Question for you guys. I have a 99 xj with a 4.5" lift. One of the guys I work has told me that if I use a factory yj tie rod setup on my xj it will be like a poor mans cross over steering conversion. Anybody heard of this? And will it work?

 

It will bolt up. But it's inverted T, not crossover. And its very weak

 

Yep. Just do a ZJ tie rod and call it a day.

 

I have the ZJ setup, and am very pleased with it.

 

I'm at 4.5" with the ZJ tierod too. The only "upgrade" to the tierod is its thicker right? Less prone to be bent. At 4.5", will cross over even be a benefit to steering angles or is it someone you spend a few hundred buck on and convince yourself AFTER that you really can feel the difference? Just asking.

 

Must be from v8 gc...

 

it has bigger TRE's too. they don't wear quite as fast as the stock garbage. YES crossover is amazing at 4.5" lift. I didn't even realize how awful the factory y-link design was until I installed crossover

but unless you're doing a WJ swap, I wouldn't really bother with trying to get "true" crossover on a D30. ruffstuff steering or a t-link design and OTK track bar will suffice plenty

 

"but unless you're doing a WJ swap, I wouldn't really bother with trying to get "true" crossover on a D30. ruffstuff steering or a t-link design and OTK track bar will suffice plenty"--I'll have to do some research on the WJ thing. I have no clue what that is.

I'm done with thawing money at something to make it better, but the consensus seems to be that at 4.5" lift, aftermarket steering is worth it?

 

WJ (2002 grand cherokee) knuckle and brake upgrade. typically an $800 ordeal

I always vote the heim "crossover" setup. my buddy just installed it on his jeep and it works great
http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/...g/78STEER.html
http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/PANKIT.html

 

Definitely agree it's an ordeal, the price to actually do it varies a lot because there's a head-spinning amount of different ways to do it. Here's how I did it:

both knuckles, brakes + steering (drag/tierod/stabilizer) - $150 junkyard
TJ wrangler hubs - $200 napa
hub spacers - $50 JKS
redrilled WJ rotors to 4.5 x 5(included from junkyard) -$20 in drill bits lol
all (4) tie rod ends (Junkyard ends were sloppy & gave me DW) -$100 napa

I then modified the WJ steering setup to fit my XJ by removing 5" from the draglink and 4" from the tie rod, sleeved & welded the rods, probably spent about $30 in materials there.

So I have about $550 into my setup. You can subtract about $200 from that if you just use spacers to align your calipers with your XJ hubs, or you could add hundreds of dollars to the cost with fancy aftermarket steering setups, new/different rotors /pads, and track bar setups. I had no bumpsteer or DW despite the less-than-ideal-looking geometry correlation of the stock trackbar & WJ drag link. I installed an IRO doubleshear trackbar just to make everything pretty, I wouldnt say it was necessary though. the IRO TB was <$200. Very nice, solid piece of equipment.

The steering improvement was nice, but the brake improvement is just amazing. deff recommend if you d/d your jeep and plan to keep your d30 for a while.

 

Nice on cost savings. The only gripe I have is the IRO track bar. Bushings on both ends? Not my style.

 

got a zj v8 tierod for like 2 bucks at picka pull. beefy as ****.

 

Wow, $550-$800 is a bit more than I want to do. I'll keep my eyes on the ruffstuff or serious gear one day. Man, that swap sounds like a huge job!

 

I like the OffRoadOnly’s U-Turn kit (yeah there are complaints about broken TREs) for 2 main reasons. 1) it is completely bolt on and 2) it will work with a Dana 30 or 44.

 

That U-Turn kit looks nice, but am I seeing things? $650? Yikes!