OK The back is done. I started on the fronts today. I pulled the strut and knuckle and crap out of the driver's side, and I started to bolt the XT6 parts in. Teh lower ball joint would not go in, so I started to swap the control arm. Control arm's bolt was bigger, so I drilled my Xmember out to accept the larger bolt. Now I discovered that the stupid strut rod thingie (Rod that goes from teh LCA to the body) is longer on the XT6 control arm. I looked at Corky's page, and it mentions NOTHING of him having to swap out the lower control arms. Why am I having so much trouble????????

If anyone wants to call me and explain to me what the $*$* I'm doing wrong, I'll be out in the driveway cussing, my cell # is 541-979-0564 and if that does not work, my house # is 541-924-9001

Thanks!

--Andrew

WEll, I'm putting the old 4 lug crap back in. Looks like 2WD XT6 knuckles are different than 4WD knuckles :madder: :madder: :madder: so I guess it is back to the junkyard to get the correct knuckes:boohoo: so is there anything else you guys who have done the swap would care to enlighten me on?

 

So, for future reference, it looks like you gotta be sure to use FOUR WHEEL DRIVE front knuckles.....

sorry to hear about that, andrew. call spaldings in spokane at 509 924 3300; they should probably have some.. if they don't ship, i can

There is no mention of it on my page because on my car it was the same. It was a straight forward very simple bolt in replacement when I did it. I just looked in my parts book that covers XT6 parts, and the rod is a different part number then the general EA82 series car, but the RX rod is also a different number, and since I used the RX suspension on my car, maybe they are close enough. I'll call you tomorrow (unlimited weekend minutes, sweet). By the way, the knuckle assy is the same part number for the 4WD and 2WD.

For some reason, my lower ball joint on the XT6 knuckle is bigger than the one on my 4 lug knuckle, and would not fit into my lower control arm. Everything else bolted in exactly as I suspected, except that damn lower ball joint! Now I've got a front-end *clunk* when I shift, so I gotta tinker with it tomorrow before I head up to Jasons....

DUH, I did say to get the ball joint and the lower arm off the XT6.

I got the XT6 arms, and the XT6 arm won't fit into the bracket on the cross member. The bolt it uses is bigger, and even after drilling the crossmember out to take the bigger bolt, the top of the housing where the control arm bushing is is too big and it hits the bracket, and won't let the arm go in far enough to line up the bolt.

Ya we got the ENTIRE front end

Well, I must have gotten the one set of lower arms that fit without modification. For me, everything bolted up no problem, it was the simplest conversion I have ever done. I was surprized that no one else had done it before.

I had to drill out the crossmember and used a jack under the control arms to get the bolt in. It does fit. Maybe your not holding your mouth right?

It was a bitch though.

 

 

Jay

I'm gonna go dig in the JY and see if a 4WD XT6 has the 14mm bolt in the control arm, rather than the 17mm bolt that my XT6 arms (2WD) came with.

If it matters, My 5 lug swap used a two wheel drive XT6. My parts and stuff for the swap are pictured on MSN USMB if it's still there, album is RX GL.

 

J

couldnt you trim the bushing down slightly?

 

doing that AND drilling out the bolt hole is how i fit ea82 rear trailing arms in ea81's