High Steer or SUA

[Duane]

I have an 81CJ5 with a SOA and 35s that I just bought that the PO screwed up. The steering linkage was downright scary according to the smart guys on here. I tried to simulate the flip thing but the springs get in the way so that is out of the question.

I am looking at a couple of options here. One being high steer kit from Rocky Road (according to everything I can find they had some trouble with their YJ kit but the CJ kit is fine), but then there is issues of spring wrap and problably some stuff that that I haven't heard about yet or converting the SOA back to a SUA with a kit from someone. Trouble with the SUA is I am no welder, so I am not sure if that is even a possibility. I am looking for suggestions/advice on which way to go. I bought the jeep to mainly wheel but I would like to drive it on the highway every now and then. Ther are a few pics in my gallery but I can take any pics that you might need or want. Thanks

 

[Petescj]

Do the high steer. You would need to buy a complete sua lift including shocks and you would have to buy new perches and have them welded to your axles. More $$$ and more work.

 

[CJ]

Duane - I have spent hours reading about the high steer swap for the 30. About the only way to do it - easy bolt on - is use the OTT kit from Rocky Road. You can also buy high steer Dana 30 knuckles and go that rout like these -->> Extreme Gear Off Road Products

and these -->> 1-ASP1001KK KNUCKLE/ARM KIT

You can also swap in a Dana 44 and then add a high steer kit. Probably not the work you want to do.

The other way is to use your original Dana 30 and use Dana 44 knucles and parts - still quite a bit of work. -->> Good reading here -->> Building a custom hybrid front axle

 

[Old Dog]

Duane, after reading all that and seeing what it costs, now you know why the PO cobbaled it together and sold it.
I can't believe some of our SOA guys haven't given any advice yet. I'm sure they will though given time.

 

[Duane]

I have decided to stay with the SOA and try to fix it so it will not kill me. I ordered the Rocky Road OTT steering yesterday and I am looking into a traction bar. Guy here in Huntsville quoted me a price of $500 to custom build one and 2 hours labor to intall one that I buy off of the web. I am still open to any suggestions that the SOA guys have to offer. Thanks

 

[BajaEdition]

I personally am not a fan of SOA
I find you have to do a bit of steering work to get things correct. Personally I would switch back to SUA and do a shackle reversal in the front.
Now that is my choice so I do not have to highly modify the steering setup.
Others have their ideas.

 

[Zuni]

I've decided today to at a minimum replace all the tie rods. I'm strongly concidering the RRO OTT kit as an option. I have SUA with a 2 1/2 inch OME lift. I'm 100% sure this will work fine or am I missing something?

Duane,

Let us know how the customer service is with Rocky Road. I've heard alot of bad things about there customer service (excuses, shipping very late, unresponsive, etc), however I've heard there products are of excellent quality. Just keep us informed of the quality and how long it took to get there kit. I may buy the kit this week as well if all goes okay. I'm also interested in there sliders.

 

[Duane]

Well I ordered the OTT steering system on Monday and was told that it would be about 3 weeks until it arrived. The parts were delivered today so my initial impression of Rocky Road is a big YES. The parts are seem to be very heavy duty and the instructions seem pretty straight forward. I will install the parts this weekend and let you know how everything works out.

 

[CJ]

Glad you got the parts so fast and you like the quality. Looking forward to seeing it installed!

 

[Old Dog]

Remember to take lots of pic's as you go. You know how we all love pic's.

 

[milehimaddy]

So how did it work out? Was there a build thread or pics of the install?

 

[Kilo19]

thread bump...just seeing how the results turned out?

 

[jonboy1919]

Duane - I have spent hours reading about the high steer swap for the 30. About the only way to do it - easy bolt on - is use the OTT kit from Rocky Road. You can also buy high steer Dana 30 knuckles and go that rout like these -->> Extreme Gear Off Road Products

and these -->> 1-ASP1001KK KNUCKLE/ARM KIT

You can also swap in a Dana 44 and then add a high steer kit. Probably not the work you want to do.

The other way is to use your original Dana 30 and use Dana 44 knucles and parts - still quite a bit of work. -->> Good reading here -->> Building a custom hybrid front axle

CJ,

On this same topic, I have SOA on a Dana 44 and was wondering if you have a link to a high steer kit from a retailer so I can decrease rather large steering radius. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Old Dog]

CJ,

On this same topic, I have SOA on a Dana 44 and was wondering if you have a link to a high steer kit from a retailer so I can decrease rather large steering radius. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Here's one example of a "kit" looks like you would still need the tierod and draglink.1-ASP1001KK KNUCKLE/ARM KIT

 

[Old Dog]

You can get the flat top knuckles from the junk yard and get them milled and drilled. That would save you some money.
There's different steering arm set-ups so be sure of what you want/need before you order anything.
Here's a good link on the knuckles
Mr.N's Dana 44 Flatop Knuckles