ZJ tie rod upgrade question
 

This last weekend I did the ZJ tie rod swap, but I ran into a couple problems. he first thing that happened was that I wasn't able to get the new Drag link to match the original one in length. It was about a half inch longer that the stock one. The TRE would only go so far into the adjuster sleeve then it stopped moving. It went on okay though. Second now when I take a turn the steering feels wobbly. I figure I should go through and tighten the bolts a little more to see if that corrects that problem. Will an alignment fix the issue with the drag link being a little off? OR do I need to look at something else?

Thanks your help!

If I'm not mistaken you are not suppose to use a zj drag link or you run into the problem you ran into.


Put the xj drag link back on. If the tre's are shot buy new ones for an xj. Adjust to where the wheel is straight. And then align it.

Here's what this guy used:
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f67/st...pgrade-235702/

I'm pretty sure he is having a problem with the ds1311 drag link being that it's from a zj and is longer

the stock xj drag link is moog-ds1238

And the zj tierod is ds1312

Both use the same ends and collars

Here are the parts I used when I upgraded the steering on my 91 XJ: (I used the same parts on a 1990 XJ as well!!)

(2) ES3096 (short tie rod end)
(One is for the drag link & one is for the tie rod)

(1) ES2079S (Adjuster sleeve)
You can buy (2) new ones or you can buy just (1) new one and reuse your short adjuster sleeve currently on your OE setup.

(1) DS1310 Long tie rod

(1) DS1312 Drag Link long end

You can get this stuff from any auto parts store like NAPA, Pep Boys, Autozone, Etc. I got mine from NAPA.


Dennis

Thanks for the help! This weekend I will see about getting the XJ drag link back on and see if that helps. That could also explain why I could not get the adjuster sleeve to tighten all the way.

I did the swap on my 87 and used zj everything, drag link, adjustment sleeves and tre's. Had death wobble so I just bought new tre for the zj I got it off of. I've read that the only steering you want is the v8 zj which if I'm not mistaken is only 98s. But in other words I haven't had any problems with my drag link and the steering wheel was wobbly like how you described yours but that was also fixes by new tre's.

just for clarification, 98 was the only year for the 5.9 v8, but every other ZJ has option of the 5.2 v8 (and also 4.0 I6). so any year v8 ZJ tie rod ends will do

Didn't know that was an option for every year my bad. Thanks for the info.

Yeah any zj v8 will do,They are a little thicker tie rod end and the drag link is solid while the inline 6 zj and the xj its hollow