JMRobins1

I'm gonna plate the inside and outside of the frame with 3/16" steel and drill new holes. I'll put heavy wall tube in there to provide support against crushing the frame rail. I haven't picked the final location yet, but I have a couple of easy inches I can more it forwards and it looks like it'll work well and be easy. I have to get rid of the factory sheet metal front support anyways for the radiator, so nothing is new there. The spline that connects to the steering box is different, but the actual steering shaft is the same. I'll probably pull the telescoping tubes apart and just put in the WJ front half. It all looks pretty straightforwards. I have the box resting in there right now to see how much clearance I have, and it'll be plenty once its done. The pitman arms are different in both height and length between the XJ and WJ so that gives me options. I'm also gonna compare those pitman arms to my JK and see if that'll be an option too. The box hits the factory anti sway bar right now, so I removed that for mock up. I'm using an aftermarket one so that's not a concern. The WJ has a much better steering box in my opinion due to the large separation in bearings. It looks like it'll be a win-win all around. The JK steering box is similar, so can be an option too, but I figured the WJ would be easier to mate the XJ steering shaft to.

Thanks for the response. I think I'm going to put a WJ steering box in the XJ instead of building a bracket like that. It'll give me the room I need and allow me to move the axle forwards for more tire clearance.

What alternator did you use in place of the factory one? I'm currently doing the same swap in an XJ. Thanks