Here you can really see the...
Here you can really see the difference between the stock Grand steering knuckle and the new Teraflex unit we will be using along with the other steering components.
Needing unibearing hubs and ball joints, we turned to Crown Automotive. Since Crown is a Jeep parts-only wholesaler since 1963, chances are many of the hard parts like those you purchase from your local 4x4 shop come from them. We got ours from Quadratec. These aren't some offshore, cheap knockoffs, but come from the same manufacturer that Jeep uses.
New brakes were on our list and we felt that while adequate, the stock brakes could be improved. Stainless Steel Brake Corporation provided the answer with new slotted rotors and some high-performance pads. The slots help to disburse dust particles and gases off the rotors.
For a rearend, we salvaged an 8.8 from a Ford Explorer. Yes, it has the C-clip axle, but the overall design and strength has been proven, with it being a common Jeep TJ, YJ, and XJ swap. The downside is it's about 1 1/2 inches narrower, but we got that handled with some wheel spacers. Again, we went to Motive Gear for the installation kit as well as the ring-and-pinion.
For a locker, we picked Eaton's E-Locker electronic differential. It will be new to us, so we're anxious to check out just how well it works and holds up. For the rear axleshafts, we originally used the factory shafts and then later stepped up to some from Alloy USA that are at least 60 percent stronger for added insurance.
Our discount auto-parts-store battery was on the way out, though it had lived the three years that it was guaranteed for. We have been running an Odyssey battery in our other Jeep for, like, five years now, and wanted another one. Just happens that they recently came out with the size we needed for the Grand, so we ordered up a Model PC1500/34 that fit the original box perfectly.
With the suspension, we had a wide-open choice, as there are now several companies building a "long-arm" system for Grands. After much review, we finally settled on a fairly new company called T&T Customs out of Cheyenne, Wyoming. We picked T&T for a couple of reasons. First, we had seen some of its previous work and were favorably impressed with the quality of workmanship and detail. Second, the company was willing to work around our time schedule. Co-owner and chief designer Bob Levenhagen drove over from Wyoming to spend a week working on our Grand at our location.
 Motive Gear was our choice...  Motive Gear was our choice for the new ring-and-pinion gears and installation kit for front and rear. |  There will be a 30-spine ARB...  There will be a 30-spine ARB locker up front in the Dana 30, along with Superior axleshafts. |  The rearend will use Eaton's...  The rearend will use Eaton's E-Locker electronic differential along with alloy axleshafts. |
Later on, we traveled to Cheyenne for an update and some modifications. As it ended up, T&T made quite a few changes to its original design that are now an incorporated part of its kit. It wasn't as easy as we first imagined, as we eventually made up several different arms and mounts, but in the end we are more than pleased with our semi-parallel four-link up front and our triangulated four-link in the rear. This is, by far, not a bolt-on kit. It's going to be for either the really serious hard-core wheeler who wants to travel in Grand luxury, or for the guy who wants the ultimate kit for bragging rights. We will spend a considerable amount of time going over its installation in a future issue.
We figured in the amount of lift needed to clear the tires, and then contacted Rusty Megois of Rusty's Off Road for some coils. Rusty felt that he knew exactly what we needed up front to handle the ARB bumper and the Warn winch. The first set of rears we used were a bit too soft but a perfect ride height. He shipped us another set with a slightly higher spring rate that worked perfectly. We have been trying several different shocks and we will give you the final findings on them in the near future. ADDCO supplied the heavy-duty sway bars that made a world of difference in the overall handling.
The Odyssey battery fit the...
The Odyssey battery fit the Grand's battery box perfectly.
We spent a lot of time on the steering geometry, as we wanted the drag link to perfectly match the arc of travel of the track bar. This meant an entirely new axle mount for the track bar. We started to make up our own tie rod and drag link, but then discovered that a Teraflex high-steer kit for a TJ would also work on our Grand. We especially liked the offset tie-rod ends, but we will get into that later.
Last on our list was better seats. We were so pleased with the seats that we had put in our flatfender project, we went back to Mastercraft and ordered up a set of the Baja R/S seats. The reclining feature is great, plus we were able to special-order them with a 3-inch-higher back. Not only that, we had them fitted with seat heaters and a lumbar support. We were able to make some slight modifications to our original Grand Cherokee seat frames, and used the electric motor features for adjustability.
OK, that's a good start. We'll get into more detail in the months to come with details of how we went about making all these components work together, and some of the frustrations we had.