out. It will work with your stock pitman arm and knuckles. The joints and bars are much heavier duty, but fit in the same size holes and have the same taper...
Click to expand...

Mines a 97' and looking at zj, mines just bent a little different like others has mention, I already have the v8 zj tie rod connecting to my driver knuckle, my question is the tie rod end, can I use it on the drag link that goes to the pitman arm? I'm just wondering if you can upgrade the tie rod end on the pitman arm.
 
Excuse my crappy drei g skills but this pic should explain what I mean

taduby6y.jpg
 
The XJ and ZJ TRE at the pitman arm are already the same.

Edit: And the joint at the pitman should have more misalignment than the joint at the driver side knuckle.

Regardless, the ZJ tie rod should be upgraded to DOM before I'd consider the tire rods to be the weak point and worth trying to upgrade anyway.
 
Last edited:
The stock xj drag link is the same as the zj. So are the tie rod ends. Same part numbers the upgrade is the TIEROD ( the shaft that connects the drivers side knuckle to the drag link. The stock xj tierod is tubing and has flex and may bend with bigger tires or off-road abuse. The zj tierod is solid stock, much stronger and also has a slight bend which gives better clearance for aftermarket diff covers. I noticed a huge difference in steering performance and response. I just went on rockauto and ordered everything draglink tres and adjustment collars. Was almost half the cost of my local parts stores
 
Demonoid369 said:
I dont see why this wouldnt be a cheap strength upgrade for the stock steering set up.
Click to expand...

What's the point? You're trying to upgrade a part that isn't the problem, and if it is, your upgrade won't fix it anyway. People don't break that TRE (or the one at the knuckle), they bend the tie rod itself. OR, they need more travel than a TRE can provide and need to go to something else entirely anyway.
 
dcampbell98XJ said:
The stock xj drag link is the same as the zj. So are the tie rod ends. Same part numbers the upgrade is the TIEROD ( the shaft that connects the drivers side knuckle to the drag link. The stock xj tierod is tubing and has flex and may bend with bigger tires or off-road abuse. The zj tierod is solid stock, much stronger and also has a slight bend which gives better clearance for aftermarket diff covers. I noticed a huge difference in steering performance and response. I just went on rockauto and ordered everything draglink tres and adjustment collars. Was almost half the cost of my local parts stores
Click to expand...
you didnt read my posts did you :rolleyes:
donthelegend said:
What's the point? You're trying to upgrade a part that isn't the problem, and if it is, your upgrade won't fix it anyway. People don't break that TRE (or the one at the knuckle), they bend the tie rod itself. OR, they need more travel than a TRE can provide and need to go to something else entirely anyway.
Click to expand...
the point is a cheap upgrade in strength if possible lol the thicker zj one i would imagine to hold up longer and not wear out as quick a a smaller one and be able to hold up better to bigger tires and pressure to avoid things like tie rod roll or death wobble
 
Just went back and looked at part numbers again. What you are talking about trying to do is actually the stock configuration.

The ZJ uses p/n ES3096L at the pitman and driver side knuckle.
The XJ uses p/n ES3096L at the pitman, and ES3094L at the driver side knuckle..

Looks like misalignment is not an issue for these TREs, but I know that when you go to 1 ton TREs there is a specific TRE for use at the pitman.
 
donthelegend said:
Just went back and looked at part numbers again. What you are talking about trying to do is actually the stock configuration.

The ZJ uses p/n ES3096L at the pitman and driver side knuckle.
The XJ uses p/n ES3096L at the pitman, and ES3094L at the driver side knuckle..

Looks like misalignment is not an issue for these TREs, but I know that when you go to 1 ton TREs there is a specific TRE for use at the pitman.
Click to expand...

Is that for the v8 version or 4.0l? The 4.0l zj had the exact tie rod as our xj did. Only the v8 were different
 
Demonoid369 said:
Is that for the v8 version or 4.0l? The 4.0l zj had the exact tie rod as our xj did. Only the v8 were different
Click to expand...

I'm aware that the difference in tie rod is only on the V8 ZJ.

The part numbers I looked up were for a V8 ZJ. That part number (ES3096L) was also used on XJs, MJs, and TJs. The interchange doesn't list specific locations, but considering the fact that we know the part number at the knuckle is different, the only other possible place for that TRE is at the pitman. Which actually makes a lot of sense when you think about it since the factory setup uses an adjuster sleeve on the drag link, which also is the same part number as the ZJ setup.

This is all per RockAuto's catalog, if you don't believe me go look the part numbers up yourself.
 
donthelegend said:
I'm aware that the difference in tie rod is only on the V8 ZJ.

The part numbers I looked up were for a V8 ZJ. That part number (ES3096L) was also used on XJs, MJs, and TJs. The interchange doesn't list specific locations, but considering the fact that we know the part number at the knuckle is different, the only other possible place for that TRE is at the pitman. Which actually makes a lot of sense when you think about it since the factory setup uses an adjuster sleeve on the drag link, which also is the same part number as the ZJ setup.

This is all per RockAuto's catalog, if you don't believe me go look the part numbers up yourself.
Click to expand...

No worries, I believe ya I just was covering all bases. Hmm makes me wonder then if maybe mine got switch out to the smaller one on accident(or on purpose) then because I know my zj tie rod end is bigger than the one on my pitman arm.
 
The V8 ZJ drag link and tie rod ends have larger threads. I have both right here. ZJ drag link on the left, XJ drag link on the right. Obviously you can not use them interchangeably with the TRE sleeves.

V8 ZJ Drag Link - DS1310
XJ Drag Link - DS1238

normal_image~170.jpg


normal_image~171.jpg
 
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