Motion Offroad

We've found that some years pre '90 have the factory cross-member moved forward based on what motor/tranny combo they have. If your cross-member uses the front 2 sets of holes the factory t-case skid will not line up with the holes for the frame rail nutserts. If you have an auto (AW4) your fine no matter what motor. If you have a stick it will be based on what motor and what tranny you have.

Doing SOA in the rear with 2WD leafs will probably net you 5" of lift depending on the condition of your leaf packs. Drop pitman arms should ONLY be used if you're lowering the trackbar mount on the frame, or raising it on the axle, otherwise it will cause bumpsteer. The whole belief that you need a drop pitman arm with a lift has been perpetuated from the days of leaf sprung vehicles without trackbars. On these vehicles you wanted to keep the angle of the draglink as flat as possible to minimize bumpsteer. On vehicles with a trackbar (like on your MJ), you want to keep the draglink as parallel to the trackbar as possible to minimize bumpsteer. A dropped pitman arm will also increase the amount of torque/axial loading on the shaft your steering box experiences. With 4" of lift your ower control arms should be at 16 3/8" and your upper control arms at 15". You can get away with using your factory uppers but the lowers really should be about an inch longer.

Even if the tires are out of balance with DW you typically still have other issues. The out of balance tires is just what helps the DW get going. The root of the problem typically is something else. Unless the person who balanced the tires is a smuck and they are WAY off balance I don't think that the tires being a "little" off is going to the root of the problem. It's most likely one of the other things we mentioned above.

The mounting bracket is 3/16 inch. Mount drops frame end about 1/4 - 1/2 inch. Tube is constructed with beefy 1.25 inch OD x .25 inch wall DOM tubing (basically the same as our steering kits, just DOM). Strong yield strength at 53,000 lbs. per square inch. Polyurethane (prothane brand) bushings both ends. Rod end is 7/8 inch shaft. Should work with 2-5 inch of lift. Comes powder-coated black (both bracket and bar). Been tested on a MJ with our 3" lift with good results. Have not trail tested it hard yet though as we've been to busy. 1st batch should be at the powder-coater in about a week. Depending on the feedback we may swap out our heim trackbar with these in our 3" and 4.5" lift kits, or let customer decide if they want to upgrade to this one (not sure yet what our plans are).

Whats the low-down on the Pitbulls? Do you like them? How are they on the rocks? Almost bought a set but decided on the Maxxis Creepy Crawlers instead.

PM sent. :cheers:

Not the RE HD (RE1660) bar. That bar won't work in your application anyways. The RE bar has a larger superflex joint on the end, and the bracket itself is larger (and designed different), as well as the diameter of the tubing used for the bar itself..

The MJ's only came with 3 axle options (well 4 if you count both versions of the D35). Non of which where the Chrysler 8.25". AMC 20 - 29 Spline, one piece axle shafts, 8.875" Ring Gear. Only found in '86 models and worth gold if you can get your hands on one. D35 non c-clip - 27 spline, 1.18" diameter shafts, 7.58" ring gear, 2.62" axle tube - used 86-89. D35 c-clip - 27 spline, 1.18" diameter shafts, 7.58" ring gear, 2.62" axle tube - used 89-92. D44 non c-clip - 30 spline, 1.31" diameter shafts, 8.5" ring gear, 2.75" axle tube - used 87-89. The D35 (especially c-clip versions) are weak. They are small splined, small diameter shafts and are easily broken. Adding a locker to the mix just puts more stress on the shafts and you'll likely break one. If you want to keep your axle and run a locker I'd highly recommend upgrading to chromo shafts.

Measure from mounting bolt on the axle end to the mounting hole on the TRE end for me (giving me an overall length). If you like the above design I can have one custom made to work with what you need.

Your experiencing death wobble (or known as DW). DW is a situation where the front axle begins oscillating with such violence that control of the Jeep is difficult until slowed down, and the entire vehicle shakes to the point you feel it will come apart. It can be caused by many things. Some of the most common are; - Bad TRE's on the tie rod. - Unbalanced wheels/tires. - Bad bushings in the control arms. - Bad trackbar mount/bushing/tre. - Bad balljoints (not as likely though). Since you said you've had your wheels/tires balanced I'd first check the TRE's on the tie rod as well as the condition of your trackbar. Those tend to be the most common, followed than by the control arm bushings.

Don, What is the overall length you need? This may be another option that includes a heavy duty mount and bushing ends on both ends. I'd have to measure it but it may work...

Lay tape down first so you don't chip the paint. You than can draw a straight line on top of the tape to use as a reference for your cut to keep it straight. We've always use a dremel with a hd cuttoff wheel to make that small cut with good results.

If they are both pointing inboard than you have the shortest distance created and they should fit. Are both the disco's hanging perfectly vertical? The way you have it setup is identical to how the factory had it setup. The disco's hang directly under the mounting location so their shouldn't be an issue. Just make sure the disco's are hanging perfectly vertical. I'd try loosing the swaybar mounting bolts and just shifting everything until it all lines up.

On the driver side do you have the lower mounting pin facing inboard (away from tire) or outboard (towards tire)?

Don, Replied to your PM. :cheers: Not trying to be a "salesman", but the major thing I do not like about the TF bar is that the TRE is not replaceable on it. To replace the TRE you have to replace half of the entire tracbar. The TRE is built into the bar (see pic). Also a TB that is not 1 solid peice is more prone to breaking. I know your not offroading your MJ so it's not a major concern. Just something to consider. ;)

SOA in the rear will net you a min. of 5.5". Most see right at 6.5" of lift with a SOA on the MJ's. It will be based on what leafs your using (4wd, 2wd, or metric ton). It will also be based on what leaf perches you use. Some perches sit higher than others so you'll get more lift simply due to that fact. This is why our 4.5" and 3" kits include new rear leaf packs (made by Alcan FYI). If your going with SOA rear you'll need a 6.5" front coil for it to sit level. Running 6.5" coils is than in our opinion in need of longarms. I believe that the RRO kit uses a 3" coil with a 2" spacer to get 5" of lift. Why don't they just use the correct 5" coil to begin with? Also the RRO kit does not include lower control arms. They are needed at 5" of lift. Why are they not included? So if you bump upto a 6.5" coil with stock control arms your asking for major issues. But to answer your question a SOA with a 5" hodge-podge of lift in the front will still make your MJ sit like the above photo.

We don't like TB drop brackets on the axle end. Here is why; 1) They typically are junk and bend. The majority if them use small hardware. Your also putting more stress on the factory mount. 2) It drops your trackbar. What happens the majority of the time is this messes up your trackbar vs. draglink angle. You want the draglink and the trackbar to be parallel to each other. Adding a drop bracket makes them so they are not; thus causing bumpsteer. 3) If you wheel your rig they tend to get cought on rocks and are easily ripped off being that they hang down. The factory location isn't the best, but it's better than a bracket hanging down another 3+ inches. If you do anything with the mount you'd want to raise it with the way that the factory steering setup is designed. Honestly I'd recommend to just buy a new adjustable one. They are not that awful expensive for one's in your lift height range. I think it will save you a headache down the road and it will keep your steering feeling like it currently does.

As far as getting the trackbar to where it needs to be I've always just turned the steering wheel a bit and it will shift the "body". Works very well; especially if you have a 2nd person. I don't like to re-drill a hole for the trackbar. I've seen way to many mounts crack as the result of doing so. Typically what happens is they crack between the 2 holes, than elongating the holes and causing more issues than it was worth. Only fix than is to weld a new mount on.

What about all the other car parts at the "big name" suppliers like Napa, Autoxzone, etc. that have 10 year old hoses, or 10 year old bushings, or 10 year old TRE's, etc. sitting on their shelves in a warehouse somewhere that they continue to stock their stores with? What if I said I had a set of factory MJ bedsides that were "new". We all know those are over 10 years old. Would you be upset if you laid down some cash on those? Point is that not just the tire industry does it. A part that is not used and in original packaging is considered new; no matter hold old it is. Non-the-less it's an interesting topic about the tires...

The raised part faces down. It will sit inside of the coil itself to help keep the coil centered. The flat part goes against the body. It's flat like that for clearance. When your installing it you'll see why. It should only fit one way. Let us know if we can be of any further help.

Where did the shaft break at?

Here are the "cliff notes" on our directions with our coil spacers. 1. Remove front wheels. 2. Unbolt the sway bar end links. 3. Unbolt the shocks at the axle end. 4. Jack vehicle up and support the vehicle by the framerails with jackstands. 5. Place a floor jack under the axle. 6. Lift on side of the axle up and let the other side hang down. 7. Remove coil. 8. Place coil spacer over the "nubber". Somtimes requires the use of a rubber mallet to pound it on. 9. Place coil back in. 10. Reinstall everything.

A 12 bolt and a AMC 20 is NOT the same thing. 12 bolts were found in early Chevy's and are totally different.

Just because your Jeep won't see much offroad use does not mean that you should compromise the use of quality parts. Actually with a Jeep that sees daily driving duties it's just as, if not more important to use quality parts on. Doing SOA in the rear on a MJ will net you anywhere from 5.5-7" of lift. A 4.5" coil in the front with a SOA rear will look funny (in our opinion). You really will need a 6.5" coil for the front to make it sit level. In our opinion for 31" tires you want to keep it right around 3-3.5" of lift max. You can flex the tires out good with a quality lift at this height, but still keep your COG down on the trails. Some thoughts based on a 3" lift... Adjustable Trackbar - In our opinion anything over 2" of lift on a XJ/MJ should use an adjustable tracbar. The factory one just is not long enough. Trackbar drop brackets are just asking for issues as well. An adjustable trackbar keeps your axle centered under your rig, and at 3" of lift it is noticeable that your axle is not centered anymore. Plus if you ran with the stock trackbar it can (and probably will) wear your tires funny over time. Trackbars are much cheaper than a new set of tires. Coils vs. Spacers - A debatable topic. In our opinion anything over 1.5" of spacer is a "no-no". I'd venture to say that in my opinion the only reason spacers should be ran is to level out a lift, or for more lift after a heavy duty aftermarket bumper and/or winch. Coils are cheap once again in the 3" range. Just go with a quality set of coils and you'll be good. Some vendors just sell "coils"; others have actually spring rate matched them to the Jeeps that they are meant for. Lower Control Arms - Once again a debatable topic in the 3" lift range. At 3"-4" of lift your lower control arms should be at least 16" long to keep the axle centered in the wheel well. That's at least 1" longer than stock. Our 3" kit includes adjustable lower control arms. Why adjustable? Many guys down the road go larger and with adjustable you don't have to buy new LCA's when/if you do go larger. Non the less, anything in our opinion over 3" should include new lower control arms. After the 5" height you REALLY should be considering longarms. Rear Leafs vs. Add A Leafs (AAL's) - Depends on the condition of your factory packs and if your going to be offroading it or using it as a truck to haul/carry things. AAL's make your leaf packs sag faster, and throwing a miss-matched leaf with more/less arch into a factory pack typically makes the ride suffer greatly. We feel new leafs are the best route; thus why our kit comes with them. I don't care how "good" of an AAL you are using, the factory packs just are not up to the task of lasting with one. Do it right the first time and you'll thank yourself. Swaybar Disco's - EVERY Jeep driven on the road should have their swaybar connected. Driving your jeep offroad you'll get better flex with your swaybar disco'd. Bumpstops - XJ front bumpstops work on the MJ. The rear is a bit more tricky and we've got a trick setup for the MJ coming on the market in the very near future. Bumpstops are important as they limit the flex and prevent your springs/leafs from over flexing and wearing them out sooner. Also you typically get more flex when you hit your bumpstop as it forces the other side of the axle down. Typically not as important with a 3" lift as most tires ran with 3" lifts are 31x10.5's and they stuff into the fender well's much nicer than larger/wider tires do. Just go with quality products and you'll be fine. Many vendors/manufactures think that the XJ and MJ are the same and will try to sell you an XJ lift kit. Typically this leads to poor ride quality with miss-matched spring rates and using parts that shouldn't ever of been on a MJ to begin with. All I can really honestly recommend is go with good proven quality parts as they will last longer and get you an overall better end result. Spend the extra money now upfront as it will save you money in the long run. It's like buying a new car; both will get you to where you need to go however the quality (lets say Kia vs. Honda) will last twice as long and have less problems over time.

We have several sets in stock and ship same day on orders received by 3PM.