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Finalizing WJ Knuckle Swap Plan

This is music to my ears.

My plan is to shorten a stock WJ tie rod

I too was wondering about this when I was pulling the knuckles. The WJ tie rod is bent to push it out from the diff cover, so that would solve a lot of my problems.
 
I read the WJ ends do not hold up well on the drag links.
Please cite your source.

I just spent cubic dollars for a MOPAR, RHD rod end, instead of a $30 Crown part. I would like to review the information that you reference.
 
Please cite your source.

I just spent cubic dollars for a MOPAR, RHD rod end, instead of a $30 Crown part. I would like to review the information that you reference.

I can't recall the source, but somewhere I have gathered that the cheap aftermarket TREs are junk. My bet is that the cheap parts are the ones prone to failure and the OEM unobtanium parts will serve you just fine.
 
Please cite your source.

I just spent cubic dollars for a MOPAR, RHD rod end, instead of a $30 Crown part. I would like to review the information that you reference.

I spent so many hours looking over WJ swap stuff I couldn't link you were I found it but I remember it coming up a few times. I don't believe it was poor quality ends but that they don't have enough travel. I figured it was safest to go with the high angle 1 ton stuff.
 
So my questions are:
1. What is the disadvantage to a bent tie rod?
2. Do hiems perform that much better than TREs for the tie rod?
3. Would offset hiems work?
4. What is the strength of 7075 aluminum compared to 1.5" X .25" Wall DOM Tube?

Without reading everybody elses responses, here are my thoughts.

1. There are 2, one is that when you're driving over bumpy terrain the weight of the tie rod forward of the pivots will allow it to flop up and down. Sometimes this can be a quite noticeable clunking. It will also tend to sit flopped down from gravity. Not the end of the world, but annoys some people. The other is that whenever you bend metal you weaken it. In order for the bend to stay in the material you have to exceed it's elastic limit, the point at which it will not return to its original shape. If you're using strong material this again is not a huge issue and it's not a common failure point, but it's worth mentioning.

2. Honestly I think it's a toss up. They are both acting as a simple pivot. A tie rod doesn't require much in the way of deflection, so it's not a highly demanding item in that sense. Strength wise a good quality TRE and a good quality heim are both gonna get the job done.

3. Yes, they are just kinda uncommon.

4. I think someone already answered this pretty well, but I'd say comparable in overall strength. The big selling point for Aluminum is the amount it can bend and return to straight. Here's a video I made a while back to show how much it can take.



BTW, if you decide to go with heims or something different from what I offer "off the shelf" but are interested in the 7075 links I do offer them in custom lengths and all the common thread pitches for heims or TRE's.
 
Question. If you have to buy taps to chase the threads on a welded bung, why not just tap the dom?

Because most people use 1.5"x.250 DOM, which has a 1" ID, which is bigger than the 7/8" thread on the TREs or Heims.

Even if you go with a smaller tube, simply having the tap isn't really enough. Trying to accurately drill a hole that size and tap that hole perfectly straight is close to impossible without using a lathe. Even aside from keeping everything straight, it takes a lot of power to twist that tap into steel. It's a whole lot easier when the threads are already there, just a little distorted.
 
I can't recall the source, but somewhere I have gathered that the cheap aftermarket TREs are junk. My bet is that the cheap parts are the ones prone to failure and the OEM unobtanium parts will serve you just fine.

Like anything in life, there is cheap and there is quality. They are rarely the same. When I prototype new parts I'll often buy the really cheap stuff knowing it's going to get thrown away and not run on anything. I have a $6 happy china co. ES2233L TRE (the one with the hole in it used for inverted T steering) and I have a bunch of the much more expensive MOOG versions. You can see a clear difference in them just looking at the forgings, and beyond that the cheap one is loose and easy to move around right out of the box. The boots are also drastically different. At a glance they look like the same part, and they are interchangeable, but when it comes down to details they are not at all the same.
 
Without reading everybody elses responses, here are my thoughts.

1. There are 2, one is that when you're driving over bumpy terrain the weight of the tie rod forward of the pivots will allow it to flop up and down. Sometimes this can be a quite noticeable clunking. It will also tend to sit flopped down from gravity. Not the end of the world, but annoys some people. The other is that whenever you bend metal you weaken it. In order for the bend to stay in the material you have to exceed it's elastic limit, the point at which it will not return to its original shape. If you're using strong material this again is not a huge issue and it's not a common failure point, but it's worth mentioning.
Hmm, I never thought about the bar rotating, but that does make sense.

4. I think someone already answered this pretty well, but I'd say comparable in overall strength. The big selling point for Aluminum is the amount it can bend and return to straight. Here's a video I made a while back to show how much it can take.

Wow, that was a good video to show how the aluminium flexes. Quite convincing...
 
On my wj swap I reused the 1ton tie rods I had on a nother xj. I installed them knuckle over. Good thing I did, I barley clear the stock diff cover.

If I did it again, I would go with off set tie rods / hiems like the wj came factory
 
Here's what I just finished up...

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Ci0Xw-quvdEuCs3MrUd-zISNmSJEHPMpeOLC7r6ARhk/edit?usp=sharing

What I ordered is to the left side in yellow, everything else was other options/ ideas..


I'm running 15" wheels, have lock to lock steering and everything clears!

I finally had time to digest your list and compare it to mine. A few questions:

1. What did you do for your tracbar?
2. What size DOM did you use for your drag link?
 
StinkyFab,

how deep is the taper in the pitman arm you sell on the website? is it standard gm TRE depth, or will it fit the high angle draglink end? I have an insert and when deciding between drilling the pitman out to 1" and using the insert vs just buying the new pitman arm, I think I'd prefer the pitman arm. Assuming it has the correct taper.
 
BLUF: Went with SFR kit, but forgot about the pitman arm. What arm should I use?

After comparing options (see other tabs), I went with the SFR Basic kit. One thing that I noticed was that I did not have a new pitman arm. I am going to have to taper out the pitman arm, so I would like to only have to do it once. 2001XJ used a Astro Van pitman arm in his build, which has a 6" radius and is flat. SFR sells a TJ pitman arm, which is the same length, but less of a drop than the XJ.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Y5lUY-WEci4gO81jo2AahbVfhlfDZkGSdxcB8i6nXVg/edit?usp=sharing
 
Nice job of assembling a parts list, with links and all. Well done.

The left and right hand taps to chase the threads after welding in the tube adapter bungs might be worth considering. Rumor has it that welding those in might be detrimental to the condition of the threads.

Drill bit for the knuckles to accommodate the new steering hardware?

Fresh set of bolts for the unit bearings? I have seen some mention of those being designed for single use, but it doesn't seem that most folks fret over those.

Any plans for connecting a steering stabilizer? This is one of those details I have not seen well covered in a WJ brake conversion.

I assume you are already running 16" or larger wheels.

Those are the only things I can think of that might bear considering if you haven't already considered them.

i always weld my tube ends with the heims threaded in and ive never had a problem doing it that way. Never had to chase the threads. I do unthread them pretty quickly after welding though.

Unit bearing bolts are not one time use in my experience. the caliper bracket bolts for WJ swaps are though. At least put locktite on the old ones if you're going to use them.

15" wheels work fine, at least for the 3 or 4 sets ive tried. the biggest issue is if you dynamic balance your wheels, you'll probably need hammer-on weights for the inner ones. other than that, zero issues.
 
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