Do NOT make the actual tie rods out of Solid Round Stock like cold rolled steel. There are lots of reasons for this the main thing you should know though is, that that is a very bad idea. Find a local supplier that carries or can order DOM tubing. Decide on your heim joint size and buy the appropiate size DOM for the job. I would not go bigger than 1-1/2 x.375 wall. Then if you want to keep it very strong. Have a machine shop thread the rod with the appropriate threads instead of the weld in bungs. Weld in bungs aren't that bad but this sounds like a project that could evolve, so go and do the steering right. If I went with Heims I would cross over to the top of the pass knuckle with the drag link and connect the knuckles under. That way if you decide to lock of the front and rear and go with a stouter drivetrain it will be easier to modify to true cross over steering.

The idea of extending your radius arms sorta confuses me, the stock radius arms would be difficult to extend and retain rigidety, The stock radius arms with a drop bracket will flex a suprinsing amount. With out relocating the coils, you would be hard pressed to make the radius arms your limiting factor.

 

thank you for the input... droping the arms makes less ground clearence.. i just cant see spending 500 on new ones.. what would be the best options for the arms??no wristing

 

I don't know how you could extend the arms and actually keep that setup strong. And that would actually take more time and fab work than just building a custom set of radius arms. I may not be fully understanding what you mean by extending your radius arms, Maybe someone else will chime in. My temporary suggestion would be (though Im a little hesitant to say it) to start a thread in the offroad section about your project and I'll still through in my opinion but you'll have other people for sure making recomendations (for better or for worse)