WJ knuckle swap and 1-ton steering complete

[Dustys]

i did not need to space out the calipers. the rotor was pretty centered and it works fine. maybe it's because i'm using teves brakes instead?

You used the WJ rotors. I used Ford Explorer Sport Trac rotors that is where the difference is. I liked the idea of spacing the rotor better than redrilling rotors.

I am also using the Teves brakes. The Akebono would have been nice, but there isn't a noticeable difference in performance. Just got what I could find at the Junkyard.

 

[XJEEPER]

I did this swap 2.5 years ago and fwiw, redrilling the WJ rotors took me 30 minutes, including layout and drill time. Its really not a big deal. I run the Tera offset TRE's and Ruffstuff diff cover and my 1.5" OD DOM tie rod clears the cover by .60"

 

[ingenio]

good write up...short, concise. I liked it.
I'll use it as guide ( also the one from XJEEPER)

Just one question regarding the shorter than draglink trackbar...In the pictures it looks parallel to but shorter than the draglink...
are you experiencing any issues at all with the trackbar being this short?

the question could be also asked to XJEEPER...any comments guys?

thanks

 

[jdbwrx]

good write up...short, concise. I liked it.
I'll use it as guide ( also the one from XJEEPER)

Just one question regarding the shorter than draglink trackbar...In the pictures it looks parallel to but shorter than the draglink...
are you experiencing any issues at all with the trackbar being this short?

the question could be also asked to XJEEPER...any comments guys?

thanks

I had some issues with my track bar being shorter, in that I got some bump steer. It was only noticeable on dirt roads, but never on the regular roads or highway. It also never gave me an issue with steering during any crawling.

I did notice a difference in the amount of droop I got out of the suspension between the driver's and passenger side. (One side drooped a little more) I think that is an inherit issue unless the track bar and drag link are the same length.

 

[Warlock1]

Iron Rock Offroad now has the WJ rotors already drilled for the XJ hubs specifically for the WJ knuckle swap

 

[2001XJ]

I did this swap 2.5 years ago and fwiw, redrilling the WJ rotors took me 30 minutes, including layout and drill time. Its really not a big deal. I run the Tera offset TRE's and Ruffstuff diff cover and my 1.5" OD DOM tie rod clears the cover by .60"

THANKS AGAIN for the drilling Jeff!..:roflmao:

 

[2001XJ]

There are some clearance issues to be aware of....
Better make sure your wheels are large enough, stock wheels you can forget about.. I have 15" Mickey Thompson's with a good bit of offset, and they don't taper on the inside but it was close.

I just completed this and the backspacing issue was a nightmare when combining this with a long arm kit running 35s.

To satisfy the offset TREs I had to go with a 16" rim with at least 4" BS but then at full lock the tires would hit the Clayton long arms so I tried to find a 3.75" BS in a 16" wheel (aluminum) which was nearly impossible with the 5x4.5 BP.

If I ran steelies it would have worked but I was sick of the limited designs. I ended up having to go with a 17" aluminum rims with 5" of BS and then used 1.25" thick aluminum 5x4.5 to 5x5.5 adapters. This gave me the final 3.75" BS.

Just adding in another perspective in case other guys come into this situation.

 

[deucestudios]

Nicely done.

 

[XJ jay]

Fantastic wright up, i wish to do 1ton steering on my XJ and to do WJ knuckles when I do my TJ D44 swap.

 

[deucestudios]

ES2027L at the pitman arm?
Or is there a standard GM taper high misalignment TRE?

 

[sunburned]

I just completed this and the backspacing issue was a nightmare when combining this with a long arm kit running 35s.

To satisfy the offset TREs I had to go with a 16" rim with at least 4" BS but then at full lock the tires would hit the Clayton long arms so I tried to find a 3.75" BS in a 16" wheel (aluminum) which was nearly impossible with the 5x4.5 BP.

If I ran steelies it would have worked but I was sick of the limited designs. I ended up having to go with a 17" aluminum rims with 5" of BS and then used 1.25" thick aluminum 5x4.5 to 5x5.5 adapters. This gave me the final 3.75" BS.

Just adding in another perspective in case other guys come into this situation.

Damn, that sounds rough. My Mickey Thompson Classic Locks are 15" and have a 3.33" BS. They stick wayyy out. Not sure if the size will fit the WJ brakes internally, but I'm sure the backspacing helps. My brakes are barely inside the wheels anymore.

 

[Devilfrog]

If you use the WJ knuckles and use the Ford D44 spindle route you can keep them ... And it'll likely cost close to the same as using the WJ rotors/calipers due to lower parts costs. Wish I'd seen that write up before I started ... Meh! Gonna build an HP axle anyway.

It was this write up that sealed the deal for my WJ swap, well worth the upgrade, braking is retardedly better ... And the steering is greatly improved. Now I just gotta sort out my tracbar issues.

 

[blistovmhz]

I saw you used XJ upper ball joints, but there seems to be some people saying you have to go WJ, and others say the upper HAS to be from XJ.
I just got my WJ knuckles out on the floor and checking fitment, and the XJ uppers really don't seem like they fit very deep into the taper. Anyone have a picture of the knuckle installed, showing the space between the knuckle and ball joint?

 

[VAhasnoWAVES]

a quick search (autozone, advanced, oriellys, napa) shows that the WJ and XJ upper use the same part number...

exact same BJ.

 

[blistovmhz]

That's what I found as well, but two issues.
1. I don't trust autozone/advanced/especially napa on their part numbers, as they've given me the wrong part at least half the time.
2. Some guys say use the WJ lower and XJ upper, others say XJ lower and WJ upper. MOST guys are saying WJ lower, but now that I've got all the parts in front of me, that brand new XJ upper doesn't look like it's going to pull in far enough the WJ knuckle to provide much support.

You'll also find, if you read through the tonnes of write ups on this swap, that no two swaps seem to be identical. The XJ unibearing is a good example. Tonnes of guys are saying that you absolutely need a 2001 or later, then 10 guys chime in on the thread saying they used 98 or even 95.

Looking for others who've done the swap. Anyone?

 

[VAhasnoWAVES]

ummm.... i dont know what threads your reading, but the ball joint debate is pretty unanimous. XJ or WJ upper. same part number. WJ lower.the knuckle isnt going to sit completely against the C. so no, its not going to go all the way up the ball joint. the important part is that the tapers match, and that you can properly insert a cotter pin into the castle nut.

on the unit bearing debate... it is also important to note what rotor people are using with it. the hat height is what is going to properly center the caliper in the rotor.

 

[blistovmhz]

ummm.... i dont know what threads your reading, but the ball joint debate is pretty unanimous. XJ or WJ upper. same part number. WJ lower.the knuckle isnt going to sit completely against the C. so no, its not going to go all the way up the ball joint. the important part is that the tapers match, and that you can properly insert a cotter pin into the castle nut.

on the unit bearing debate... it is also important to note what rotor people are using with it. the hat height is what is going to properly center the caliper in the rotor.

That's the issue. My new XJ uppers don't look like they have the same taper. I can get the castle nut on, but seems like there's only about 1/2" of taper in the knuckle and an awful lot of space between the BJ and the top of the knuckle.
Lower BJ's look identical.
I'm just worried about the whole "part number" claim, cause right now i'm looking on RockAuto and Amazon, and just called NAPA, and all three show the same PN for the Uni-bearing for a 98 and 01 XJ.

That said, if I'm using the 98 uni-bearing, anyone know what rotor is going to fit?

(Also, I've seen write ups where guys don't even weld the flange spacer to the knuckle, and say it holds up fine, so forgive me if I'm a tad paranoid about taking the same write ups as gospel )

 

[VAhasnoWAVES]

if the difference is that obvious... dont rule out that it is possible that you were give the wrong part, even if the numbers on the box is correct.



and it is IMPERATIVE that you weld the spacer to the knuckle. the location of the unit bearing relies on the bore fitment, not the hub bolts. i saw a thread where someone actually looked at how much of the unit bearing resides inside the knuckle with the spacer, the amount is quite scary. without welding the spacer, you are relying on the 3 hub bolts to locate and retain the bearing... in sheer.

weld the spacer.

 

[blistovmhz]

if the difference is that obvious... dont rule out that it is possible that you were give the wrong part, even if the numbers on the box is correct.

Upper BJ fits perfectly in my stock XJ knuckle. I did check . I guess I'll just wait for the rest of my parts and do a fit test.

and it is IMPERATIVE that you weld the spacer to the knuckle. the location of the unit bearing relies on the bore fitment, not the hub bolts. i saw a thread where someone actually looked at how much of the unit bearing resides inside the knuckle with the spacer, the amount is quite scary. without welding the spacer, you are relying on the 3 hub bolts to locate and retain the bearing... in sheer.

weld the spacer.

Yea. This is why I don't blindly trust any single write up, nor even a combination of several. I measured the hub depth in the knuckle with the spacer in place. Comes out to about 0.7 mm. I'm sure if you bolted it down REAL tight and never plan on hitting anything larger than a cat, you'll probably be fine, but goddamn.

On the topic of welding the spacer, anyone wanna chime in on just how careful they were with it? I've done some fill welding on my knuckles without any issue, but some guys say you have to weld in three steps, and allow several hours for cooling (in sand) between each stage. Is this paranoid, or just science?

 

[Cburb88XJ]

Well this is almost exactly what I'm about to do. My wj swap is done but I'm about to do my steering. I saw that gm crossover kit id like to get it if I changed the tre it came with .My question to you is for the drag link did you use the es2027 I think it is for the pitman arm side? And which one is on the knuckle side? I was under the impression you needed an offset one on the drag link for the knuckle side. Thanks