I was told it was a 78-79 when I bought it, so who knows. All the parts ive bought are for a 78-79, including the spindles/hubs/bearings/lockouts/shafts/thunderbird brake upgrades/pads/rotors. Could have been off a truck instead of a bronco and the brake upgrades are all for a 78-79, but then again. Maybe this axle was retubed at some point. I have no DS issues- not even close to the oil pan. I would imagine if one only shortened the passenger side tube then it would push the center section more passenger, maybe at that point it could get closer to the oil pan.
went to run Boards crossing on friday. terrible Death Wobble. Turned around , went home, welded up a steerinfg stabilizer mount and slapped a stabilizer. killed the stabilizer by arnold. slapped another one on for the ride home. Need to figure out which of all my brand spanking new parts up front ( sans steering box or tires) can be suddenly out of no where causing DW. what a pain. everything is tight as hell.
This is why, me with so much less skills than you, try not to do too much to my rig. I always get way over my head when I take on any kind of project. Remember it took me 7 hours to change out the front springs.
went to run Boards crossing on friday. terrible Death Wobble. Turned around , went home, welded up a steerinfg stabilizer mount and slapped a stabilizer. killed the stabilizer by arnold. slapped another one on for the ride home. Need to figure out which of all my brand spanking new parts up front ( sans steering box or tires) can be suddenly out of no where causing DW. what a pain. everything is tight as hell.
going to swap front tires to rear and vice versa, then possibly swap the good spare in one by one if needed to isolate the vibing tire.
The pitman shaft seems to have some up and down play in it, I might send the box back to AGR to get rebuilt. Still have some creaking from the box even after 1/4" plate all over .
also going to set toe to 0* (been playing with 1/4" toe in to 1/8" toe in) , caster to 7* (not even sure where its at anymore) check hubs and ball joints(have a NOS driver side hub from parts mike I need to swap) , cut front coils down another inch, plate the passenger side frame rail, and if that all fails ill take the tires in to get balanced to rule that out.
Also for a temporary band aid until I find the real cause, I ordered 2 spare RE stabilizers to carry around just in case I need to take it out soon. Also planning for a fornt antirock sway bar for more downhill on the freeway in the mountains with 3 dudes in the jeep and tons of gear stability for the 3 linked front end. seems to have more body roll with the 3 link downhill at speed with lots of weight. On flat ground going straight its solid and no body roll.
Also looking into some 35" MTRs, brand new as well to get some power back with a much smaller tire.
Got an average of 9.3 MPG on the last wheeling trip. 107 miles each direction and wheeling a short easy trail. Id prefer to get back into the 15 MPG range again but would settle for 13 MPG and be happy.
Checked some of it out tonight. Everything seems really tight, except the box . popping from the box, and the pitman shaft has some play in it like noticable up and down play. All the steering seems tight, nothing moves. usually when the trackbar mount is loose or the trackbar bolts it wil be obvious, but nothing is loose. the hiems on the trackbar do not have side to side play in them, they can be rotated while it sits, like up to the point of misalignment , but no lateral play in them. should they be so tight they dont even move, or should I be able to twist the trackbar until the hiems hit the misalignments?
So:
Ill be cutting the coils down another inch to reduce the angle on the hiem on the drag link at the pitman arm. Considering throwing the XJ arm back on there to reduce the angle on the hiem even more.
replace box with a 4 bolt J20 box for now
swap front tires to rear
dial in caster and toe in
plate pass side frame rail (could it be bad that I only plated driver side frame rail up front?)
if that doesnt do it:
ill balance tires
replace hiems on trackbar(only 3 runs to kill them that means)
new stabilizer
when I had hiems on my track bar they would get a very noticeable clunk before any signs of death wobble when they where starting to go bad. Yes they will rotate side to side, even when new. I ended up changing my hiems out for the narrow johnny joints and have never been happier. I would go through hiems on the trac bar about every year and a half. So far johnny joints have lasted 2 years now with no signs of play, they are greasable, and re-buildable too. I also got rid of my hiems on my steering and went to chevy 1 ton tie rod ends.They have lasted soooo much longer than the hiems and very easy to find at any auto parts store.
Searched and searched. then I gave up. then i searched even more. actual j20 boxes, with the 3.5" piston and 4 bolt holes are rare as hell, and when you do find em , they are 185$+75$ core+tax+shipping. I got mine for 106$ plus 35$ core. Often the parts stores list a j10 box, or one of the various small bore 4 bolt boxes. Beware. a 100% sure thing, is Lares1352. Its actually listed as a "rock climber" box for 87-95 wranglers on most places, you cant even find it under a j20, even though its a j20 box. I had to dig around so many threads on so many forums to verify what part numbers are small bore 4 bolt boxes. this is the only one that is consistent , other parts you are taking a chance on the box, you might get a 3.5" bore, you might not. at 150$ shipped with core it was cheaper than getting my age box rebuilt which was 175$ for parts and labor + shipping both directions. AGR sucks.
its a 1980s j20 box, direct bolt up to an XJ in every way possibly, other than cutting off the nipple.
cut the nipple off.
I never use a hacksaw, but did for this. I was worried the angle grinder could kill the splines if I got carried away
grabbed a 20 ton shop press, 25% coupon at HF. first task to press in studs into new driver side hub/rotor:
also pulled the coils last night and cut off another 1/2 ring, some caster and toe adjustments. got some odds and ends for tonight like installing the new steering box among other tasks.
Ya I'm hoping between the box, toe/caster adjustments, replaced a track bar heim for fun, swapping tires front to back, replacing hub, that its all good. the press was worth it for 150$, I probably wouldn't have paid much more than 150$ for it otherwise. Ill probably beef up some of the parts down the road, but its good for now.
Hey, I was reading through your build and noticed your high steer arm was loose at one point. Since you have that spacer and the bolts holding it all down, have you checked to make sure the holes in the arm aren't wallered out? It might seem tight but if there is any play under load it might be the cause of your DW. Just a thought...
I ditched the high steer arm as soon as I noticed that under load it moved. I just run the heims stacked now with a piece coming off where the arm used to be, using all three holes, to make it double shear. At the moment its tight as heck. When I was running that arm it was a serious problem with unsafe steering. thing wandered like crazy and wouldn't turn.
So after the toy drive i went to pnp. Got some goodies.
Start of a pro crack sway bar. Grabbed a 39.5" Isuzu torsion bar and both front mounts for the same truck. Next found a renix era ac delete pulley, a 2000 electric far, and a 2000 fender mount wiper bottle .
Got some finishing touches done on the rig today. Maybe after building the pro crack bar I'll take it to PC this week. Going to try removing the mech fan when I gut the ac and relocate the alternator.
Finally test drove, STILL HAVE DW!! what the fish!
damn. new driver side hub.
cut coils down (uppers and lowers are now flat)
new j20 steering box. greased up shock bushings to tighten them up along with some washer( the Ruffstuff mounts where wider than my shock bushings) jeep rides very well and handles really good. I don't know what the fish.
everything is tight. replaced a hiem on the track bar for fun.
Ill take the tires in for balance and if that doesn't do it, ill just get used to carrying a few spare steering stabilizers since the new stabilizer completely masks it when its on, with it off, the DW comes frequently. ugh.
damn. I wish I still had a spare set of good tires laying around so you could try them on and stop pulling your hair out. I bet it's just the bias tires you've done everything else
