Wasn't there a thread on this at one time? I can't seem to find it.

 

I was thinking about moving most of the front end running gear from a loyal wagon to my brat. I was wondering what will transfer over and what were the benefits (besides better axles)

 

Sooner or later I hope to lift this thing, will this help in the future?

anything is possible if you put some time and effort to it.

 

its easier to swap to the gen2 brats. not speaking with experience..do you have gen1 or gen2 BRAT?

Gen 2 brat (86')

The whole assembly is wider and will not just bolt on. You will have to do some welding and fabricating to make it work.

 

GD

The whole assembly is wider and will not just bolt on. You will have to do some welding and fabricating to make it work.

 

 

Radius rods bolt right into the EA81 mounting plates.

 

As for the crossmember, it is about 1 3/4 wider. This is the part that requires either making an adapter block (ussually with a lift) or modifying the EA82 crossmember.

 

When I did it, I cut sections of the crossmember into "tabs" that I folded up to flat, and drilled new holes about 7/8th's of an inch in from the EA82 holes.

 

PM me if you are seriously doing this I can send pics.

 

 

As for benefits:

 

Better brakes

 

Easier to find rotors, hubs, calipers.

 

Improved Steering rack, readily available power rack, easily compatible with EA or EJ pumps and lines.

 

Wider track, improved camber, brings it negative

 

 

 

Drawbacks:

 

Gotta be careful to get it centered and perpendicular to thrust angle.

 

Wider track can be an issue for fender clearance depending on tire size and wheel offset, and room from top of tire to top edge of fender under compression.

 

Too wide a rim, and the wheels will stick out and/or hit the fender lip.

Ahh. I thought that there was a simple swap where you could use the brakes and axles. I'm not equipped to go though all that. (sigh)

 

Well It least I can do the fuel injection conversion.

You can use ea82 knuckles and brakes on an ea81 (gen2) you can even use the struts if you swap the top hats it improved braking a ton having the bigger vented rotors on the front and the ea82 IIRC had a stiffer spring on the strut.

 

I helped a friend of mine do it on his gen 2 hatch should be the same on the gen2 brat.

 

PS you will need to use the later style wheels as the newer brakes have larger calipers and they hit the old style wagon wheel not sure on the normal steelies though.

SWEET! ok that was what I was looking for. I assume the ti rod ends will switch over as well if they are in better shape than mine.

 

Should fit my ride just fine. I'm running the 14" Peugeot rims anyway and have the rear disk brake setup as well.

 

Next season I hope to do the Single port injection as well.

You have to be aware that if you use EA82 knuckles the inner wheel bearing seal is not the same between the two and must be changed.

 

Tie rod ends will not swap as they are too long on the EA82's.

 

GD

can I just take the brakes and rotors, or do i need the knuckle as well??

 

I assume i use the loyal seals?

You need the knuckle. You have to use the seal that matches the axle.... but I can't recall if the seal will fit the knuckle or not. The EA82 seal is too large for the seal surface on the EA81 axle. It will go together but you will not have any inner wheel bearing seal as there will be a large gap.

 

GD

You can buy ea82 front wheel bearings with integral seals from bearing houses, so that would be a solution to not having an inner wheel bearing seal.

 

I ran them on my lifted wagon, with the factory seals as well, but still managed to destroy them. I spent a lot of time in deep water, so anything short of a positive pressure hub was going to fail.

Sure - 6207-2RS is the sealed bearing. But it's not a perfect solution. Especially for a lifted off-roader where you should really be running 7207's (which don't come as a sealed variant AFAIK) for maximum load handling capability .

 

GD

hello old thread.

 

I just tried to swap gen3 knuckles onto my gen 2 (87) hatchy, no worky. The tie rod ends are too large in diameter and dont seat. I put it together anyway and we are in a no go, floppy wheel situation. Whats the secret? I know you can put just the knuckles on (but i dont know how)....people claim to have succeeded. 

Edited March 9, 201511 yr by Subruise

Simple. use the gen 3 outter tie rod ends with gen 2 inner tie rod ends.

pretty lame i know, but i havent been able to break em loose....

Penetrating fluid and a bigger wrench?

ill get it fingerd

and....?

WOW! this is MY old thread!

 

I actually bought a pair of knuckles and brakes for my BRAT, but never got around to putting them on.

 the ones I bought were from a car with anti-lock brakes and I went another direction rather than fight with them.

 

If I were do this I would seriously consider Gloyale's approach. get a lift and make an adapter all in one. Parts are sooo cheap on those cars you could probably get a whole front cross-member and suspension for less than $100.

 

It's beefier cross-member and almost anything will make the BRAT handle better LOL