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WJ knockles

Balljoints are same, so they do "bolt" in. 99-01 work for sure. I have the Warn hub kit with mine. Using Ford Explorer Sport Trac 2000 front 4wd rotors, with .18" washers in between the knuckle and caliper bracket.

I still had to machine the inside of the rotor to 3.65..... whatever it is.... to get the hub to fit correctly. The bolt pattern is same. Teves calipers will work, those who have the Akebonas (sp?) say you need 16" rims or grinding to fit 15's.

You will also need the .25" spacer on the knuckle to index the balljoint and ujoint alignment.(JKS makes em, weld on) Also, you need to raise the axle TB bracket. The JKS OAB works well here as well.
 
The balljoints are *not* the same. WJ balljoints (and knuckles) have a different taper on the lower balljoint.

I ran my WJ knuckles with XJ balljoints originally, and when i switched to WJ balljoints it was an incredible difference.

Here is a PDF of the info that used to be on the JKS site. It gives you a fair idea whats involved.

http://www.shadowco.org/~cal/WJ.pdf
 
Interesting, So you swapped just the lowers or upper and lower. What were the improvements? I have not noticed anything.
 
I swapped both, as I was due for balljoints anyways, but its only the lower that mattered.

The knuckles fit more 'snug' and feel more consistant turning. I had my jeep into a shop to have an inner C straitened, and the shop owner pointed it out to me. He used to run in a YJ that had a WJ converted 30 up front. I asked with the local buggy guys after finding this out and several of them confirmed it from their 'dana 30' days.
 
That article you posted and most I researched prior to doing it didn't mention it. Thanks for the heads up. So you can confirm the uppers are the same dimensions, as mine are fairly new, and it is apart now anyways, glad I learned this. 2 lower WJ ball joints added to the NAPA list
 
I havent measured them, but as far as my eye could tell the upper was the same, just the lower was different.

IIRC, that article was from one of the very very early WJ conversions (2002?) and it may have not been circulating about that the lowers are different.
 
I thought the advantage was that beyond our 9 days of rain a year, i can work on my jeep outside in shorts all winter..
 
RyanM said:
Balljoints are same, so they do "bolt" in. 99-01 work for sure. I have the Warn hub kit with mine. Using Ford Explorer Sport Trac 2000 front 4wd rotors, with .18" washers in between the knuckle and caliper bracket.

I still had to machine the inside of the rotor to 3.65..... whatever it is.... to get the hub to fit correctly. The bolt pattern is same. Teves calipers will work, those who have the Akebonas (sp?) say you need 16" rims or grinding to fit 15's.

You will also need the .25" spacer on the knuckle to index the balljoint and ujoint alignment.(JKS makes em, weld on) Also, you need to raise the axle TB bracket. The JKS OAB works well here as well.
Click to expand...

Ditto on My setup except I didn't have to machine the 2002 4wd Sport-Trac rotors I used. I also run the warn kit but mine is the 5 x 4.5 kit. I got my TB bracket and knuckle spacers through the shop that installed it.(cheaper)

You'll also want a WJ Pitman arm to regain your steering radius.
 
XJSpencer said:
You'll also want a WJ Pitman arm to regain your steering radius.
Click to expand...

I'm using a stock XJ pitman arm, and I hit the stock WJ steering stops on both sides..
 
cal said:
I'm using a stock XJ pitman arm, and I hit the stock WJ steering stops on both sides..
Click to expand...

It must be my Durango steering gear then. I didn't loose any steering radius when I put it in though. The XJ box must have more stroke.
 
XJSpencer said:
It must be my Durango steering gear then. I didn't loose any steering radius when I put it in though. The XJ box must have more stroke.
Click to expand...

That could do it. Some of the Durango boxes have tighter steering stops than others. Good to know a WJ pitman will regain that swing. Is it the same drop?
 
cal said:
That could do it. Some of the Durango boxes have tighter steering stops than others. Good to know a WJ pitman will regain that swing. Is it the same drop?
Click to expand...

I needed it to be higher than the ZJ pitman I was using anyway.

Here's a pic.

2007_1127009.jpg


edit: I also had to remove the keyed splines so that I could center it. Drop waggy and WJ pitmans work but are $100 instead of the 30 I paid the Dealer. I'm planning on adjusting the TB slightly because I got a tiny bit of Bumpsteer on high speed whoops because of the difference in length between the TB and draglink.
 
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