93 XJ to ZJ steering upgrade
 

Hi guys! First post here.
I put a ZJ steering upgrade onto my XJ and when it was done I had a whole bunch of slop in my steering. I bought a whole ZJ set up from O Reillys so I guess I could have put the wrong part on but nothing looks wrong. I would appreciate any help I could get.

The whole steering setup?

Yes everything

Have someone turn the steering wheel back and forth while you observe.

Folks have had really bad experiences with rebuilt steering boxes by the way.

My apologies. I have a stock steering box. Tie rod ends and tube was upgraded to the ZJ.
I have a new lift I was going to put on soon so ill just check it out and take it apart again.

If you were to check tie rod end part numbers at Rock Auto you'd find that even though the tie rod part numbers are different for the XJ and ZJ (V8) they are both the same product except for the long one for the ZJ (V8). My understanding is that the long one is the only part that is the "upgrade". It's definitely worth doing.

Is worth doing?

To me its still ****ty old school factory steering that oem even realized and stopped using on pickups aswell as jeeps

If your going to choose between the two then yes it's worth doing because of the difference in construction. I read lots of info on the swap and none were negative. Even a direct XJ replacement will work in most cases. Tweaked my OEM one a few times too many so went with the ZJ one. If I have issues with it I'll go to something better.
As an aside friend of mine whose been running a frontend alignment/repair shop for the better part of 40 years isn't to thrilled at all about the stock steering linkage on the XJ's.

Uh, the toe isn't off from doing the swap, is it?

No it's a direct swap. But of course you should align the frontend. I adjusted the toe in myself to 1/16" in. My friend likes them at zero so that's where it's at.

I know it's a direct swap - both of my XJs have had this upgrade. I get that you can keep the alignment you parked with, but that's not always the case. I've had to remove one wheel to get a tie-rod end out before (not enough space/leverage with the tire in place), thus ruining any chances I had for keeping the same toe I had before I removed the tie-rod. Maybe OP wasn't able to keep the Jeep on the ground the whole time?

Also - I agree with ya, EZEARL, on the "which ZJ tierod did you get?" question - pretty sure the 4.0 ZJ steering is literally the same tie-rod as the XJ.

Xj zj steering like and should have alittle toe in due to tires toeing out during suspension cycling.

1 solid bar knuckle to knuckle can be set at zero toe because toe in this system is constant doesnt change during suspension motion.

Death wobble is severe toe in toe out springing through the steering links. This is built into the factory xj zj steering and why they have gone away from it. Dodge pickups did in 2008 and im not sure when jeeps did.
dodge even recalled some the early 2000s and put the 2008 steering on to cure or attempt to cure death wobble.

To me its not an upgrade.

However stock xj steering steerd my jeep on 33s for a few years just fine. Then I upgraded to 1ton over the knuckle and 3link.

Sorry Battle. Didn't realize you were addressing the OP.

I really hope that pair of ZJ set up could work in the best way possible my friend. I'm not an expert, so all I could recommend is to find a mechanic.