YJ dana 30 knuckles on XJ dana 30

My XJ is gonna be at 3.5 inches all the way around, and I dont' like the inverted Y setup, and I've heard people blast rusty's conversion. anyway I'm wondering the compatibility of swapping YJ knuckles and the YJ steering compononets over to my XJ. I want to know if anyone has done this, and if it's a good idea or bad idea. I wouldn't plan on keeping this setup beyond the height I'm at now, but I'll be at this height for a while.

Thanks ahead of time.

I don't think the knuckles make a difference, just swap out the steering linkage.


Dan

Have you swapped out the steering linkage? or has anyone?

the knuckles are absolutely the same. with YJ type steering, you might have clearance problems with trackbar bracket on the axle and swaybar mount on pass. side.

you can try it. others have before, it was not an improvement over stock. There is a reason all the coil sprung jeeps came with the inverted Y. I ran the rustys steering genII like the YJ setup (tie rod in front) I had to turn the str wheel about 100 deg to get the thing to make a left (maybe it was right) turn.

100 Degrees??? Really??? Wow that is alot...JK. Think about what you are writing before you post. If my jeep could crank from straight to one side or the other in 100 Degrees that would be some crazy steering box ratio. Are you saying from where your steering wheel is straight cut to one side or the other? That woudl make a difference if you did not adjust your drag link so you wheel is straight when the wheels are... Get some hard facts with pics to proove or show and example of what you are saying for us confused people.

How can you not see improvements over the inverted Y? Not only does the rusty's kit always keep it "constantly aligned" (inverted Y changes through the suspension cycle or with sag over time), but it also allows for increased droop with less binding/wear. Also, if you ever change your axle side track bar mount location it is easier to fab the drag link to the same angle (both "should" be parallel for the least bump steer). The only thing I have seen negative is the stabilizer needs to be slightly changed for clearance, but the kit is other wise fine. I plan on trying the YJ conversion also in addition to the Rusty kit out of curiosity (and I have the parts kicking around).

HEEPJEEP said:

100 Degrees??? Really??? Wow that is alot...JK. Think about what you are writing before you post. If my jeep could crank from straight to one side or the other in 100 Degrees that would be some crazy steering box ratio. Are you saying from where your steering wheel is straight cut to one side or the other? That woudl make a difference if you did not adjust your drag link so you wheel is straight when the wheels are... Get some hard facts with pics to proove or show and example of what you are saying for us confused people.

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I totally understand what was said. The way I read it, he had to turn the wheel almost 100 deg. before the vehicle would react and start to make the desired turn. So thus it implys there are some issues with getting the steering correctly setup so it works nicely. I dunno, does that make any more sense?

railroadjeep said:

I totally understand what was said. The way I read it, he had to turn the wheel almost 100 deg. before the vehicle would react and start to make the desired turn. So thus it implys there are some issues with getting the steering correctly setup so it works nicely. I dunno, does that make any more sense?

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yepper, because of the TRE placement the steering linkage would roll so much that you would continue to g straight with the wheel turned at least 70-90 degrees.

Solid proof? Pics? My name alone should be enough, round these parts they call me "the godfather" :anon:

You must have had something majorly wrong or different from what we are talking then. Maybe you have some severly worn TRE's so they were essentially "rolling" beyond the original spec movement, a sloppy steering box, or "u-joints" in the steering shaft. All of the minor slop in these eventually add up to alot. I have also found on some larger XJ/MJ's that the frame deflects enough to show considerable amounts of steering play if the box is not braced. My YJ is about 9" lift SOA in the front (extreme drag link angle) and I don't get remotely even close to that much steering play. Also, the rusty's set up I have has tabs over the top of the tie rod the drag link attaches too so they are al in line and do not creat a torsional affect on the tie rod. Majo's jeep is only going to be 3.5" too so there would be a minimal drag link angle compared to what you have.

From when I first read your post it sounded you meant lock to lock because I consider a left turn or right turn to the stops. If you had had to begin to steer or something I would not have been mistaken, my bad.

I know my share of mechanical info, especially jeeps (built CJ2A's, CJ3B, willy's pickup, MJ, XJ's, YJ, CJ's, and working on collecting for my buggy). I have done high steer, corss over on a D44, over the knuckle on my MJ, and working on my D60 high steer arms with hydro to clear my hummer bead locks on the YJ so I have had some deallings with steering components. From what I have tried/experienced I feel that with his setup it should have no ill affects, only the positive ones and if he doesn't like it he can always slap his old set up back on (bleck...to inverted Y).

cherokeekid how high are you...err I mean the XJ. I heard that that rolling the draglink would only come into play if you are sitting higher up say like 5+ or 6 inches. I've seen one or two picks of people that extend the mount by welding tabs on the tie rod and attaching draglink there, wondering if you did same.

Majo said:

My XJ is gonna be at 3.5 inches all the way around, and I dont' like the inverted Y setup, and I've heard people blast rusty's conversion. anyway I'm wondering the compatibility of swapping YJ knuckles and the YJ steering compononets over to my XJ. I want to know if anyone has done this, and if it's a good idea or bad idea. I wouldn't plan on keeping this setup beyond the height I'm at now, but I'll be at this height for a while.

Thanks ahead of time.

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if you dont mind me asking what do you have against the intverted Y set-up? at 3.5" it is hardly a problem. even at 6" it is not really a major problem. most problems come into play with the actual strength of the steering rods. upgrading to a zjV8 tie rod and drag link combo is a good alternative to over paying for HD tie rods, i think the combo runs 100 bucks at napa.

if you want to swap knuckles you might as well go cj knuckles, but again its not really worth the expense incurred.
http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/Hybrid_Axle/HybridAxle.htm

Hunter

I pretzled my tie rod about 2 weeks ago on some ice(not that bad but bent none the less), and rebent it for the road ... so it's toast to start. I started looking into the ZJ tie rod replacement. The YJ stuff would be free though, so just trying to pursue and follow up any problems with the YJ stuff, as free is nice.

I'll check out ur link at pirate here in justa sec.

I was around 6" at the time with a braced steering box on a fairly new and fresh XJ. the TRE were probably in pretty bad shape....the steering was brand new!

I played with the steering for about 2 weeks, a good part of the time with the aligment guy at the dealership where I worked, the YJ steering would probably not allow as much play as Rustys in that config.

If you bent the tie rod and you are at 3.5" why not just put some V-8 zj steering on?

or weld a piece of angle iron to it. or sleeve it with a piece of pipe or tube. or pull one from a junkyard, they cant be more than 10 bucks and weld angle to both of em so you have a beefed up tie rod and a decent trail spare.

Hunter