The BEST Steering Upgrade For A Jeep Cherokee XJ

[@cpthillbilly]

I wish I had seen this video earlier. I just orderd the Barnes4wd steering box brace. I think I like that one better.

[@backcountrybeagles]

The Barnes one will keep the box from flexing but I do like this one due to it having the bearing/ support on the sector shaft of the steering box.

[@travismcvey]

Andy is awesome. His company makes super solid components. I have his 4 link long arm and the WJ brake conversion kit.

[@backcountrybeagles]

I'd agree, great crew over there, they make some great products.

[@davidlong3247]

Good video. I enjoyed the commentary.

[@backcountrybeagles]

Appreciate it!

[@TheKrowls86]

Just got their motor mounts. Very stout. Gonna have to look into this!!!

[@backcountrybeagles]

They make some great products!

[@scaryperson27]

I have a steering box brace on mine from Iron Man. You are going to like it

[@backcountrybeagles]

Seems to be the best one out there. Glad to have it on there now!

[@ProjectXJ]

I have a M.O.R.E. steering box brace that helps. If you want to take all of the stress of the frame and box, ram assist is the way to go.

[@samwalker1304]

Did you piece together a kit or buy a kit?

[@backcountrybeagles]

That will probably be the next step for the steering here. Looking into redneck ram or PSC.

[@ProjectXJ]

@backcountrybeagles i need a new box, or at least to rebuild mine because the seals are bad. When you put pressure on the steering it pees out fluid all over the place. I have thought about getting a psc box and pump but i just don't have $1000 to spend on it. I am thinking maybe a redhead box but i have heard good and bad things about them. I wish they would stand behind their products more than a one year conditional warranty. Honestly if you do ram assist, there is no point in having that brace on your box, it would just be added weight at that point. But maybe it would help stiffen the unibody rails... or maybe it would just get in the way. Lol

[@jordantrujillo293]

@@ProjectXJI think it would be useful still, I have hydro assist on my XJ. And I can still hear the frame pop once in a while while turning off-road, granted I still need to do the front frame stiffeners.

[@ProjectXJ]

@jordantrujillo293 i would bet there is something loose somewhere if you are hearing popping noises. Check your track bar bracket on the frame side. That is the most common thing. The bushings in the track bar are a good place to look and also make sure your pitman arm is on tight. I actually had an aftermarket pitman arm start popping and it stopped when i put on a new one. I welded my trackbar bracket to the frame so i wouldn't have to worry about it coming loose or breaking another bolt.

[@gregscherf9385]

I love Iron man products. I want this same kit myself. I wonder if it will still work with the Durango box spacer?

[@backcountrybeagles]

I would do some measuring of the spacer first or see if you can switch over to their spacer.

[@gregscherf9385]

@@backcountrybeagles it is there spacer. But I am pretty sure it has more stick out on the stands. But you do have me really curious. I will have to find out tomorrow for sure

[@Dylan-u1n5f]

Nice job. What’s your height from bottom of unibody to ground at your projected ride height? Also how much up travel will you see at ride height?

[@backcountrybeagles]

I'll have to get back to you about the unibody height. These coilovers are setup for 5" of up travel though. With bumps I'm probably going to be around 4.5"...I'm a strong believer in down travel, should have 9" down.

[@ProjectXJ]

@backcountrybeagles i have about 5" of lift and run 35's on my jeep. When i replaced my rocker panels i measured just over 24" of ground clearance! I gained 3" over my previous setup. I was pretty happy. I bet your's is significantly higher with the lift and 40's.

[@forreststrong797]

I ran into the same problem with my iron man brace. I have a weld on piece running the inside of the frame on each side. I also have a slightly larger psc steering box. So it was a bit of an ordeal lol I'm also running a front bumper that I've had for I think close to 10 years now it's an arb from a range Rover that I cut down and modified it looks pretty cool actually it fits well and this past refresh I completely tore the jeep down to a bare body and wanted to redo everything and I was looking at new bumpers I like the ones with full protection like an arb and I just couldn't find anything I liked other than the Cherokee arb or there's a couple others but my friend was saying my unique bumper is sorta part of my cherokees identity so i decided to keep it and fix it up a bit and redo the mounts. My front end is stupid strong with all the bracing and stiffeners I do a lot of recovery work and I wanted to make sure I could do some heavy winching I've had a couple times where I've been a little leery under heavy loads. I also set up a rear winch too I haven't gotten to use yet but I'm excited to try it. I can think of a few times a rear winch would have been really handy for an anchor point or recovery. I had one really sketchy recovery in the snow it was actually just a normal car they slid off a bridge and I was having a hell of a time finding traction to winch them up it took like 6 hours. After that specific recovery I decided a rear winch was definitely going to happen you get way more control.

[@backcountrybeagles]

I didn't know the PSC box was alittle bigger...I've been lookin at them, thinking about getting one, but if it's alittle bigger then no way it will fit now. I'd agree I like the full protection, especially for just driving on the road where we are with all the deer and elk running around. I like those ARBs bumpers on the cheros. Everyone now adays seem to go with a flush mounted or stubby bumper....hmmm a rear winch does sound pretty nice...maybe I'll have to put that on the list.

[@Thexkidd]

Way to figure it out. Extra work but worth it.

[@backcountrybeagles]

For sure!

[@forreststrong797]

Something to think about, I like to double nut my bolts when I run steering heims. I noticed your big stack of washers on your pitman I thought I'd mention that when I have room for it I like to double nut my bolts especially something I drive on the road.

[@backcountrybeagles]

haha you have a good eye.... those washers are just there because I dont have the correct length bolt yet, not a bad idea about double nutting these bolts. Were always fighting nuts coming loose on our steering, That would probably help.

[@ProjectXJ]

@backcountrybeagles my nut is always coming loose too. It doesn't help that the box is always leaking fluid on it, lubing it up. I think i should put a little loctite on it and see how it does.

[@backcountrybeagles]

Some red loctite and a wax marker then keep an eye on it.

[@forreststrong797]

@@backcountrybeagles I don't know if you're gonna see this or not but I saw your response here so I thought I'd ask. I'm curious about your front driveshaft fitting have you tried that yet or thought about that? I just installed a new front shaft in my cherokee after doing a bunch of work and I lost a little down travel on the driver's side well actually a good bit almost 4 inches. I am running an atlas 4 speed but the front flange on the atlas is actually slightly lower than stock and my angle at ride heights is very good and not steep it's just the last bit of down travel that's the problem. Also since my axles are built to spec from ECGS my pinion angle in relation to caster is very good. The 1350 CV/double cardon just doesn't have quite enough angle so I'll have to run a shorter limit strap on the driver side or maybe find a higher angle shaft but this shaft already has a good amount of angle. I'm just curious if you might run into the same issue and I thought I would bring it up too so you can look into it if you don't have driveshafts yet.

[@dealinwithit1]

Are you using 100% CO2 for your shielding gas

[@backcountrybeagles]

@@dealinwithit1 75/25. Are you seeing the excessive spatter? That’s something I’ve been dealing with for awhile. Now that you bring it up, I wonder if I could be getting a bad mix from my supplier.

[@Eulin100]

💪

[@CanadaBud23]

Looks like you're learning that a lot of things have stock configurations in mind when it comes to aftermarket parts lol. Unpopular fact - Unit-frame/monocoque. You had it right for one second then uncorrected yourself lol.

[@frederickdominguez4829]

Man, id love to have seen this install. But brother too much yak.

[@backcountrybeagles]

Probably not the channel for you then👍🏽

[@Bodie2020]

Jeez I know it shouldn’t bother me at all but the way this guy says bearing literally gives me a headache. I feel the pressure every time he says it build up. The gear set up video had me in a full migraine to the point I had to go cut lights off and lay down.

[@backcountrybeagles]

Baron

[@Eli-ht1eg]

@@backcountrybeaglesWOAHH hey calm down before you kill the man🤦🏾‍♂️

[@Danny4rb]

Maybe you could finish in time to be a wild card competitor on ultimate adventure 2k24

[@backcountrybeagles]

👀 that would be pretty dang sweet!