Comanche County

In case someone is wondering about WJ brakes on the MJ.... Its almost PnP, there are some differences in the WJ D30 and MJ/XJ D30. The WJ D30 is wider, 5' x 5" bolt pattern, stub shaft length is shorter. So to get the larger brakes and retain a 5"x4.5" bolt pattern a few things need to be addressed. It also opens up a can of worms with steering linkages. Best to gather all the parts and make a good plan before tearing into it. Parts needed: WJ knuckles 2000+ XJ/TJ unit bearings Redrilled WJ rotors to 5"x4.5" or purchase Ford Sport-Trac rotors. They are 5"x4.5" and 12" rotors like the WJ rotors. Longer than stock brake lines appropriate for your lift/suspension configuration. The WJ brake line attaches at the bottom of the caliper. Upper XJ/MJ ball joints, lower WJ ball joints. WJ lowers are 1.5"/ft taper, XJ lowers are 2"/ft taper. 02'-04' WJ Akebeno calipers, they have slimmer and longer brake pads that alleviate the rotor warping issue that early WJs experienced with the Teeves calipers. Teeves will work fine though, that's what I pulled at the yard. There were no newer WJs available. 16" wheels, the calipers are bigger. Some 15" wheels will clear but its tight, some will clear with minor grinding on the caliper Steering --- WJ knuckles allow for cross-over steering, best to take advantage of it and ditch the inverted Y set up. The WJ knuckle uses a larger unit bearing, the inner "circle" of the knuckle is larger than the unit bearing. This space can be filled with a spacer like on this link: http://www.4x4wire.c...ckles/index.htm Without filling this space you're risking breaking the unit bearing hub at the three threaded ears where the 12pt bolts attach. The weight of the vehicle will be on those bolts, with heavy offroad use, breakage could happen. Another option to address the space is to weld a 1/4" spacer to the knuckle that has an ID which fits the OD of the unit bearing. JKS sells the spacer, or you could make your own. With this spacer welded to the knuckle, the unit bearing is supported by the knuckle, the knuckle then bears the weight of the vehicle. http://www.4wd.com/J...&t_pn=JKSOGS930 1/4" spacer welded to the knuckle: (pic stolen from the interwebby) Some forgo the welding though and just sandwich the spacer and have no problems. I think welding is the way to go. The stub shaft on the WJ D30 is shorter, if you tried to use the WJ unit bearing the back of the bearing would bottom out against the longer MJ/XJ stub shaft. What needs to happen in order to retain proper axle u-joint, ball joint and brake caliper alignment is to use unit bearings from a 2000+ XJ or TJ with the 1/4" spacer. I have Timken unit bearings on mine that are correct for the my MJ and with the 1/4 spacer, they align the axle u-joints and ball joints, but they do not allow the rotor to line up correctly with the caliper. If you run a parts search on XJ/MJ/ZJ/TJ unit bearings for various years, you'll see there's several different part numbers. The reason you use 2000+ XJ/TJ bearings is because of a difference in brake rotor length of the rotor "hat" (and thickness) in certain years, they're "shorter" and will align the rotors and calipers. This was to compensate for cast rotors. Right now, I've got about a 1/4' space between my caliper bracket and the knuckle. Here's a pic of mine with the older unit bearing. I could use washers or a spacer but I think it would be hokey. I'll get the 2000+ unit bearings and get it lined up correctly. Also, the ID of the WJ rotor needs to be trimmed by a couple of mils. There's a very slight ridge on the unit bearing hub on the WMS side that the rotor will not fit over. The lug nuts would essentially press the rotor on but that would make removal more difficult. btw, the rotors are rusty in my pic, just haven't had them resurfaced yet. There's a ton of info on this swap on the web, also a lot of misinformation. So if I've mistated something someone please correct me. Also, keep in mind I've got a hybrid D44/D30 axle with inverted T hi-steering, its a frankenstein monster that I love/hate. The steering is good and it functions great, and the tie rod is well protected, its really high!!!! But if I had to do this over again, I'd go with a OTK cross-over set up like this: http://www.frontrang...ckle-swap-build Links: http://www.4x4wire.c...ckles/index.htm http://www.virtualje...ckle-conversion http://www.naxja.org...d.php?t=1004721 http://mallcrawlin.c...sion-parts-list http://www.frontrang...ckle-swap-build http://www.jeepsrus....=Tech_WJhubs001

:MJ 1: Nice cage!!!!

Wow, what a truck! The only improvement I'd recommend is curving the bill of your hat. :yes:

That's pretty light for a 10K trailer. My 7K rated 20' footer was 2K lbs. Anyway, my MJ with bumpers, winch, tires, D44s, sliders, single spare, is right at 5K. Can be a couple of hundred to 500 lbs over that depending on what else I'm hauling, which usually consists of plenty of tools, lots of fluids, hi-lift, hydraulic floor jack, storage box of spare parts, cooler full of ice and beer, and then another 230 lbs for my fat butt.

Its almost PnP, there are some differences in the WJ D30 and MJ/XJ D30. The WJ D30 is wider, 5' x 5" bolt pattern, stub shaft length is shorter. So to get the larger brakes and retain a 5"x4.5" bolt pattern a few things need to be addressed. It also opens up a can of worms with steering linkages. Best to gather all the parts and make a good plan before tearing into it. Parts needed: WJ knuckles 2000+ XJ/TJ unit bearings Redrilled WJ rotors to 5"x4.5" or purchase Ford Sport-Trac rotors. They are 5"x4.5" and 12" rotors like the WJ rotors. Longer than stock brake lines appropriate for your lift/suspension configuration. The WJ brake line attaches at the bottom of the caliper. Upper XJ/MJ ball joints, lower WJ ball joints. WJ lowers are 1.5"/ft taper, XJ lowers are 2"/ft taper. 02'-04' WJ Akebeno calipers, they have slimmer and longer brake pads that alleviate the rotor warping issue that early WJs experienced with the Teeves calipers. Teeves will work fine though, that's what I pulled at the yard. There were no newer WJs available. 16" wheels, the calipers are bigger. Some 15" wheels will clear but its tight, some will clear with minor grinding on the caliper Steering --- WJ knuckles allow for cross-over steering, best to take advantage of it and ditch the inverted Y set up. The WJ knuckle uses a larger unit bearing, the inner "circle" of the knuckle is larger than the unit bearing. This space can be filled with a spacer like on this link: http://www.4x4wire.c...ckles/index.htm Without filling this space you're risking breaking the unit bearing hub at the three threaded ears where the 12pt bolts attach. The weight of the vehicle will be on those bolts, with heavy offroad use, breakage could happen. Another option to address the space is to weld a 1/4" spacer to the knuckle that has an ID which fits the OD of the unit bearing. JKS sells the spacer, or you could make your own. With this spacer welded to the knuckle, the unit bearing is supported by the knuckle, the knuckle then bears the weight of the vehicle. http://www.4wd.com/J...&t_pn=JKSOGS930 1/4" spacer welded to the knuckle: (pic stolen from the interwebby) Some forgo the welding though and just sandwich the spacer and have no problems. I think welding is the way to go. The stub shaft on the WJ D30 is shorter, if you tried to use the WJ unit bearing the back of the bearing would bottom out against the longer MJ/XJ stub shaft. What needs to happen in order to retain proper axle u-joint, ball joint and brake caliper alignment is to use unit bearings from a 2000+ XJ or TJ with the 1/4" spacer. I have Timken unit bearings on mine that are correct for the my MJ and with the 1/4 spacer, they align the axle u-joints and ball joints, but they do not allow the rotor to line up correctly with the caliper. If you run a parts search on XJ/MJ/ZJ/TJ unit bearings for various years, you'll see there's several different part numbers. The reason you use 2000+ XJ/TJ bearings is because of a difference in brake rotor length of the rotor "hat" (and thickness) in certain years, they're "shorter" and will align the rotors and calipers. This was to compensate for cast rotors. Right now, I've got about a 1/4' space between my caliper bracket and the knuckle. Here's a pic of mine with the older unit bearing. I could use washers or a spacer but I think it would be hokey. I'll get the 2000+ unit bearings and get it lined up correctly. Also, the ID of the WJ rotor needs to be trimmed by a couple of mils. There's a very slight ridge on the unit bearing hub on the WMS side that the rotor will not fit over. The lug nuts would essentially press the rotor on but that would make removal more difficult. btw, the rotors are rusty in my pic, just haven't had them resurfaced yet. There's a ton of info on this swap on the web, also a lot of misinformation. So if I've mistated something someone please correct me. Also, keep in mind I've got a hybrid D44/D30 axle with inverted T hi-steering, its a frankenstein monster that I love/hate. The steering is good and it functions great, and the tie rod is well protected, its really high!!!! But if I had to do this over again, I'd go with a OTK cross-over set up like this: http://www.frontrang...ckle-swap-build Links: http://www.4x4wire.c...ckles/index.htm http://www.virtualje...ckle-conversion http://www.naxja.org...d.php?t=1004721 http://mallcrawlin.c...sion-parts-list http://www.frontrang...ckle-swap-build http://www.jeepsrus.org/index.asp?p=Tech_WJhubs001

What color is your bench? Blue I'm assuming. I still have my buckets. Not that attached to them.

I just pulled one of those too, but I left it in the back of the MJ....

Score! That's a super sharp XJ I'd love to find one like that, but I think you're gonna miss the comfort of the ZJ. Its not like its hard to get parts for either, but now the yards here are starting to run out of XJs, while it seems ZJs are still showing up steadily. Way more ZJs in the yards nowadays.

Nice work! :thumbsup:

Thanks Mike. I wish I could find the thread that gave me the idea. Essentially they're bigger than Addco's bars and about 100 bucks cheaper. I know the truck is way heavier than a V8 ZJ with all the add-ons so it should handle a lot better. This has been one of those mission creep things, a bad heim joint on my track bar turned into new ball joints, WJ brakes and the sway bar. I also put that headliner in temporarily. Came out of a blue interior truck, Its dirty and I need to recover it in grey as well as my visors. Its looking pretty shabby up there, like my bank account currently. I'm about to blow more dough on the proper unit bearings for the WJ brakes, after that I'll tidy the headliner up. I also lost one of my B pillar lights, dang it.

Thanks Ben, I do get embarrassed at close up pictures of my ugly truck though. One of these days I'll invest in a can of spray paint. :yes:

I'm doing the brake swap now. I've already got the knuckles with the Down East offroad kit that I have. They provide a custom bracket and S-10 single piston calipers, which just aren't strong enough for the weight of my MJ. I believe they used the small calipers to allow 15" wheels, I think their new kits come with proper WJ brakes. I almost creamed a some old lady in a sub-compact the other day which is what spawned the whole operation. That and a bad heim joint on my track bar. Now I'm in for ball joints, four rod ends, calipers and redrilled WJ rotors, figured I might as well do the sway bar while I was there. To do the brakes, you need the WJ knuckles, rotors (or Sport Trac rotors) and calipers (the 2nd gen WJ Akebenos, preferred over the first gen Teeves), but to retain the 5x4.5 bolt pattern you need 2000+ XJ/TJ unit bearings. Just need to pick those up and I'll be done.

I saw this mod on either MiliJeepers or NAGCA and thought I'd try it. Can't find that link but, this is really simple. I'm still working on the brakes so I haven't had a chance to test it out yet but I know it'll be a vast improvement for on road handling. Lots of pictures... Proof it fits even with the skid plate. Some trimming of the skid plate is required. The difference in thickness is substantial. The stock MJ bar was .95" and the WJ bar is 1.25" My MJ is about 5K lbs and the stock bar was only marginally effective. It was bending so bad into the frame you can see how it was rubbing the bolts on my bumper tie-in brackets. Its like this on both sides. And yes, I know I have washers stacked, and no I don't know why I did that? :hmm: You can see the new bar has about 3" of clearance from the unibody. Okay, the sway bar brackets will bolt right in (almost). I used the front holes only and drilled a new hole into the unibody frame for the front holes and tapped it for a new bolt. This moves the sway bar forward. The metal is thin there so I also tacked the front of the sway bar bracket to the frame for a bit of piece of mind. There's a gap between the frame rail and the front of the bracket. But it will pull up tight to the frame rail. I tried to bend the back of the bracket to match the curve in the frame rail but gave up, banged it with a hammer a few times and just threw it up there. No front bolt, with the slight bend I put in the bracket, it cinches up to the frame rail. View from the front: I'd recommend mounting it like this in stock form, but if you've got a skid plate, you'll need to turn it over (upside down) where the front dip in the bar is faced upward. It would be best to drill a hole in the frame rail for the front bolt and attach a nut on the inside of the frame rail by accessing it through the front. With the sway bar moved forward, you could easily fish a nut onto the bolt, its only about 2-3" deep inside the frame. Okay, that's just mounting it. Easy stuff. Now the links. I already have JKS discos, which are old and need replacing btw, but it made it very easy for me. The stock sway bar studs on MJs and XJs are notorious for bending, breaking, or just rust welding to the nut. Later swivel type ZJ and TJ links would be an improvement, but I like the strength of the WJ design. Its single shear but still much better than the MJ/XJ style studded links. I could've used the JKS link bushings but the bolts are too small IMO for a heavy jeep and a single shear type install. So I pressed the bushings out of the stock WJ end links and put them in the JKS discos. OD was close enough and the ID allowed for a much larger bolt. I used the stock WJ bolts to secure the top of the JKS links to the sway bar. Some pics for comparison. The JKS links with the stud bracket which attaches to a stock sway bar. The one on the left has the smaller bushing, on the right you can see the stock WJ end link bushing in the JKS link. The bolt on the right is a 12mm (thickness that is), 18mm head and nut. The rubber on the stock WJ bushing is practically melted, I just shaved it down with my trusty benchmade. Now I thought the skid plate would go right in but that dip was in the way, so I just flipped the bar, its laterally symmetrical. When flipped it did raise up the ends of it slightly, but its no big deal. It even cleared my steering gear box brace, not by much, they're pretty close. Anyway, once I get it rolling again, I'll provide some feedback on improvements in handling. :MJ 1: :cheers:

I saw this mod on either MiliJeepers or NAGCA and thought I'd try it. Can't find that link but, this is really simple. I'm still working on the brakes so I haven't had a chance to test it out yet but I know it'll be a vast improvement for on road handling. Lots of pictures... Proof it fits even with the skid plate. Some trimming of the skid plate is required. The difference in thickness is substantial. The stock MJ bar was .95" and the WJ bar is 1.25" My MJ is about 5K lbs and the stock bar was only marginally effective. It was bending so bad into the frame you can see how it was rubbing the bolts on my bumper tie-in brackets. Its like this on both sides. And yes, I know I have washers stacked, and no I don't know why I did that? :hmm: You can see the new bar has about 3" of clearance from the unibody. Okay, the sway bar brackets will bolt right in (almost). I used the front holes only and drilled a new hole into the unibody frame for the front holes and tapped it for a new bolt. This moves the sway bar forward. The metal is thin there so I also tacked the front of the sway bar bracket to the frame for a bit of piece of mind. There's a gap between the frame rail and the front of the bracket. But it will pull up tight to the frame rail. I tried to bend the back of the bracket to match the curve in the frame rail but gave up, banged it with a hammer a few times and just threw it up there. No front bolt, with the slight bend I put in the bracket, it cinches up to the frame rail. View from the front: I'd recommend mounting it like this in stock form, but if you've got a skid plate, you'll need to turn it over (upside down) where the front dip in the bar is faced upward. It would be best to drill a hole in the frame rail for the front bolt and attach a nut on the inside of the frame rail by accessing it through the front. With the sway bar moved forward, you could easily fish a nut onto the bolt, its only about 2-3" deep inside the frame. Okay, that's just mounting it. Easy stuff. Now the links. I already have JKS discos, which are old and need replacing btw, but it made it very easy for me. The stock sway bar studs on MJs and XJs are notorious for bending, breaking, or just rust welding to the nut. Later swivel type ZJ and TJ links would be an improvement, but I like the strength of the WJ design. Its single shear but still much better than the MJ/XJ style studded links. I could've used the JKS link bushings but the bolts are too small IMO for a heavy jeep and a single shear type install. So I pressed the bushings out of the stock WJ end links and put them in the JKS discos. OD was close enough and the ID allowed for a much larger bolt. I used the stock WJ bolts to secure the top of the JKS links to the sway bar. Some pics for comparison. The JKS links with the stud bracket which attaches to a stock sway bar. The one on the left has the smaller bushing, on the right you can see the stock WJ end link bushing in the JKS link. The bolt on the right is a 12mm (thickness that is), 18mm head and nut. The rubber on the stock WJ bushing is practically melted, I just shaved it down with my trusty benchmade. Okay, there you go, its all bolted up. For those with stock end links and sway axle brackets, yours will look different. My jungle gym of suspension and steering isn't pretty but it works, its unique to this Jeep. So some fiddling and figuring will need to occur to get your links attached. Lot of ways to skin and eat that cat. Now I thought the skid plate would go right in but that dip was in the way, so I just flipped the bar, its laterally symmetrical. When flipped it did raise up the ends of it slightly, but its no big deal. See the difference? It even cleared my steering gear box brace, not by much, they're pretty close. Anyway, once I get it rolling again, I'll provide some feedback on improvements in handling. :MJ 1: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:

Nice, I need to do this one!

God Bless the Gipper!

I'd pull the headliner board, get a cheap fiberglass kit and glass in one or two thin layers on both sides. Just thick enough to strengthen it but no so thick that its nor flexible, its easy to reform the crumbling areas of the headliner board with fiberglass. Then have it reupholstered or just get some fabric from Joann's and do it yourself.

Obama doesn't know Jeep!

Does it have a complete HO conversion or did they just replace the block?

Good progress Mike!

The bed looks better in pictures than in person. It's banged up pretty good on both sides. There was some rust, every bolt on the rear flares broke off. The rear wheel openings are good though.

I'll pull that stuff today for ya.

Yeah awesome!

Just a thought, but like the YJ, those have leafs as well as a track bar, no bueno. Leafs only flex straight up and down while the track bar swings in an arc. Check the track bar mounts, could be cracked and loose or something. I've spent a lot of time under my neighbors 02' F250. His biggest problem is keeping oil in the sterling 10.5, we've done rear seals 3 times and the front unit bearings.

:thumbsup: