At what point is it advisable to upgrade from the stock steering setup? Other than being stronger than stock, what are the benefits?

 

How tall is your lift? Stronger rods, stronger rod ends, better steering angles, replacing worn out rod ends, etc.

 

If you want to rock crawl over the knuckle will give you more clearance but is more work to do.

 

Would this work?
http://www.currieenterprises.com/ins...CE-9900XJF.pdf
or this?
http://www.ironrockoffroad.com/Merch...egory_Code=XST

Just throwing it out there, But is this a good set up?

 

Whether you're lifted or not I day it's a hood idea to upgrade your steering. The inverted Y set up is terrible to be honest. Look into SeriousOffroad, JCR, or Currie. All make a good kit (both UTK and OTK) on pretty equal footing quality wise - just depends how much you wanna pay.

 

I am on about 6.5 inches right now. Will be installing a bastard pack this weekend to get rid of the 3" blocks in the rear and also a shackle relocation bracket. I removed a drop pitman arm and replaced it with an OEM arm to get rid of bumpsteer but have since introduced death wobble. I guess the big reason for my question, is that if I am going to start replacing stock stuff, I might as well upgrade the steering. I won't be doing rock crawling. Mostly trails and just general off-roading with my family.

 

What size rubbers?
If your not going to be doing any hard wheeling a ZJ tie rod would work fine. No point in dumping money into a cross over setup if you dont really need it.

That being said I would look into the Ruff Stuff DIY steering kit. Pretty Beefy. Relatively affordable.

 

I have 33x12.5x15 Firestone MTZ's. ZJ tierod is the first thing I out on here as the stock XJ tierod was bent.

That is really why I was asking about when it is needed and what benefits it offers over stock.

 

No welding required!
http://www.seriousoffroadproducts.co...ath=1231_2092&

 

Any cross-over setup is a benefit over stock..but unless you feel your stock steering is restricting you then its not something you NEED.
I run 35s on a ZJ tie rod..and I dont expect it to last long. I got it cause It was cheap, and was a good deal stronger than the xj tie rod..but its still the inverted y setup.

Your DW isnt because you still have stock steering, its because something is worn, out of allignment, or something isnt tight. If you dont want to drop a ton of cash I would first replace your TRE's (upgrade to a ZJ tie rod when you can), do at least a driveway allignment, rotate and balance your tires, and look at your ball joints.

Also have a look at the geometery of your steering. Is your drag link and TB close to parallel?

 

ZJ tierod was the first thing I put in. I installed an OEM pitman arm because the drop pitman the previous owner had was causing bad bumpsteer. The DW didn't start until after replacing the drop pitman with the OEM pitman. Draglink and TB are close to parallel now. I will take it back to Firestone Saturday for another alignment since I put the OEM pitman arm on there. I paid for the lifetime alignment deal.

 

It could be something simple as an alignment.
Then again your drag link TRE could be shot. There are so many things that can cause DW. There are 14542512 threads on it lol.
I fought bumpsteer/DW for like 3 months when I first bought my latest XJ..turns out it was mainly from the caster angle. When I did my long arm setup on it the DW went away and now it is much smoother.

Back to the steering upgrade..the zj tie rod will do fine with 33s and some mild wheeling. If you do have some extra $ though and want a nice upgrade go for either the serious kit, or the ruff stuff kit. Both are excellent.

 

Thanks XJ88. Longarms are definitely on the to-do list. I know what you mean about the DW. I have read a ton on it. I just like to do things right the first time versus keeping throwing money at stuff. When I had my Mustang, everything I did to it was top notch. I lived by the old saying, "You can have fast, reliable, cheap. Pick two." I think the same thing goes for Jeeps. Just replace fast with tough.