pingpong Posted January 4, 2010 Posted January 4, 2010 I have been loads of research since I am home bound. To me is seems like a worth while swap. Has anyone done it on this site? Anytips you want to pass on?
87Warrior Posted January 4, 2010 Posted January 4, 2010 I went the easy way and bought the Vanco 16" kit for my TJ :rotf: It seems that once you get the knuckles all buttoned together, your biggest problem is proper tracbar geometry. I will keep an eye out on your progress as I would like to do something for the MJ in the future. Makes me wonder what kind of work would be needed to swap in the D30 from a WJ :dunno:
dasbulliwagen Posted January 4, 2010 Posted January 4, 2010 I have a WJ Dana 30 sitting (BURIED) underneath my workbench. I havent taken any measurements to compare between the XJ/MJ Dana 30 and the WJ Dana 30, but the upper and lower control arms are the same lengths, and measuring the bolt pattern shows 4 1/2. My thinking (that could and probably is wrong) is that the spring buckets and control arm mounts may be spaced farther apart than on the smaller XJ/MJ platform. I would love it if someone would chime in to confirm or not, but then again I'm the one with a WJ axle sitting around. If I can soon, Ill try to measure the front parts of the MJ for comparison, but its been real cold here and I don't feel like laying on the ground. Let me know if you really need this info assuming no one else chimes in and Ill make sure to get it.
87Warrior Posted January 4, 2010 Posted January 4, 2010 whats the advantge of wj knucles and stuff WJ's use a dual piston brake caliper and a larger rotor (IIRC). In order to get the dual piston caliper bolted up it must be mated with he WJ knuckles. The WJ's D30 ends were changed some when compared to the MJ/XJ/TJ D30 thus requiring some modifications to get it to fit right. The factory D30 on our MJ/XJ/TJ's have inherent design problems that become really prevalent when running bigger than stock tires. The knuckles wearing down and pad flex are the two big problems I understand the factory system to have. Perhaps not as much of a problem on our MJ's with the weak power booster. You can log onto just about any Jeep forum, search "brakes", and come up with 'mr.blaine' and vanco discussions. Enough reading for all eternity I think :yes: Using the WJ knuckles and brakes give more stopping power than any off the shelf rotor or pad kit can, and theoretically should be cheaper than going with the Vanco big brake kit.
freakjeep93 Posted January 4, 2010 Posted January 4, 2010 so shouldnt you just be able to take one knucle off an put the other one on?
LEAD_NOT_FOLLOW Posted January 4, 2010 Posted January 4, 2010 WJ is 5 on 5 bolt pattern. It was the first one that Jeep went back to the larger bolt pattern with. WJ also has different size coils (larger diameter). So the coil buckets need to be changed even if they are in the correct position.
pingpong Posted January 4, 2010 Author Posted January 4, 2010 From my research there are several problems with just doing one side. Mostly to do with ackerman angles. The bolt patern is different on the WJ from the mj. IT also gives you a hi steer style setup. No inverted Y setup no more. Also bigger then stock (mj/xj) size tre's. I am doing it to improve steering angles. JKS makes the spacers needed to run the mj wheel bearings and still use stock axle shafts. They also make a threaded steering link where all you have to do is provide the TRE's and Jamb nuts. They also make a pretty trick trac bar relocation bracket.
Eagle Posted January 4, 2010 Posted January 4, 2010 I have a WJ Dana 30 sitting (BURIED) underneath my workbench. I havent taken any measurements to compare between the XJ/MJ Dana 30 and the WJ Dana 30, but the upper and lower control arms are the same lengths, and measuring the bolt pattern shows 4 1/2. Better measure again. The WJ bolt pattern is not 5 x 4-1/2, it's 5 x 5.
JeepcoMJ Posted January 5, 2010 Posted January 5, 2010 WJ is 5 on 5 bolt pattern. It was the first one that Jeep went back to the larger bolt pattern with. WJ also has different size coils (larger diameter). So the coil buckets need to be changed even if they are in the correct position. the coil buckets don't matter at all if you're just swapping knuckles. and I'm willing to bet someone out there can figure out how to make 5x4.5 wheel bearings work....I KNOW some guys have already done this swap on naxja.
LEAD_NOT_FOLLOW Posted January 5, 2010 Posted January 5, 2010 the coil buckets don't matter at all if you're just swapping knuckles. My post was in response to 87Warrior about just swapping in a WJ D30 axle. :smart:
JeepcoMJ Posted January 5, 2010 Posted January 5, 2010 the coil buckets don't matter at all if you're just swapping knuckles. My post was in response to 87Warrior about just swapping in a WJ D30 axle. :smart: tenfer
pingpong Posted January 5, 2010 Author Posted January 5, 2010 and I'm willing to bet someone out there can figure out how to make 5x4.5 wheel bearings work....I KNOW some guys have already done this swap on naxja. THe issue wouldnt be making the front work 5x5, it would be making the rear axles work in my situation. I all ready have dual pattern alloy shafts. They are 5x5.5 or 5x4.5. Mr blaine had a pic up on pirate I think where he drilled a stock unit bearing for the 5x5.5 and there wasnt enough meat to do it. So it appears if I do this, I am stuck running my wheel spacers, or changing bolt pattern. Since I all ready have the wheel spacers, I will continue with that route :yes:
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