jeep steering upgrades?

N-Smooth

N-Smooth

Smooth Gang Founding Member
Location
UT
so my xj's tie rod is frowning at me/looks like a rainbow after my trip to the MMP course lol

i"m looking at replacements and i have wanted to upgrade, especially now that the front is locked. my buddy has the rugged ridge kit on his yj, he got it for $170 which i thought was reasonable but now it is $275! :ugh:

i don't want to pay that, especially since it's made in china and has unique tre's.

anyways, what should i do?

-ballistic fab kits? (i know a lot of people hate them but i'm not buying joints) i'm fine with buying a builder's kit and welding adapters on etc but i don't have a one-ton tre reamer...

-tre vs. heims for a street-driven jeep? i've heard a lot of opinions on both sides


info on the jeep: 93 xj, 3" lift, locked f/r, 33's etc


any help is greatly appreciated :cool:
 
You say its street driven......is it daily driven??? how many miles??? Heims just dont seem to last as long as tie rod ends. As far as driveability i dont think you will notice a differance between the two.
 
i probably drive it one day a week (when the wife needs the car) and my drive is about 30 miles round trip. i do drive it to moab 3-4 times a year and rattlesnake/constrictor 3-4 times and camping trips etc. i'd have to check my book to see how many miles i'm logging on the old girl.

i like the idea of tre's more as well and the ballistic fab one-ton kit is only $270 shipped. it's complete with tube and everything. i would just have to buy or borrow a reamer and do that
 
mbryson said:
I had a "Go fer it" tie rod way back in the day. Are they still in business? I'm a tie rod end fan on steering stuff.

Edit:
This looks much more stout than your stocker. http://www.jeeperz-creeperz.com/steering-jeep-steering-components-upgrade-jeep-tjxj-p-110101.html
Click to expand...

i am beginning to like this idea more because i don't love putting money into the stupid d30. i guess i could get an hd tie rod and replace all my tre's and be happy to spend less than i would on a whole kit... hmmmm...
 
gravesdiggerxj said:
If you want to go uber cheap, grab a steering setup from a V8 ZJ grand cherokee at the junkyard. The tie rod is bigger and solid, and the draglink has more beef to it also. It will get you by.
Click to expand...

the only think i don't like about the zj setup is the adjusting sleeve on the tie rod itself. i'm not crazy about that. i also like that the xj tie-rod is totally straight (or at least mine used to be :rofl:)
i've seen where people just sleeve the stock unit but i can't for the life of me find any of those writeups to get the tube size from so i can get a quote on some tube.
perhaps an aftermarket one like mbryson posted would be better cause of the stronger threaded ends anyways but i feel like being cheap
 
xj_nate said:
the only think i don't like about the zj setup is the adjusting sleeve on the tie rod itself. i'm not crazy about that. i also like that the xj tie-rod is totally straight (or at least mine used to be :rofl:)
i've seen where people just sleeve the stock unit but i can't for the life of me find any of those writeups to get the tube size from so i can get a quote on some tube.
perhaps an aftermarket one like mbryson posted would be better cause of the stronger threaded ends anyways but i feel like being cheap
Click to expand...

A hi-lift jack handle, from an actual hi-lift brand jack is the perfect size.
 
i saw that one as well and the price with the moog tre's is good. as far as i can tell (i googled) those are stock xj tre's, which is what i would prefer for compatibility.

i was also looking at the IRO one as well but i priced it out for the $66 it would cost and the price of tre's for it (autozone) it will be the exact same price shipped to my door as the rusty's one with the moog tre's shipped to my door. pretty easy decision really. i'm ordering the rusty's one and breaking my streak of not ordering from them lol

when i pull off the old steering i will see how my other tre's look and replace them if necessary. i hate that the draglink has one tre built-in... so lame
 
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