Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler TJ radiator

ZJ Tie Rod Conversion

Technically speaking you don’t even need a steering stabilizer. If you do add one a cheap one is all you need. The expensive ones are just for bling and don’t do anything more than a cheap one does.

While we are on the subject of steering stabilizers, I did the ZJ conversion on my '05 LJ and noticed that now the Monroe SC2928 appears to be bottoming out at full right turn lock. the whole truck 'kneels' to the passenger side and down, and it seems to be because the stabilizer ran out of room to compress. Is it possibly too long? mispositioned?

I'm using the drag links and tie rods as recommended in the thread.

Thanks!
 
While we are on the subject of steering stabilizers, I did the ZJ conversion on my '05 LJ and noticed that now the Monroe SC2928 appears to be bottoming out at full right turn lock. the whole truck 'kneels' to the passenger side and down, and it seems to be because the stabilizer ran out of room to compress. Is it possibly too long? mispositioned?

I'm using the drag links and tie rods as recommended in the thread.

Thanks!

I'd post a photo of your setup in a new thread so that we can see what we're dealing with. It could be something is installed wrong, possibly.
 
So read through the whole thread but didn’t see, has anyone encountered the bulging Moog dust boot hitting the brake rotor? has anyone a fix for it?

Torque to 35 or 55, it didn’t matter, still hits the rotor.
 
So read through the whole thread but didn’t see, has anyone encountered the bulging Moog dust boot hitting the brake rotor? has anyone a fix for it?

Torque to 35 or 55, it didn’t matter, still hits the rotor.

Yes, I have the same issue when I did mine. I have not done anything with it or found out which part is the culprit.

Ah yeah here is the thread I made a few years ago - https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/is-there-an-issue-with-this-tie-rod-end.55208/
 
I want a new one so I have a new ball joint and the ZJ drag link is half the price as the TJ one. The question is does it fit properly?

I moved on and went to Curry, but when I did this, the ZJ and TJ drag link is the exact same. The TJ tie rod is the weaker. If you are getting one and the ZJ is cheaper by far, yes, it's the same, or it was when I did this. So ZJ drag link and tie rod it bolt in to the TJ.
 
I'm tempted to just get the Curry now but I'm not sure I'll ever need the added beef and it's $420 more and money is a bit tight. I *have* the money but I'm not sure when I'm going back to work so I'm not sure I can afford to spend the money.

Life is all about those choices, and I'm with you. You can absolutely save the $420 and get a better setup in general with the ZJ. It is a good setup, Most folks don't "NEED" to go that far, unless you're really out there.
 
get a better setup in general with the ZJ

Yeah, as much as I *WANT* a rock crawling beast I live on the east coast, literally at the beach, and I highly doubt I'd ever drive it it to Nevada or anywhere extreme like that. Probably the closest I would ever get is Uwharrie National Forest in NC, as long as they don't close the off-road trails. That really makes me reconsider a lot of what I want to do to it.
 
PO installed home made 1 ton steering with GM ends. Knuckles and pitman arm were drilled out to accept bigger ends i believe. Is it possible to go back to ZJ with some tapered sleeves or something, or should I just wait until the next ball joint replacement and get new knuckles & pitman arm?
The GM ends are specialty, expensive and not available locally, especially the one at the pitman arm
 
PO installed home made 1 ton steering with GM ends. Knuckles and pitman arm were drilled out to accept bigger ends i believe. Is it possible to go back to ZJ with some tapered sleeves or something, or should I just wait until the next ball joint replacement and get new knuckles & pitman arm?
The GM ends are specialty, expensive and not available locally, especially the one at the pitman arm

https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/re-drilling-knuckles.7207/

I would read this thread.

I got knuckles from Blaine, used and I knew it, and put them in Evaporust to get them spotless, then painted and they look OEM.

As he mentions in this thread, inserts are done, but getting used knuckles is what I would do.


Then you can go all ZJ or Currie if budget allows
 
What kind of prep do they need? Degreaser? Sanding?

For the ones I got, they had some surface rust, nothing to speak of per se. I put them in a bucket of Evaporust, and let it set there 2 days, pulled it out and wiped it off. I sprayed them with brake cleaner and got them dry, didn't let them sit, I taped for paint, and then painted them with black Krylon semi flat I think.

I might have hit them with brake clean before the soak too, but don't recall. They came in pretty good used shape, I could have bolted them up and they'd look better than 80% of the TJ's I see posted here from the rust belt, ha. Feel bad for those guys.

Being in Texas, my undercarriage is pretty spotless. I just got them spotless and immediately put on paint straight to metal. You could prime it I guess, I didn't see the need
 
Ahh. I bought mine new and i heard they come bare steel. I haven't messed with them yet but I have spray on cold zinc primer and top coat. I just wanted to know if they need to be degreased first when new.

I put on a new ZJ when I did my last 'refresh' of my Jeep when my engine went in 2015. That one then surface rusted - which I did not expect....

So yes - I'd say wipe it down with acetone or rubbing alcohol and hit it with some paint - Even from new....

Here's a pic of mine in 2020 that was new when installed in 2015 with ~30k on it with almost no winter miles...

IMG_5336.JPG


To compare - the front axle behind the ZJ tie rod wasn't painted for about 10 years before this pic and ran in multiple winters...

And the drag link & TB are OEM that were never painted for this 2005 TJ....
 
Hi everyone, new to this forum. Recently bought a 99' TJ (4.0, manual, 200K odo, mostly stock but bigger tires, no lift). I'm not really looking to do anything crazy with it but I want it as solid as I can make it. Before purchasing it I had a mechanic near the seller check it out and gave her a clean bill of health other than the "outer tie rod boots are torn (but no play at this time").
Of note, the Jeep doesn't have a death wobble or anything like that but I do feel like the wheel is a bit "loose".

With that in mind I felt that it was better to just do the upgrade to the ZJ conversion. Now, normally I would do this stuff myself (way back when I did) but I no longer have a garage in which to do it so I decided to take it to my local shop here in WA but I'm running into a few issues with information to provide to them. They are fine with doing it but they need to order all the parts (in order for it to be insured, makes sense) and they seemed a bit confused by the information I gave them. I told them it should just bolt in (which is what I assumed based upon this post), is that incorrect?

Also, I saw that a lot of people have had to paint parts... is that something I should confirm with the shop? I live near Seattle and we get a LOT of rain. All the owners before me garaged it, I will be keeping it in a carport but I don't have any rust and I'd like to keep it that way.

If I wanted to give them an exact parts list would this be correct?
-
1x MOOG DS1312 Tie Rod End
1x MOOG DS1430 Tie rod end (Steering Drag Link) - this is the only one that should still be the "stock" TJ component right?
1x Monroe Magnum SC2928 Steering Damper (or equivalent option?)
2x MOOG ES2079S Tie Rod End Adjusting Sleeve
2x - MOOG ES3096L Steering Tie Rod End

Is that everything that is needed to fulfill this conversion? Is there anything that I should add while they are working on it? Currently I'm being quoted $1400 for parts and labor, the shop that I talked to about replacing it (but I think with original TJ parts) had quoted me $1200. Does that seem like an okay number? I feel like the parts aren't that expensive and I've seen the replacement online be only a few hours but I could be wrong. Thoughts or anything I'm not thinking of?

Apologies for the length of my post, just want to get this done but don't want to have to go back and forth with the shop. Wish I could do it at home but we now live in a condo and they have strict enforcement on even using our carport for this type of stuff.

Again, this is just for having fun around town and to be okay out on the farm when I visit family + when we move back east to wheel around Cape Cod. I do not plan on taking it on trails or anything like that (prefer horses!).

** Posted here instead of making a new thread since it's specific and I didn't see anyone in the 34 pages have my situation.
 
Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler TJ radiator