im just looking at the teraflex highsteer knuckle. why in the world does it say axles older than a 91 require newer rotors, calipers and everything else.. ! their knuckle looks the exact same as mine which is an 88' with 1990 calipers except theirs has the high steer!? i already have all my parts for this thing and i dont really want to take it all back if i go that route. but on another note, from what ive heard, the cherokee componenents were all newer style components when comparing with the yj so might be safe with running the knuckle.

butttt im going to see if i can recreate what this guy did to his d30, he made his own high steer system and it had worked for him for 5 years of abuse until he upgraded.
http://community.webshots.com/album/111347781fjOmEl

if not the btf piece might be my only option.
i found a good write up on the piece here.
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=996147

as far as i can see, my knuckle used in that link is just like mine and compares perfectly, so im pretty sure there wont be any interference with my knuckle using the btf. the knuckle used on the btf website must be a d44 knuckle because it is completely different but apparently it is built for both castings.

 

I didn't read through everything, but I used a high steer knuckle on the passenger side from ORU. Here is what I'm running. ORU Crossover Steering Knuckle Dana 44 & GM 10 Bolt Nut Down - Steering Correction - Off Road Unlimited

I don't know what axle you're running. I used a D44 from a 87' Waggy, leaf springs and crossover steering. TREs for the tire rod, and draglink. The frame had to be notched on both side of the frame for clearance and flex. Drivers side was clearanced for Sky Manufacturing flat pitman arm and passenger side for draglink (more flex). It is pretty much a must unless you're running a bunch of lift or don't want flex. I have some pics in my SAS thread if you want to see.

 

im actually leaning toward the bft part, after thinking a little more about it, heims may be a good upgrade in the end, im not sure if its a legal or safety issue using the heim steering for street, but who would every really know what i was running, as long as it dont fail..

for springs ill most likely be using a stock waggy 7 leaf. the jc whitney springs cost around $100 a piece, which is really cheap and apparently they work well.
Replacement Leaf Springs for Jeep CJ & Wranglers - JCWhitney

but i may decide to go with a 4" lift Rancho' replacement instead, especially seeing how the clearance worked out for 'clifford'

 

I would use the Rancho 4044 2.5" lift springs. That would have been more ideal and easier to work with.

 

Only down side to running heims on the street is that they are not greasable, so you need to lubricate them using other methods or they will squeak when they are dry.

 

i was also looking at those. how level does your truck sit with the stock waggy leaf and the fr36 rear leaf? what else do you have in the rear for the lift? or was that it? does the rear driveshaft still have good geometry?

 

more fun updates on the axles progress. i kinda tossed my front budget out the window..

my core components were backordered for the last week or so but finially came in this afternoon. looking at the new gears i quickly realized my original carrier isnt going to cut it, apparently for certain ring gear sizes you require a different differential carrier housing to fit. my local shop could order the new housing for $200, but it would take another week or more. i asked about installing a posi unit instead, he had a front Dana 30 'Eaton' true trac unit sitting around brand new for $600, which would be perfect for a front end, part time, locking diff. the eaton unit doesnt use any clutches like a posi, and makes it a service free and reliable unit. it is engaged by use of the brake, i dont quite understand how it engages but a light brake pressure with a wheel off the ground should lock it up and give you more engagement for the other wheel. i think the front end should be quite happy with it installed over having an open carrier. i should have it done by the end of the week.

 

I have the true trac in my D30. Its a nice L/S unit but its no locker, I wanna get rid of it ASAP and get a detroit locker instead.

 

BTW the True Trac is only like $380 at completeoffroad.com

 

Yea but he is in Canada eh? Prices are a little steeper here

Sounds like your going through alot of trouble for leafs (leaves???).

But I demand MOAR pics lol

 

Stock waggy springs in front (remember I have my shackle in front) the front is about 1.5" lower than the rear. As far as the rear I have the fr36 (6" lift)springs, factory 2" block, and chevy shackles (about 1-1.5" of lift). Rear has good geometry as the springs came wit shims so it is great. It could help to trim my rear crossmember as at full droop (on a lift the DS rubs on that crossmember). I still have my James Duff traction bars so that helps limit axle wrap.

 

i dunno about a locker in a d30, i guess its a risk you could take with it but you would need to be pretty nice on it. i figure a posi is better then nothing, and gives me a little more possibility with the front end..


more pics will be coming after i get the high steer setup confirmed, ive decided to go with the 'tera flex' knuckle but im trying to find a place i can get it from over here..

 

thanks for all the info on that! btw.
i decided to use the rancho 44044 waggy spring up front along with the fr36 rear

its all beginning to fall together now, alot of the 'nut & bolt' fit jobs are coming to an end and then some fairly basic alignment and fab work should finish it up nicely.

once i get the high steer knuckle, i will do my best to make my mount for my steering box to the frame. there is quite a bit of room to get the mount configured and made up. and since all my offsets are based off the knuckle to the pitman arm, it should be some straight forward measurements to locate its positioning on the frame (ill be using the stock wheel base and spindle center). if the box location is discovered and mounted i can easily start piecing together the steering components to make up a shaft. then get into mounting the axle

 

No doubt about it, an L/S is better than open, just not for me personally. Don't get me wrong, the true trac is probably one of the best L/S units you can buy. I think depending on what kind of driver you are the D30 might surprise you. Mine has held up well so far but I'm a somewhat lightfooted driver. I never broke a stock CV with an aussie locker if that says anything.

 

I am not really sure how i got that true trac, it had to be a special or something. I liked it here for snowy roads that are crowned. if you ever try to drive on snowy crowned roads with a locker its a real treat. you might as well just slow down and go in 2wd.

 

4wheel driftin son!! I've done that ONE time in my ranger on wet roads.... The 3.o and clutch hated me but holy mother of all that's sane it was fun!

 

well however it works out, it should be an advantage for me..
i should have it done and installed by tomorrow after work.

in general, what would make a decent caster angle when its set up?
3-5 deg. at most is what i would imagine.
how would it behave with a 0 deg caster?

 

0 deg on the caster and your wheels won't straigten themselves when coming out of a turn and you might have other steering problems as well. I've got my caster set at 5 degrees but I'm also still tweaking my setup to get it perfect so I may not be the best one to give advice on this one lol.

 

i was wondering about a 0 degree setting because most vehicles have a 0 deg. caster setting from factory, and it works for a stock set up. but im thinking with the larger tires and a funky steering set up 3-5 deg may be some help. im just kinda guessing but as the axle sits with its pinion at 90 deg. or straight back, the caster on the inner c's is already nicely raked at what looks like 5-7 deg (i may be off, ill check this soon). this may only allow me to tilt my pinion angle for the d shaft by only a very few degrees without putting my caster in the negatives. but it may be possible to run the pinion straight back if the d shaft angle isnt to bad..

 

You know I have messed with this all over the board, from negative caster to positive caster to 0, until I finally took it into a shop and discussed it with the tech they had, he recommended the best starting point for this kind of setup is around 4.5 degrees positive caster. That is what he set mine to and it drives like it should.

there are not too many factory cars/trucks with 0 degrees caster, none that i know of. lol

now 0 degrees camber yes that is what most have.

if you want to adjust your pinion angle but want to keep the caster angle you will need to remove the Cs from the axle and position them accordingly.

I always set my axle at 4.5 every time i put it back together. I have tried several different suspension setups, coils, D30, D44, Dana60, 3 link, Radius arms, etc. Only exception was one truck where we left it at 8 degrees and for whatever reason it drives really well, so we left it.

 

I don't think you'll have a problem with your pinion angle. I mean I'm set at 5 degree on the caster and my driveshaft is fine. I'm confident I probably have quite a bit more lift then you'll have.

 

regardless of lift or tire size i would set your caster to 4.5 (3-5 like you mentioned earlier)

from 35s to 42s I have always ran 4.5 degrees.

something to note is the toe setting, make sure it is as close to zero as possible and if anything put a shade of toe in.

 

ya for final alignment ill take it to a professional to get it set up for the toe, ill just get it close enough. i was pretty sure i heard about standard caster on most vehicles was 0 deg but it defeniately would make more sense if that was the chamber instead. i thought a 0 deg caster would feel really neutral but it might be a slave job to track right

im really not going to worry about the final pinion angle to much because 'RazorsEDGE' mentioned his situation with the d30 and the amount of lift he has compared to what i should get, and im sure i wont have a problem. when i set up the springs and the perches on the tubes ill just set the axle up by the caster (say 4 deg) and just leave it at that, im defeniately not going to cut the inner c's out to tweak them, thats just to much effort lol.

 

My caster isn't perfect but I've put over 5k miles on since my SAS and my 2 or 2.5degree caster is good enough. It straightens out well on turns. Not perfect, but I could care less. I'm so happy with my truck.

 

caster settings are quite across the board lol i guess its not as big of a deal as i thought. im glad to hear your having fun with it! i just keep picturing the final product lol, keeps me from getting discouraged, im just taking it one dollar at a time..

im just headed out to pick up a ball joint press, ill buy it then take it back when im done lol. i havent heard anything back from tera flex yet on the high steer but tomorrow i should get the prices on the knuckle kit.

what is the going scenario for mounting the steering box to the front of the frame when it has those awkward bumps on the place where i need to plate? pound the frame in? cut it out?

axle loaded finially..