Rusty's steering kit???

X

XJpoopbrown

NAXJA Forum User
Location
palmer, Massachusetts
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-3]What do you guys think of the rusty's tie rod conversion kit?
are there any other after market tie rod conversions you guys would recomend? im running a 6.5in lift and 33's locked, looking to upgrade my tie rods and linkage with out spending a whole bunch??

[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-3] Conversions - Jeep XJ-ZJ-TJ-YJ Tie Rod
Code: RS-SC250-UV | Price: $260.00 | Quantity in Basket: None

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sc-250_01.jpg

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-3]
Code: RS-SC250-UV | Price: $260.00 [/SIZE][/FONT]
 
i have seen that kit in action. on a slippery hillclimb the tie rod was bowing and the tires kept toeing in and out, in and out. then while the owner of the kit was in a parking lot the tie rod decided to snap.
 
I bought the one that you have pictured and ran it for awhile. I never could get it adjusted very well.

Let me tell you something though... The Rusty's over-the-knuckle kit was what I got next. It works great on my rig and is easy to adjust. It required a little welding, but I was doing a swap anyways when I put it on. The drag link and tie-rod on the otk kit are twice as big as the one that you have pictured. It's a little more expensive, but I think it's worth every penny.
 
I ran that Rusty's kit for 2 years or so. I kept going through TREs.....and that gets expensive. At your height I would only do over the knuckle.
 
I have that kit on mine. I have a 2" budget lift and 30" tires.

I bent my stock tierod and needed something a little stronger.

It does work, but it also has issues. 1 of the rod ends that came with it was jacked up in that it wouldn't tighten up. they sent me a new one, but I still had to buy one locally to be able to drive the jeep.

My biggest complaint, and one that they are aware of but do not mention, is that it hits the trac bar lower bolt and kills your turning radius when tunring right. And it does it by a pretty good amount. I wanted to return it from these problems, but they said if it had any scratches on it, they would not take it back, and guess what, the frirst test cycle scratched the powder coat where it hits the trac bar.

You gain turning radius to the left, but loose about 1/3 of it to the right. And it's not the square part that hits, it's the tube itself. I ended up making a modified bolt to gain back as much as possible, but I still don't even have the factory radius back yet.

Next time it comes off, I am gonna modify it to work how I want.

it does work, but be forewarned, it doesn't work like you want it to.
 
i thoroughly researched steering kits for a month straight at one point,and i still look at least once a week on threads for a few hours at finding cheap and good ways to upgrade steering, all i could find about guys that wheel their xj's hard is that the rustys kits go through tre's like crazy. ive heard also a good amount about poor quaility regarding the parts actually fitting right. after all of my steering research and weighing costs and freeway driveability i decided to go with carrying three stock tie rods as spares,a spare stock track bar, and drag link. i spent prob under an hour at the local pull yard, and around 60$, to me this is the most cost effective way, i mean tie rods come off and on in less than 10 mins, do a quick alignment when you get a chance either on the trail or when you get back to the road. im running 33's, lockright in the 30, stock steering with 3" of lift up front and alotta trimming. i figured when i start busting three tie rods on one trail, or within a month then ill spend the cash on otk, but until then ive been fine....
 
XJshitbrown said:
What do you guys think of the rusty's tie rod conversion kit?
are there any other after market tie rod conversions you guys would recomend? im running a 6.5in lift and 33's locked, looking to upgrade my tie rods and linkage with out spending a whole bunch??
Click to expand...
dont waste your money on rustys crap, check out www.bandittoffroad.com he aint to far from you and makes a killer 1 ton stearing setup
 
I have seen rusty's failures and I just wouldn't trust his products for steering or trackbars. Just my .02
 
Is this setup stronger than your stock tie rod? Yes. Is it going to handle the same as your stock setup? Not with my experience. I currently am running that steering conversion on my Jeep cause I wanted a setup to handle my 35's, and it does. However, my setup was very difficult to align properly, and it suffers from what is known as "tie rod roll" meaning that when I turn the wheel to the right or left going down the road, the draglink pushes or pulls on the tie rod and the tie rod rotates a little before it grabs, meaning that I can turn the wheel about 20 degrees before my Jeep actually starts turning.
If I had to do it again, I would not put this setup on my daily driver. However if I had a Jeep that saw most of its time on the trail instead of the road, this one is strong enough to deal with whatever I have dished out to it so far.
 
jeeperguy21 said:
Is this setup stronger than your stock tie rod? Yes. Is it going to handle the same as your stock setup? Not with my experience. I currently am running that steering conversion on my Jeep cause I wanted a setup to handle my 35's, and it does. However, my setup was very difficult to align properly, and it suffers from what is known as "tie rod roll" meaning that when I turn the wheel to the right or left going down the road, the draglink pushes or pulls on the tie rod and the tie rod rotates a little before it grabs, meaning that I can turn the wheel about 20 degrees before my Jeep actually starts turning.
If I had to do it again, I would not put this setup on my daily driver. However if I had a Jeep that saw most of its time on the trail instead of the road, this one is strong enough to deal with whatever I have dished out to it so far.
Click to expand...
X2 and well said. I ran it too for a several years but got have since moved onto a better setup now that I'm rolling with more lift than when I originally got it.
 
a friend of mine pretty much gave me his Rusty's steering linkage. he converted his 2000 xj to wj steering and brakes. i installed the rusty's steering linkage below the knuckle(i had above conversion on the left) .the steering feel is not consistent.sometimes it feels lazy ie lots of tie rod roll and other times it feels titchy .i think i will reinstall my old set up.
 
jeeptec said:
a friend of mine pretty much gave me his Rusty's steering linkage. he converted his 2000 xj to wj steering and brakes. i installed the rusty's steering linkage below the knuckle(i had above conversion on the left) .the steering feel is not consistent.sometimes it feels lazy ie lots of tie rod roll and other times it feels titchy .i think i will reinstall my old set up.
Click to expand...

This thread is 2 years old.
 
jeeptec said:
a friend of mine pretty much gave me his Rusty's steering linkage. he converted his 2000 xj to wj steering and brakes. i installed the rusty's steering linkage below the knuckle(i had above conversion on the left) .the steering feel is not consistent.sometimes it feels lazy ie lots of tie rod roll and other times it feels titchy .i think i will reinstall my old set up.
Click to expand...

if you value your life i would not run rustys steering

its as simple as that lol
 
that's why its coming off tomorrow.i have his springs front and rear also.they have been on there for 5 years . i have been noticing that the whole vehicle seems squishy. time to rebuild it
 
Rutys sucks, for the money there are much better steering setups out there, JCR, Completeoffroad, bandit, ballistic ect.
 
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