[creature]

Holy moly, good write up

[wil badger]

can i offer one more suggestion?

i made a plate that bolted in with the bump stops for a coil retainer.i found that stock retainer sucks and bends on you with the weight of the 44 .thats one heavy 44 compared to the Rubi/SA-XJ 44.

the end with the shock mount.





i cut mine then shifted it out and away.this made it clear the arm under extreme flex.second it help it flex more since under extre flex my shocks piston shaft would hit the frame rail with the stock location.by shifting out and down it made a brace of sorts for the lower bracket since it was right there it got a bead of weld as well.

[Sierra Drifter]

I put the new tires and wheels on so I could get some measurements for the new draglink and tie rod. I think it looks pretty good. I think I walked around and stared at it for at least an hour. Anyway, these are Goodyear MTR's 37x12.50x17 with Cragar 17x9 Soft 8 black steel wheels with 5 inch backspacing. I went with the MTR's because my XJ will see a lot of pavement driving and the radial MTR is suposed to be more street friendly and quieter than the most off road tires. We'll see if that's true.



Finally a tire that isn't dwarfed by the bushwackers. The 35 inch all terain on the rear is looking pretty small now.


This axle is about 6 to 7 inches wider than the stock Dana 30. I was a little worried it would be too wide and look silly, but I think it turned out ok. The bushwacker flares and the 5 inch backspaced wheels help keep it from looking to wide, I think.

I still have plenty to do. I have to install the draglink, tie rod, and track bar. Then hook up brake lines. Then I'll start on the Dana 60 rear, which should be a fairly quick build/install.

[Sierra Drifter]

Steering:

I knew going into this swap that I wanted to go with high steering. My RE 5.5 inch lift created some pretty steep angles with the stock drag link and tie rod. In this picture the axle is about an inch lower than it normally sits, you can see the steep angles in the steering which makes for less than ideal handling. The drag link and trackbar are parallel so at least I had no bump-steer issues. But the TRE on the passenger side knuckle is operating at too steep of an angle. A high steer configuration would correct this, as well as move the tie rod up much higher and out of the way of the rocks.


So obviously high steer requires flat top knuckles, high steer arms, studs, cone washers, lock washers, and a new draglink and tie rod. The axle I purchased did not come with flat top knuckles. So I started looking for a set. Several companies make flat-tops such as Parts Mike, Dendenbear, Reid Racing etc. But they are all very expensive some going for up to $500 a set. Not willing to spend that kind of cash, I searched for a set of stock Ford flat top knuckles on ebay, craigslist, and 4x4 web sites. Ford made flat tops for disc brakes and for drum brakes. It is important to buy the disc brake version. I watched several sets come and go on ebay for up to $190. Then a set came up with an opening bid of $45 and I was the only one who bid on them.

So when the knuckles showed up in the mail I was rather shocked that they looked like a couple piles of rusty scrap metal. Being nearly 30 years old I didn't expect shiny metal, but these looked like they had been out in the rain for most of that 30 years. So I took them to a local shop and had them bead blasted. They came back looking like this:



Ford only used the driverside flat-top knuckle. The passenger side was flat, but not drilled or tapped for studs. There is a guy on ebay that will true-up the flat top surface and drill and tap the 3 holes for $40. He pays for shipping it back also.

Next I bought my highsteer arms from a company called Harsh Terrain. They sell two arms for $120 on ebay. They sell the studs and cone washers too. http://stores.ebay.com/HarshTerrain



Now I had to decide if I wanted to go with cross-over, inverted T, or inverted Y steering configuration. I also had to choose between using Tie Rod Ends (TRE's) or hiem joints. So I asked around and talked to a few people who have done this before and the consensus was to go with TRE's. I was told they would last much longer and would perform better on the street. (not sure why). There wasn't space to do a true crossover steering setup with TRE's. So I went with an inverted T configuration. I ordered my drag link and tie rod from Foothill Offroad. They will build you a custom drag link and tie rod to your specs for $289 which seemed like a fairly good price compared to currie or TnT etc. I got the 1 ton chevy TRE's. It took about 10 days to receive my order. This is what I got.

[Sierra Drifter]

Before I installed my new steering I decided that since I was moving up to 37 inch tires it would probably be a good idea to reinforce the unibody where the steering box is attached. This is something I should have done a long time ago. I had installed a steering box brace, but not the reinforcing plates.

So I bought a C-Rok steering box reinforcing kit with both the inner and outer plates. This kit replaces the aluminum spacer between the steering box and the inside unibody "frame rail" with a second steel plate. It also includes sleeves that go all the way through the frame. The install was very straight forward, my only issue was dealing with my C4x4 front bumper mount which attaches at the same location. Here is picture of the plates installed, the inside plate can not be seen.



There is a good write-up for installing these plates here: http://www.jeepin.com/features/c_rok/index.asp

Next I installed the high steer arms, here is a picture.



And finally I installed the draglink and tie rod. Now the tie rod is up high out of the way of the rocks.



In the next two pictures you can see the improved angles of the draglink and tie rod. The lower arrow in the next picture shows where I need to place the axle track bar bracket so that it is parallel with the drag link. Until now I didn't know exactly where the bracket needed to go.



Original steering setup.

[Sierra Drifter]

I have a few issues to work out still with my steering.

The stock pitman arm does not have a long enough "throw" to work correctly with my highsteer arms. The pitman arm needs to be as long hole-to-hole as the distance from the ball joint to the tie rod on the high steer arm. The pitman arm in this picture is not the stock arm, it is a Skyjacker drop pitman arm, but the hole-to-hole measurement is the same as stock.



As you can see in this picture the pitman arm is 1 3/4 to short. I am now looking for a Wagoneer pitman arm which I'm told is longer and will work. Using a pitman arm shorter than the highsteer arm results in a increased turning radius. The steering wheel turns lock to lock, but the steering knuckles do not.

Another issue I have is I can not install my sway bar. Moving the tie rod up so high causes it to interfere with the sway bar. I will have to relocate the sway bar brackets. It's not a big deal though, I haven't had my sway bar connected in over a year.

The last issue I have with the steering is that my drag link is to short. It just barely reaches with only about 1/2 inch of thread inside the tube. I sent measurements when I ordered the drag link and tie rod but some how they got it wrong. So I will have to send back the drag link for one a couple inches longer. Just another very anoying delay in my project.

[white_elephant]

awesome write up....it really help me....decide not to do a d44.....not because its a bad idea...but because...i will expend twice the money....since i cant weld....i dont know many things about caster and blahblah...even though you explainend.....i want to go 37s....but what that heck....super 30 and 33s ftw!!!

[Bryson]

:O

Great write up! I can't wait to see the final product.

Have you thought about adding a side truss to the passenger side upper control arm mount? It just looks a little goofy without one.

Some of the welds look a little cold as well. I think they will still hold no problem, but just figured I'd mention it.

[Sierra Drifter]

Originally Posted by creature

Holy moly, good write up

Originally Posted by white_elephant

awesome write up....it really help me....:

Originally Posted by Bryson

Great write up!:

Thanks much guys.
This is the first time I've ever worked on an axle.
I hope what I've learned while struggling through this is helpful to other people who want to do an axle swap.

[Sierra Drifter]

Originally Posted by Bryson

Have you thought about adding a side truss to the passenger side upper control arm mount? It just looks a little goofy without one.

Some of the welds look a little cold as well. I think they will still hold no problem, but just figured I'd mention it.

Yes I do intend to add gussets to the passenger side UCA mount. I'll wait till its running though, so I can drive it to the welder. I've also been thinking about a truss from the UCA all the way over the differential. I haven't decided yet.

[white_elephant]

Originally Posted by Sierra Drifter

Thanks much guys.
This is the first time I've ever worked on an axle.
I hope what I've learned while struggling through this is helpful to other people who want to do an axle swap.

its a really cool thing to do...an as i can see you got the time,money and in my opinion most iportant tools and patience...i got time....money...mm...enough to pump gas and take my girl out :P....tools and patience..not much...lol....like i said i want a front 44..but i will have to pay someone to do it....which will come out like cuz its so expensive...

[Sierra Drifter]

The new Wagoneer pitman arm arrived a couple days ago. As you can see in the next picture, it is about 1 1/2 inches longer hole to hole than the stock XJ pitman arm. This additional length more closely matches the dimensions of my high steer arms.

Also the hole for the drag link is larger and tapered for 1 ton chevy TRE. The drag link end supplied by Foothill Offroad is a 60 degree 1 ton rod end which allows for plenty of articulation. If I could have used the stock pitman arm, I would have had to have it re-tapered to the larger 1 ton chevy size.




Here is the new Wagoneer pitman arm installed.


As you can see the new pitman arm is flatter than the original stock arm, it only has about a 1 inch drop. I could have chosen a dropped Wagoneer pitman arm, however the longer pitman arm causes the drag link to be located above the tie rod. As such I was concerned that a dropped pitman arm would result in the drag link hitting the tie rod when the suspension was compressed.

With the longer pitman arm installed my steering now turns lock to lock, the knuckle on each side will turn until the steering stops make contact. In case anyone is interested the stock waggy pitman arm can be purchased from Foothill Offroad.
This picture shows the completed high steer installation.



The front axle swap is now complete, with the exception of the track bar axle bracket. The new axle bracket should be ready soon. I originally wanted to mount the track bar as near the passenger knuckle as possible, however there just isn't enough room in front of the coil spring. So the track bar will mount just inside the spring. The only other item I plan to change is the coil spring retainer. I'm going to take Wil Badger's advice and fab something a little more heavy duty than the retainer from the stock Dana 30.

So, I'm now going to move on to building the rear Dana 60. I have already ordered and received the Yukon 35 spline shafts, and the 5.13 gear set. The ARB locker is on order and should be here soon. I will update this thread when I have all the D60 parts and begin assembly.

[EricsXJ]

So the added length gives it the throw you need but are there any downsides (interference issues) with it not having as much drop as the stock one?

[Sierra Drifter]

Originally Posted by EricsXJ

So the added length gives it the throw you need but are there any downsides (interference issues) with it not having as much drop as the stock one?

I intentionaly went with the flatter pitman arm to avoid interference between the drag link and the tie rod. I'm not 100% sure there would have been a problem if I had used a dropped Waggy pitman arm. But in any case it seems to work.

[Sierra Drifter]

Well the wife thinks the garage is for her to park in, so I moved the Jeep out of the garage while I'm building the rear axle, so here's a couple pictures just because I like looking at it....





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