Steering suggestions for 5.5-6" lift

[notamechanic]

Hey everyone,

I'm looking for some bullet proof steering suggestions for jumping up to around 6 inches of lift. What are some of your set ups. I'd like to know details, angles every part you have, what the easiest most cost effective solutions are and what the more complex solutions might be.. Keep in mind I have a budget of around $500 for steering.

I currently have zone's 4.5 lift with add a leafs. Kit involves 3" lift add a leaf with a 1.5" shackle. Planning on installing RE 4.5" full springs to net around 6" in the rear. I have a rock hard tire carrier so it should sit around 5.5/6".

Up front I have zones 4.5" coils, will be installing acos adjustable coil spacers to get 1.5-2 inches. Also will be running Iron rocks rock link long arm kit. Considering the clayton LA kit too, but feel a 3 link might be better than radius arms.

Heres the jeep on a fresh set of 35" km2's!

 

[Tim_MN]

Off Road only U-Turn steering, or the WJ knuckles steering and brake upgrade.

 

[RCP Phx]

Which are you trying to upgrade, the mechanical parts or the hydraulic parts?

 

[notamechanic]

Off Road only U-Turn steering, or the WJ knuckles steering and brake upgrade.

Thanks for the reply. Both of those are a little over my budget. for the price Id definitely go for the WJ upgrade.Been putting some serious thought in the WJ swap, just seems a little complicated and pricey.

 

[notamechanic]

Which are you trying to upgrade, the mechanical parts or the hydraulic parts?

Right now just looking to upgrade the mechanical parts. Hydraulic parts will come later. Probably run a durango box.

 

[RCP Phx]

I've been running a factory stock steering for 17yrs at 6" lift. I finally broke down last year and bought the Currie Correct-link. No change in the way it drives, just more confidence in the fact it's "Alot" beefier!

 

[RCP Phx]

I will add that I'm running the WJ knuckles/brakes but I wasn't going to mess with making that style steering/trackbar to what already was a perfect set-up!

 

[NCCherokee]

I am at about 5" lift, I did WJ swap last year, its pretty straight forward. Besides the brakes, it gives you two arms on the pass knuckle, so you can get rid of the inverted Y. I went with 1 ton ends, but some guys keep the WJ TREs which are still larger than the XJ stuff to save money.

I had Boostwerks send me the pieces he used to make his frame side trackbar bracket. of all the ones I could find, it outboarded the mounting point the most, given me the longest TB I could, short of putting the axle side on the knuckle, which would have required moving the coil buckets (which someone on naxja did do).

By lowering the frameside TB mount, and raising the axle size, I got *pretty* close to parallel with my draglink. I could get a raised pitman arm, but its close enough I haven't noticed any bumpsteer.

If you get a longer frameside TB mount, you WILL want to brace it to the opposite frame rail similar to RE. That extra leverage loosened up some of my bolts and I ended up with horrible death wobble. I'm currently in the process of fixing that.

I spent about $1000 on my WJ swap, but I had new rotors, new calipers/pads, ruffstuff 1 ton steering, JKS OTA trackbar mount, and the Boostwerks frame side. You can probably do it for a good bit less than that.

 

[Rockwood]

Anything going over the knuckle will need adjustment to the track bar angle.

I was thinking about this setup:

https://www.dirtboundoffroad.com/high-clearance-steering-kit-jeep-xj-mj-tj-zj.html

Haven't seen much in the way of reviews on it.

 

[smokeyyank]

WJ swap will be best overall but most expensive.

At $500 I'd go solid tie rod and stock with the rest. Still ahve enought $ to get a new track bar and some other gooides.

Currie makes a decent system but it's $$.

https://www.currieenterprises.com/ce-9701

 

[sinat01]

Check out the synergy setup

 

[notamechanic]

Thanks for all the suggestions!

Really considering the currie set up. Only concern is its advertised for a 4" lift. Would this be okay at lifts above 4? would the steering angles too steep to run 6" of lift?

 

[Einulfr]

CavFab steering here; it's 1.5" solid bar instead of DOM. I'm somewhere between 6" ~ 6.5" of lift in the front and maybe 15 degrees on the angles.

 

[RCP Phx]

Thanks for all the suggestions!

Really considering the currie set up. Only concern is its advertised for a 4" lift. Would this be okay at lifts above 4? would the steering angles too steep to run 6" of lift?

I'm at 6" lift and all the angles are perfect w/ no bump steer. Like I said it rides/drives like a Cadillac!

 

[sinat01]

instead of the Currie go synergy. similar setup, except you can replace all the ends, whereas the curry setup still has the draglink as one piece

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

 

[Brent T]

I'm at 6" lift and all the angles are perfect w/ no bump steer. Like I said it rides/drives like a Cadillac!

I find it hard to believe you don't have bumpsteer at that lift with the Currie setup. I'm at 5.5 / 6.0 lift with Currie steering and it does bumpsteer. Not anything I can't live with, but it's definitely noticeable vs what it drove like with a 3.5" lift. Having said that, I'm not running the WJ knuckles, etc.

 

[RCP Phx]

I wasn't running the WJ stuff till last year. What I have been running is the RE 1660 trackbar drop bracket.

 

[notamechanic]

CavFab steering here; it's 1.5" solid bar instead of DOM. I'm somewhere between 6" ~ 6.5" of lift in the front and maybe 15 degrees on the angles.

That set up looks really good. How do you like the heims and did you
relocate your trackbar mount yourself?

 

[notamechanic]

That set up looks really good. How do you like the heims and did you
relocate your trackbar mount yourself?

This set up looks really good. How do you like the heims vs ball joints?


I think for me to run the currie set up or synergy set up "right" I'd need a drop pitman arm and trackbar drop bracket to neutralize the steering angles.

Thinking about running one of the OTK Y link set ups like JCR has, and relocate the axle side TB mount above the axle.

 

[Einulfr]

That set up looks really good. How do you like the heims and did you
relocate your trackbar mount yourself?

Thanks. I had heims before with the IRO kit and it was fine; the only issue I had with it was that the misalignment washers all cracked at the waist over time. Upgraded to the CavFab kit for the solid bars and so that I could go OTA with the track bar for a flatter angle and not have the wonky crossover with the drag link. Don't really feel any difference between the heims and the traditional TRE setup, or at least if there is any it's not significant. Also running the RE track bar bracket brace (just out of frame at the top) which helps tighten everything up a bit.

Yeah, I had to relocate the mount as the track bar required it. CavFab's bracket wouldn't work without a lot of modification due to the truss, but thankfully Artec makes one that fits right in with everything else. Had to hack out the old stabilizer mount, but that was about it.

This set up looks really good. How do you like the heims vs ball joints?


I think for me to run the currie set up or synergy set up "right" I'd need a drop pitman arm and trackbar drop bracket to neutralize the steering angles.

Thinking about running one of the OTK Y link set ups like JCR has, and relocate the axle side TB mount above the axle.

Honestly, they feel about the same. There might be slightly more play with the heims, but so long as everything is cranked down tight there's not a huge difference. Or it could be my factory steering box starting to poop out...

Deciding on a setup can be tough but on the bright side, it's nice to have so many aftermarket options for steering solutions on a vehicle that's been out of production for 17 years.