JeepTrick68

I've heard about the advantage of swapping in a ZJ tie rod, but what about the drag link? Is that interchangeable? If so, is it stronger? Also, is it possible to flip the ZJ tie rod over the knuckle?

Demonoid369

Well the last question I would think would be a bad idea as ours passenger side isn't above but the rest of the questions, search on here, there was a thread that showed differences and such between the zj and xj

cdn_xj

You can swap the drag link as well, but it will gain you nothing. In fact, if you still run the OEM front skid, it might actually be more problematic: I noticed on MY XJ that the ZJ drag link is bent a little differently from the XJ drag link. Not by much, but just enough to cause intereference with the tailing edge of the skid.

So rather than going through a bunch of effort for no real gain, restrict the swap to the tie rod.

You can flip the tierod but you would been to reverse the taper in the steering knuckle. goferit makes an insert that can be welded into the knuckle to do so. But you have to ream out the existing hole in the knuckle first.

cdn_xj

Being an inverted-Y, flipping the driver's side of the tierod would actually bring it pretty close to level with the passenger side. you would also gain a little clearance with the tierod moving it further up out of harm's way.

The downside is that the lower swaybar mounts will need to be raised up as it appears on my XJ at least) that there will be some interference between the tierod and the driver's side swaybar mount.

Also, because of my lift, the passenger side tierod end hits my lower swaybar mount when the suspension is at full droop on the passenger side.

Fred/N0AZZ

This is where an aftermarket one is needed. I have the ZJ tie rod swap in mine all new and less than $100 at AutoZone can't be beat for the money in upgrades.

McGeeXJ

Brand new hd tie rod from rustys costs $100. Can't beat that.

Fred/N0AZZ

Yes and that was for the 3 pieces long tie rod, short tie rod and the sleeve including tax. Do a search it was just a few weeks that this came up with all the part #'s and prices where I posted about it. Others linked me to original post great upgrade for the buck.

JeepTrick68

I've heard of the goferit insert. didn't know it had to be welded in. Thanks

JeepTrick68

How much lift do you run? I wonder if it would interfere with 3". Thanks

JeepTrick68

Thanks for all the help!

Tony_SS

I plan on using the ZJ tie rod... the ends are much thicker than the XJ... no point in changing the drag link.

JeepTrick68

Definitely gonna do this mod!

ZINGGG

You can always beat a Rusty's part...

ohio95xj

Just make sure you don't beat it with anything harder than a pillow or it will break. Lol

M4RK

I have Rusty's components on my 98 XJ and have had zero issues. Granted I don't take it wheeling every weekend but I've bet the hell out of my XJ for the past 3 years now and taken it off road more times to count and none of the suspension components have failed me...yet. As a proactive measure I plan on doing this swap myself. This may sound like a stupid question but will the front wheels need to be off the ground to do this swap? Thanks in advance.