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Zj Front to Rear questions

14116 Views 13 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  robertbayless769, 
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So I want to confirm information that I have gathered and fill in some questions I have that I cant find the answers to.
What I have found so far (I have a 98 jeep GC 5.9 v8)

Need to do f to r
* Front zj v8 springs
* Lifted front springs or 70's 2wd ford springs (Yes I know about rough ride)
* Adjustable front track bar (Have access to one)
* Rear track bar braket (Have a beefed up one)
* New extended shocks

Ok now the stuff I have read to help me for Rear tires centerd in wheel well and to have less chance of death wobble? (Mabey you guys can help clarify)

* Modified WJ rear lower CA to move rear axle back
* Rear ZJ upper and lower up front so you can align better and have less chance with death wobble and what not.

(IF wj arms wont help bring the axle back to center or atlest move it back a inch or so what junk yard control arms could I use??) And with all this I can fit 31's??
Thanks!!
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BigClay
That is a good list, but here are some of my comments

-In all honesty I don't think there is a differecne in V8 and I6 springs, so any ZJ front springs in the rear will work

-I would spend some coin on some lifted ZJ springs for the front

-A rear track bar bracket will eventually rip off due to the force, I woul drecommend an adjustable rear track bar with no bracket.

-I must say I am not familiar with the WJ rear lower control arms swap, so that may or may not work.

-If you are going to get new control arms in the front, why not just buy a complete lift and forget about swapping springs

-To clear 31s, all you really need is a 2" BB, which would be less expensive and less hassle

-If this is a wheeler, you need to address your sway bars, or your flex will be limited
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Thanks for the deatailed reply!! So some more backround info.
I work at the locak jy. And can get everything listed for free.

My plan is to be ready by Moab Easter Jeep Safari.

Thats how the braket got so beefed up in the first place lol just want it to get buy for Moab then get a rear adjustable. I only plan on a #3 rated trail.

I dont want to really spend any money on a short arm kit I want to go long arm as soon as I can afford it.

And I want atleast 31 ill stuff the bigest tire possible!!!

For sway bars for now I would like to do a quick connect conversion.

By the way watch your build threads and glad to have you giving advice you seem to know your ****. lol
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BigClay said:
-If you are going to get new control arms in the front, why not just buy a complete lift and forget about swapping coils
Click to expand...
But do you think putting the zj rears up front will do anything for camber and less chance of death wobble??
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BigClay
If I had to do over again, I would have never messed with the short arm lift and gone straight to long arms; however, I did learn a lot about wheeling while on short arms and 31s.

As far as control arms, I think the factory lower arms are the same length front and rear, I may be wrong, it has been a long time since I looked at factory ZJ arms.
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Yea that's exactly what I learned with my dads ZJ. Once we went long arm it changed everything!!

This is the info I have found

•all front upper control arms- 15 1/8”
•all rear upper control arms- 13 1/4”
•all TJ lower and ZJ front lower arms- 15 3/4”
•XJ front lower control arms- 16 1/4”
•ZJ rear lower control arms- 16 11/16”
•WJ front lower control arms- 16”
•WJ rear lower control arms- 19”
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U
You do realize that once you move the rear axle back(which is totally unnecessary for 31/32's) that you will need to take a closer look at the drive shaft length right? And good luck with EJS, most of us avoid it like the plague although we might go down for the day to see the vendors.
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:)
Utah_ZJ said:
You do realize that once you move the rear axle back(which is totally unnecessary for 31/32's) that you will need to take a closer look at the drive shaft length right? And good luck with EJS, most of us avoid it like the plague although we might go down for the day to see the vendors.
Click to expand...
Yes I do. And I only go down Thursday and Friday for vendor and raffle and go on a trail SAT. Then go with our local Jeep club Sunday. And if its Unnecessary I won't worry about it but I just like being prepared for all circumstances.
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85IrocZ-28
I will respond to a few items, my thoughts are in italics.

* Rear track bar braket (Have a beefed up one)
If you wheel in Moab, this is going to break eventually. Do it right, get an adjustable.

Ok now the stuff I have read to help me for Rear tires centerd in wheel well and to have less chance of death wobble? (Mabey you guys can help clarify)
DW is a front axle thing, not applicable here. Also, no need to keep the axle centered. You want it as far forward as possible without rubbing so that it can swing rear and upward without rubbing.

BTW, short arms do really wierd things when flexing offroad, especially when you have a rear tire dropped, then you back up...the tire basically goes underneath the body...scary.


(IF wj arms wont help bring the axle back to center or atlest move it back a inch or so what junk yard control arms could I use??) And with all this I can fit 31's??
Personally, I would just move the F springs to the R, get adjustable trackbars, new shocks, longer sway bar end links, and not worry about the control arms for now. Save your $ to get a long arm kit or make your own long arm kit. Wheeling in Moab, you need long arms.

This is why:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABvEyKL0LC0
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Utah_ZJ said:
You do realize that once you move the rear axle back(which is totally unnecessary for 31/32's) that you will need to take a closer look at the drive shaft length right? And good luck with EJS, most of us avoid it like the plague although we might go down for the day to see the vendors.
Click to expand...
85IrocZ-28 said:
I will respond to a few items, my thoughts are in italics.

* Rear track bar braket (Have a beefed up one)
If you wheel in Moab, this is going to break eventually. Do it right, get an adjustable.

Ok now the stuff I have read to help me for Rear tires centerd in wheel well and to have less chance of death wobble? (Mabey you guys can help clarify)
DW is a front axle thing, not applicable here. Also, no need to keep the axle centered. You want it as far forward as possible without rubbing so that it can swing rear and upward without rubbing.

BTW, short arms do really wierd things when flexing offroad, especially when you have a rear tire dropped, then you back up...the tire basically goes underneath the body...scary.


(IF wj arms wont help bring the axle back to center or atlest move it back a inch or so what junk yard control arms could I use??) And with all this I can fit 31's??
Personally, I would just move the F springs to the R, get adjustable trackbars, new shocks, longer sway bar end links, and not worry about the control arms for now. Save your $ to get a long arm kit or make your own long arm kit. Wheeling in Moab, you need long arms.

This is why:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABvEyKL0LC0
Click to expand...
Wow sketch!!! Yea if I don't need to I would rather mess with the control arms! And when I was talking about the death wobble was also putting the wj arms up front cause they are a little bit longer and have that curve so the tires don't rub. May have to buy all new front end Tyrods to help not get DW

And I only plan this kit to hit moab once or twice other than that going long arm!! I know the track bar braket will break cause the kit this came off he actually ripped the braket off and the subframe was still attached!!
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U
If you are driving it to Moab I hope you do not run in to death wobble on the way back from a bad bushing or rod end.
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S
I did the ford spring swap on the front and put the front coils in the back on a 94 5.2 4x4 to fix it up and sale and it really came out nice. The ride was not bad actually. Here is the list I used. 1974 Ford F150 front springs, swapped the V8 coils to the rear...made for a 3.5 inch lift when done. Went and bought 4 procomp cheapy 1000 shocks. Bought a Skyjacker front track bar bracket and a rear drop track bar bracket and gussetted the crap out of it. It looked and worked great but I knew it was not going to see anything really rough. So if your looking to spend absolutly nothing and going with all J yard parts start fabricating and or spend a lil money for the insurance of getting some kind decent parts before you strand yourself somewhere and tear something up. I spent about $200 in parts and no control arm changes and like I said no issues running down the road at 80mph.
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R
A rear tracbar drop bracket essentially becomes a lever under articulation, putting more force on your "frame" rail just like when you use a long breaker bar or a cheater bar (like I did when I busted the tierod end inside your front tracbar) to get a sticky bolt out. In this case the bolt becomes your "frame", which in the area the drop bracket attaches is less than 2" across. So every time the rear flexes upward the tracbar is basically having it's evil and condomless way with that thin section of framerail. That rear drop bracket messed my uniframe up so bad that I wouldn't have been able to use the new rough country longarm kit, as I believe it uses a rear tracbar. That's how I justified getting the Clayton kit to my wife. LOL No rear tracbar, no more problem.
...The fun way to put a modified drop bracket through a uniframe!
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robertbayless769
I did the front to rear swap 4L. I was able to put BFG 33x10.5 on factory alloys with no rubbing at full lock.
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