ZJ V8 Steering Upgrade notes and experience

[coolwind57]

 

This young fellas makes some really good XJ videos.  I had a tie rod that was going out so I looked into this upgrade.  I followed this video, and ordered the same MOOG parts that he had listed and had a pretty decent experience.  The drag link was the only non-MOOG part.  I bought all my parts from Rock Auto and they arrived earlier than expected, maybe 3 days, I think.  Here's some note of what you may run into as an MJ owner:

 

1.  Once assembled, the drag link adjustment did not allow me to adjust the centering of my steering wheel.  There were few threads remaining and the outer tie rod end and drag link end bottomed out in the adjustment collar.  When I compared side-to-side, I did notice that the drag link was curved just slightly different than my original MJ, just after the steering damper bolt.  The adjustment collars were also a bit longer.  The outer tie rod was a bit longer as well and had threads began further from the movable joint.  I made this all work in the end by removing (cutting) 1-1/4" from the threaded end of the tie rod.  All good and it took care of the problem.  

 

My steering damper was maybe 3 years old so I left it, pending it's performance after the upgrade.  No issues, so I've chosen to leave it on and not unnecessarily replace.

 

2.  The outer tie rod ends takes you from 11/16 (I'm pretty sure) to a much larger 22mm.  And the biggest thing is the inner tie rod is larger and solid instead of stock hollow tube with interior threaded ends.  This upgrade adds an adjustment collar (same as the one of the drag link), so adjustment has you turning the adjustment collar instead of trying to rotate the entire inner tie rod tube.  I liberally applied lots of anti-seize on all threads throughout this set up. 

 

I took her to an alignment shop and paid I think $150 for a life-time alignment.  No surprise that they're recommending adjustable upper ball joints to get it all completely dialed in.  

 

Night and day difference?  Naw, not really.  It does feel a bit different and certainly more stable, especially considering that I had a bad tie rod end.  It's obviously a much more rigid, heavy-duty set up for sure. 

 

I do really need to work on the steering system a bit more.  I want to get the time to drop that stock steering box spacer and get that area more stable.  Best of luck if you fellas decide to upgrade as the video and I did.  

 

 

 

  

[PIKE]

6 hours ago, coolwind57 said:

1.  Once assembled, the drag link adjustment did not allow me to adjust the centering of my steering wheel.

The Drag Link part # he shows in his link is wrong,  it should be a Moog DS1238. That is the Part # I used when I did my conversion and everything went together perfect. I agree with all his other part #s. The Ds1238 is for a 91-01 Cherokee. The number he shows is for a Grand Cherokee and does not work well as you found out.

 

Conversion Part #s.

MOOG DS1312

MOOG DS1238

MOOG ES3096L  -  2 needed

MOOG ES2079S  -  2 needed

 

 

 

 

 

[coolwind57]

18 hours ago, PIKE said:

The Drag Link part # he shows in his link is wrong,  it should be a Moog DS1238. That is the Part # I used when I did my conversion and everything went together perfect. I agree with all his other part #s. The Ds1238 is for a 91-01 Cherokee. The number he shows is for a Grand Cherokee and does not work well as you found out.

 

Conversion Part #s.

MOOG DS1312

MOOG DS1238

MOOG ES3096L  -  2 needed

MOOG ES2079S  -  2 needed

 

 

 

 

 

Yea, like I said above, the drag link that I bought was a non-MOOG part...I just can't remember the brand name.  The MOOG drag link was not available from RockAuto and was difficult to find.  A local parts store showed them, but they were like a couple hundred dollars to get one if I recall correctly.

 

It was a temporary hurdle, but it all worked out for me.  The video is a really good guide, regardless.  Thanks for supplying good numbers for the next guy.   

[watchamakalit]

I just did the same swap on my MJ. Had the same issue with the drag link.  I did the same and went with another manufacturer. I was hesitant to do so but the price of moog at our local part stores is insane. 

[PIKE]

$ 43.99 at Rock Auto

 

 

 

[Eagle_SX4]

2 weeks ago I upgraded my drag link and went with the Moog DS1238 (91+ XJ drag link 22mm threads). I got it on rock auto for about $45+ shipping.

 

I did not know about the ZJ tie rod with the 22mm threads I will be looking to swap to that soon.

 

To me the best solution is to use the 91+ XJ drag link and the ZJ tie rod. So you get 22 mm threads all around and don't have to modify anything.