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Steering upgrade help

Tonyt22

NAXJA Forum User
Location
California
So I'm almost to the end of my build and finally addressing steering was going to go with trail forged with hiems but not sure I have 4 1/2 lift currently with 33s I dont trailer my jeep so its hwy to get to spots looking to spend 4ish on the kit should I go with hiems or tres(ball joint) I'm probably going to stick with utk because I dont want to relocate my track bar and what's better crossover or 1 ton or is that the same ?
 
1 ton describes the size of the tre's not the style of system. I had the stock set-up for 18yrs at 5", now I run the CurrieCorrctlyc and will never go back to anything else.
BTW, stay away from heims on a street driven XJ.
 
WJ swap is going to be the best overall but is $$. Otherwise I'd just keep it stock and upgrade the Tie rod to a solid one. Agreed with RCP hiems on the street are not a great idea. The Currie is nice but at the price point you're only a few hundred off from a WJ swap.
 
I'm running the WJ swap with the Currie set-up!
 
Heims are a little noisy and can work loose if you don't watch them. For a daily driver, this would suck. For something you drive to the trail on the weekends or when your daily driver needs something, works fine for me.
 
I'm running the WJ swap with the Currie set-up!

By wj swap do you mean wj knuckles ? and your other stopping upgrades haha

I never hear anyone discuss if 1 ton upgrades are good on drilled out stock d30 knuckles. Its a bit of beef.


Tonyt22, shoot for a greaseable steering linkage for sure, if its a road vehicle to you'll be thankful to have the tre serviceability.
 
I ran the Currie setup as well for a couple of years and was extremely happy with it. I then did the WJ knuckle swap and ran it with the Currie setup for a couple of months with no problems. My final steering setup is the Ironman4x4fab WJ OTK setup, which is awesome! I know you don't want to go with anything that makes you have to raise your axle side track bar, so check this under knuckle setup out from Ironman4x4 -https://www.ironman4x4fab.com/product-page/1-ton-7075-utk-steering-kit. I am completely sold on the 7075T6 Aluminum links, that bend and go back to shape. I also am partial to TRE's vs. heims, especially on the street!

The Currie kit can actually be found on Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003EM9F5M/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

When I did the WJ swap I got the knuckles from a junk yard, -the calipers, rotors, brackets and ball joints, from Rock Auto,( I wanted to go with new stuff) and the knuckle spacers from JKS. I then got my steering setup from Ironman4x4 - https://www.ironman4x4fab.com/product-page/wj-knuckle-swap-kit.

If you don't want to hunt through a junkyard for steering knuckles, you can also find them on Ebay. -
 
Can you send a link to where to get a WJ swap and Currie setup? Unless you just get the WJ stuff from salvage?

By wj swap do you mean wj knuckles ? and your other stopping upgrades haha

I never hear anyone discuss if 1 ton upgrades are good on drilled out stock d30 knuckles. Its a bit of beef.


Tonyt22, shoot for a greaseable steering linkage for sure, if its a road vehicle to you'll be thankful to have the tre serviceability.

I originally purchased new WJ knuckles from Crown but 1 was defective so I sent them back and got some from the local pick/n/pull.
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Do realize that with 1 ton components, you're going to need to enlarge the holes in the knuckles. Not the end of the world but the tapered reamer can get pricey if you don't look around or know someone that has one. The cheapest route is to find one for steel erection rather than a true machinist quality version.

Secondly, what style are you going with? Typical "1 Ton" setups use a T-style, with a bar connecting the two knuckles and then a bar from the pitman arm to that bar. The issue with this style is that the bar between the knuckles will first rotate and then move along it's axis. As such, you have dead spot in your steering between right and left. If you're not used to it, it really sucks in comparison to what you have now. They sell plastic spacers that go under the TRE to limit the amount of rotation, but they're a stop-gap solution and eventually wear out. With 33s, a solid link will satisfy a vast majority of use cases. I'm very happy with mine from IRO. So is the alignment guy; simple adjustment without having to remove any parts. Definitely worth the few extra vs buying a new ZJ link.
 
Do realize that with 1 ton components, you're going to need to enlarge the holes in the knuckles. Not the end of the world but the tapered reamer can get pricey if you don't look around or know someone that has one. The cheapest route is to find one for steel erection rather than a true machinist quality version.

Secondly, what style are you going with? Typical "1 Ton" setups use a T-style, with a bar connecting the two knuckles and then a bar from the pitman arm to that bar. The issue with this style is that the bar between the knuckles will first rotate and then move along it's axis. As such, you have dead spot in your steering between right and left. If you're not used to it, it really sucks in comparison to what you have now. They sell plastic spacers that go under the TRE to limit the amount of rotation, but they're a stop-gap solution and eventually wear out. With 33s, a solid link will satisfy a vast majority of use cases. I'm very happy with mine from IRO. So is the alignment guy; simple adjustment without having to remove any parts. Definitely worth the few extra vs buying a new ZJ link.

This
 
Do realize that with 1 ton components, you're going to need to enlarge the holes in the knuckles. Not the end of the world but the tapered reamer can get pricey if you don't look around or know someone that has one. The cheapest route is to find one for steel erection rather than a true machinist quality version.

Secondly, what style are you going with? Typical "1 Ton" setups use a T-style, with a bar connecting the two knuckles and then a bar from the pitman arm to that bar. The issue with this style is that the bar between the knuckles will first rotate and then move along it's axis. As such, you have dead spot in your steering between right and left. If you're not used to it, it really sucks in comparison to what you have now. They sell plastic spacers that go under the TRE to limit the amount of rotation, but they're a stop-gap solution and eventually wear out. With 33s, a solid link will satisfy a vast majority of use cases. I'm very happy with mine from IRO. So is the alignment guy; simple adjustment without having to remove any parts. Definitely worth the few extra vs buying a new ZJ link.


My steering now has about 2 inch play in the steering wheel so might be a improvement I'm looking at the jcr utk steering only issue is I'm running solid axle industries diff covers I have iro lift and track bar now would like to go with their steering but the dont offer a tre option
 
So after some thought and more research ended ordering trail forged crossover dont drive the jeep enough anymore to feel the need for tre plus their lifetime warranty sold me
 
It's not warrantied for the heims.
 
Not really worried about that main wanted the warranty for the bars themselves cant except a company to warranty a ware item just like tre I'll replace them every year or so as preventative maintenance
 
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