Jeep Grand Cherokee Dana 30 Front Axle - Project Ain't It Grander

We definitely needed to improve the steering linkage to maintain good highway manners as well as the strength. Tera- flex offers a crossover-steering setup for the TJs that consists of a new right-hand steering knuckle that offered a provision for crossover steering, a very large hexshaped tie rod and drag link, and some really trick heavy-duty tie-rod ends. These tie-rod ends offer an offset that moves the tie rod outward so that you can still have full steering left and right without the tie rod hitting the diff cover. We also used them on the drag link to provide proper clearance for our track bar.

To control body motion, we went with one of Addco's 11/8-inch replacement sway bars, and modified a Teraflex TJ mount for the right side while using the factory axle mount on the left. The sway bar worked great, both on and off the trail, and we don't disconnect it unless we want maximum articulation. However, the added stiffness, along with the additional wheel travel the T&T suspension offered, bent the flat-bar connecting links into pretzel shapes. To solve it, we used the same Tera- flex ends but welded them to a section of 3/4-inch tubing. Teraflex offers some great adjustable tubular units that we will replace ours with one of these days.

During our "testing," the original power-steering pump decided it had had enough of a workout and the front seal failed. We also had noticed quite a bit of looseness in the pitman shaft, which contributed to not exactly positive steering. We replaced the steering pump with a local parts-store replacement but really wanted something a bit better than a mass-produced rebuilt steering box. We had been running some PSC components on one of our other Jeeps and were really impressed with the attention to detail and the quality of workmanship, as well as the support we had received. So we ordered up one of PSC's SG-621MR steering boxes. This is a precision rebuild with the added advantage of having the ports available to connect to a cylinder assist if we should so desire in the future. We can't believe the difference the PSC box made not only in road feel but in the lack of turning effort.

We wanted to make our Dana 30 as strong as possible and we feel we accomplished it. One thing that did bother us a bit was the housing strength. We've seen broken ring-and-pinion gears that we attribute to axlehousing flex, allowing the ring gear to pull away from the pinion. We explored several options and at first used Superlift's Rock Ring. It's a great product, and the one on the rear (as well as the ones on the front and rear of our other Jeep) have proven themselves many times over. We had seen a prototype nodular-iron cover built by ARB some time ago that had two unique crossbraces as well as a magnetic drain plug-and get this, a dipstick to check the lube level. We had to have one, and when Jim Jackson, president of ARB USA, told us they were available, we ordered one up. Yep, we are impressed with it. It's the next thing to go on.

Overall, we are pretty darn happy how the front end turned out, even though it took a lot of modifications, a lot oftime, and a bit more money than we had planned on. Next time, we'll discuss a few things that we did to finish up the project and make Ain't It Grander a lot more trailfriendly and comfortable.