OTK WJ knuckle swap. What could go wrong?

[travisk]

Cal came by today and took a look at my mess. Going to change a few things up since the offset TREs don't fit with my 15" wheels.

He came up with this idea for a rotor drilling template:

1. Hammer studs out of old XJ wheel hub
2. Center new brake disk on top of hub
3. Center old brake disk on top of hub
4. Drill. Once I can get one bolt through, it will hold the template in place.

 

[Devilfrog]

When I did mine the old rotor fit snuggly inside the new rotor. Worked just like a drill jig.

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[techno1154]

Cal came by today and took a look at my mess. Going to change a few things up since the offset TREs don't fit with my 15" wheels.

He came up with this idea for a rotor drilling template:

1. Hammer studs out of old XJ wheel hub
2. Center new brake disk on top of hub
3. Center old brake disk on top of hub
4. Drill. Once I can get one bolt through, it will hold the template in place.

What would changing the rotor do? Is it a different depth hat or a different thickness flange that will push the wheel further out?

 

[1990JEEPXJ]

No you need to redrill the WJ rotors to 5x4.5

 

[techno1154]

No you need to redrill the WJ rotors to 5x4.5

Oh! Ok!
So he is running the WJ rotors. I did not get that. Don't they have the same back space/height and hat size as the XJ rotors? My recollection seems to indicate that only the bolt spacing and the overall diameter are different.

I think I missed something there. How will that help in making the knuckles fit inside the wheel?

I am now running the WK rotors and calipers on my XJ which is a complete custom fabrication job,... but that is for another topic.

 

[travisk]

I've hit a SNAFU.

Since the offset tie rod ends would not fit with my 15" wheels, Cal convinced me to switch the tie rod to 3/4" x 3/4" FK rod ends with a Stinky Fab solid aluminum tie rod that would bend around the diff cover at full lock.

As I prepared to drill out the knuckles for a straight 3/4" bolt, I realized that the knuckles I reamed were already bigger than 3/4" at the top. That's not going to work.

So I either have to go back to 1-ton TREs or possibly 7/8" FK rod ends, if they fit in the wheels. Both would work with the solid aluminum tie rod.

If only someone made an cost-effective WJ knuckle kit with all the right parts ready to go...

 

[rockclimber]

how much larger were the knuckles reamed than 3/4" and how far down until they can get back down to 3/4"

 

[travisk]

The knuckles are .8" thick and the 3/4" bit connects .2" into the hole.


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[rockclimber]

The knuckles are .8" thick and the 3/4" bit connects .2" into the hole.


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how much wider is that first .2"?

 

[rockclimber]

IMO you should not worry about that little bit of slop.

the knuckle material is too soft to bolt a heim directly to it. the machined surface of the ball does not have enough surface area and it will dig into the knuckle causing the bolt to loosen.

if you run a 3/4" safety washer on either side of the ball like you should to increase the surface area, once you have the 3/4" bolt torqued to spec you will never notice that the hole is slightly oversized.

you could even weld the washers if it makes you feel better, but that's all it would do.

I like these washers for this task
https://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/WWASH.html

 

[travisk]

I accidentally ordered 5/8" misalignments for the track bar instead of 1/2". Should I drill out the track bar mounts to 5/8" or go buy 3/4" to 1/2" misalignments? Or does it matter?

 

[iluv83vettes]

Drill it out and buy bigger bolts


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[rockclimber]

I vote for option C.

3/4"-9/16" misalignment and drill the bracket to 9/16"

 

[travisk]

3/4"-9/16" misalignment and drill the bracket to 9/16"

Any particular reason why?

 

[rockclimber]

because I don't believe 1/2" is really a good choice, simply because its on the lower end of the strength threshhold; and I have yet to meet a high misalignment spacer that can hold up to torquing a 5/8" bolt to 200lb ft/lb. even the expensive ones seem to crush.

9/16" is a happy medium.

 

[Devilfrog]

And if you go 9/16" ... It'll use the same wrench size as the lower suspension. One less tool needed.

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[cal]

FK and ORW misalignment spacers seem to hold up fine.

I had a long talk with FK about this very problem not very long ago, and they swore up and done their spacers would hold if I bothered to pay the premium for them.

But I'm in agreement on not doing 5/8 for the same reason.

 

[VAhasnoWAVES]

pick a common bolt size if possible... when i did my 3 link and axle swap, all of my links, trackbar, and hydro assist ram use a 5/8" bolt. makes things easy instead of fumbling for wrenches.

but i agree with whats been said, 9/16 is a better choice.

 

[travisk]

Well, I've mangled a perfectly good set of brake discs and caused minor injuries trying to drill progressively larger holes in them. This is not a job for an idiot with a hand drill.

Can I just buy WJ rotors drilled for an XJ somewhere? I see that IRO sells them. Anywhere else? I'm done with this.

 

[cal]

stinkyfab does it