track bar drop bracket

[daltonmcgill7]

I'm trying to find the cheapest way to lift my comance soa

I'm going to get control arm drop brackets will these work for a 5'-6' lift?

also ive heard of people using trackbar drop brackets but i can't seem to find them. dot they make them?where can i find them?

do i have to have a drop pitman arm? :huh???:

also will i need swaybar disco's?

:help: :help: :help:

is there anything else I'm missing

would it be cheaper just to get the kit from rockyroad?

also antidisestablishmentarianism size tries can i fit on this lift i was thinking either 33's with no cutting and 35's with some triming

[mkbruin]

Here's what you need:

 

At minimum:

spring perches for the rear, weld-on. $25

RE 4.5" ZJ coils (or other 6 inch XJ coil) $150

Sway-bar disconnect $45

adjustable track bar $150

front shocks. (may need bar pin eliminators) (rear can be re-used if you are el-cheapo using factory plates and shock mounting locations, need to notch the Xmember) $100

Adjustable upper and lower control arms $300-400

longer front brake lines $30

Rear driveshaft (had a new one custom made for mine, slip yoke) $125

 

To do it right:

longer brake lines front/rear $50

upgraded drag-link and tie rod $150

longer rear shocks and new mounts added (gain ~5 inches in shock length) $100

SYE $150

re-gear $500

long-arms and t-case crossmember $1,000

 

 

 

Keep in mind, no one company makes the all-around best of everything, and its ok to mix and match. I would not use drop brackets. They are designed for the XJ, and won't work with the already re-inforced MJ control arm mounts. That, and it adds a lot of stress at the unibody. I wouldn't touch them. The track bar and the drag link should match angle-wise. I wouldn't drop either. Just reinforce or beef-up the track-bar and drag link itself.

 

I built mine the cheap way and had such caster issues I could not go over 45mph without death wobble. On a DD. Made getting to and from trails a long, long experience.

I used RE 4.5 ZJ coils. RE adj trackbar. RE fixed LCA (shop sold me the wrong stuff). Sway bar discos. Rancho RS5000 shocks. custom rear driveshaft, no SYE.

 

The cheap way (my old, former, 89), nowhere near max-flex:

[DJM/78]

Looks good mkbruin , Don't get to see your builds very much . For the price your better of finding a complete kit with everything you need .

The Comanche specific RE HD super flex 5.5" kit was the cheapest/best I found 1100 .$ everything included .

The only thing it didn't include was the SOA kit and the SYE kit , yes you still have to address steering , axles and drive shaft .

 

No you don't have to do a SYE or re-gear the axles but your going to down the road anyway .

 

My advise is to do it right the first time . I have had 0 problems with this lift . It rides better than my 2" lift ever rode .

IMHO , I've had no regrets with the new RE track bar end and the short arms . They have refined them over the last two years .

Long arms are the way to go if you got the chedda' , which I will be doing in the distant future .

 

[jpnjim]

you still have to address steering

 

Couple questions Dave,

where did you get the MJ length steering arms for (I'm assuming) WJ knuckles?

 

Did you have any clearance issues after flipping the TRE's? (how about with factory wheels?)

 

 

Thanks,

Jimmy

[DJM/78]

I haven't tried the stock offset wheels but it looks as if there would be enough room .

 

The knuckle is a Tera-Flex high steer 1 ton kit , just comes with the knuckle .

Rod ends and links are all Tera- HD . I believe they were the tapered version , with the TRE there were no clearance issues , knowing that I relocated the sway bar .

For that I used the Tera sway relocation brackets .

Rods were custom made from .281 wall dom to fit .

I don't know it does look close . :dunno:

[jpnjim]

Tera Knuckles would've been my second guess. :D

 

(I actually figured most of my fellow MJ'ers were too cheap to go that route ;) )

 

 

 

Sooner, or later I'll get around to swapping WJ knuckles on the Trail-MJ.

 

With the tie rods under the steering arm (stock position), it seems like stock 16's, or aftermarket (less backspacing) steel 15's work.

I'm just wondering if both will still work with the TRE's flipped.

 

I don't know how close/different the Tera arms are from stock WJ arms (they look pretty close),

but it looks like I may have to try, and see for myself.

 

Thanks for the fast reply. :cheers:

 

(and for the close up pics!)

[DJM/78]

Glad I'm finally learning to help people on here , up till now I've been mostly useless as far as tech , but I'm getting a crash course in learning not to use the BIG hammer all the time . :no:

[mkbruin]

My recomendation for beefy steering on the cheap is to ream the TRE holes a little, use Chevy TRE's, and use tapped DOM for the drag link and tie rod.

 

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthre ... light=totm

 

not mine:

Here are the part numbers for the steering ends.

 

ES2234R (you need 2 of these) - 28.99 ea

ES2027L (one needed) - 27.99

ES2233L (one needed) - 33.99

 

Just so you know there is a difference between the drag link end and a tie rod end. ES2027L is a drag link end. It allows for a larger angle to be achieved.

 

ES2027L is the passenger tie rod end. This is originally designed for a chevy under the knuckle and the hole is drilled to a smaller taper for the wrong direction. The hole is for the steering stabilizer on a chevy. So this needs reamed from the opposite direction to accept the tie rod end. There is plenty of material to support this.

 

Here is what the rod ends look like. Yes I know there are no cotter pins on the castle nuts and the jam nuts need tightened, I still need to do an alignment.

 

 

My new tie rod is 1.25 .335 4130 DOM. Drilled and tapped to accept the 7/8” x 18 thread of the tie rod ends. This way there are no welds to fail.

 

You can go to regular DOM and weld in bungs if you want something less expensive.

 

The knuckles and pitman arm will also have to the reamed. The knuckles from the top down to go OTK and the pitman arm to accept the larger drag link end.

[daltonmcgill7]

i was wondering if i did go soa in the back could i put some kind of lowering shackle on and maybe take a leaf out to drop it to about 3-4 inches of lift insted of 5-6 and just get some 3 inch coils for the front and new shocks. the reason i wanna go soa is because I'm sick of hitting my springs on the ground i want more ground clearence.

[mkbruin]

its possible, but not with the current leaf pack... I would look at late-70's dodge ram/ramcharger/trailblazer packs to use with a MJ main. They are about the same, length, width, and center pin location, but they were SOA factory, and have less arch.

 

I can't remember if J10 packs are SUA or SOA, but they are also the same length/width/centerpin as MJ packs.

[possum]

I am using the Skyjacker track bar drop bracket and can't see any problems with it.

[DJM/78]

IMHO , if your going to go SOA leave the stock packs alone . They ride just fine with the SOA . Giving the perfect amount of lift to get a very small rake .

Anything you load in the back will easily level it out at 5.5" . I can't stand sag , I would rather have a small rake and be able to level it out with load , knowing your going to be

putting all kinds of stuff back there anyway .

[mkbruin]

I figured I would share a few more pics of my old rig....

 

RE non-adjustable LCA's, no drop bracket

RE adjustable track bar

RE ZJ 4.5 coils

spring over rear

 

[Blaine]

sorry to thread jack this and bring up a very old topic, but how did you do you drive line angles to keep your diff like that. with what appears to be a slip yoke drive shaft

 

IMHO , if your going to go SOA leave the stock packs alone . They ride just fine with the SOA . Giving the perfect amount of lift to get a very small rake .
Anything you load in the back will easily level it out at 5.5" . I can't stand sag , I would rather have a small rake and be able to level it out with load , knowing your going to be
putting all kinds of stuff back there anyway .