My Steering Setup works pretty good. I don't get bump steer, the steering wheel seeks center, and over all I'm pretty happy with it.(I'm running an inverted T setup with GM tierod ends) But because of the angle of the drag link, I am bending the The Tie rod that the draglink connects to. If that makes sense.

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...susikL0NhDRVfL

So I want to go to a crossover set up.



This is what I would have to do. The knuckle machining wouldn't be hard for me to do. and the majority of the highsteer arm wouldn't be hard either. The part I haven't figured out yet is a way to duplicate the tapered holes for the tapered washers. The GM taper is 26.5*, and that is a very hard reamer to come up with.

I have thought about taking my 7.15* tie rod reamer and reaming the holes and turning some tapered washers on the lathe to match. I'm a little skeptical of going this route though.

I would just buy an arm, but no body offers them on the net that I have found other than sky manufacturing, and there kit is close to 600 dollars after shipping a machining and all. They might sell just the arm if I called them, but I was just gonna see if any of you 4x4 gurus might have a solution.

 

1- you are bending your tie rod? Why? How? What is it made of?

2- why not use Chebby 1 ton stuff- 7*/1.5" per ft and a REAL tie rod/drag link- 1.5x.250 DOM.

3- D44 crossover arms are easy to get. EVERYONE sells them. All you need to do is machine the knuckle flat and drill/tap it for studs. Check Completeoffroad, Bluetorch, Ballistic and several other vendors on Pirate and Ebay.

 

I have a dana 60 and 44s, I'm not running a 3 bolt dana 44 arm.

Im running one ton chebby stuff. With 1.5 by close to 1/2" wall dom. It is a real tie rod. My drag link coming from the pitman to the passenger knuckle is angled back a little bit if that makes sense. I have a one ton short chebby rod on that end linked to a long chebby tie rod close to the passenger knuckle. The long chebby rod is the one that is bent. It isn't bent castrophically, but it is noticeable. I wanted to run a shorter rod end, get my drag link running horizontal.

The other contributing factor is the excessive threads showing, I'm aware of this. But when I do cross over, I'll fix the thread length.



Maybe none of this is necessary, and I'm over complicating it.

 

 

OK....

The pic you posted looks like a 44...or a 60 with a REALLY skinny axle tube. There are also people making BJ60 crossover arms. I cant think of anyone off the top of my head but Ill post it up when I think of it.


One ton Chebby TREs are 7/8" thread. If your tie rod has 1/2" walls it would have to be 2" if used with bungs or 1 3/4" if threaded. No way in hell you would ever bend either. Yours appears to be much smaller - 1 1/4"ish.

Heres the 84 I built for a guy - Y style steering with 1 1/2" .250 DOM with bungs and 3/4x3/4 heims


Heres my 79 250 - crossover and high steer tie rod. Same 1 1/2" .250 DOM with bungs and e2026/e2027 Chebby TREs.


Obviously the stock tie rod is fubar in this pic but Paul had my driver side steering arm.



Anyway, setups like these will last forever with 44s.

 

The tubing really has close to Half inch walls. It was a special order for a factory that makes military shell casings, I have no Idea what they were using it for. They had some left over and a friend my mine let me have some. It is ridiculous tubing though I'll post a pic up sometime of it from the inside. The Tie Rods I'm running are 7/8 18 threads. I threaded them myself.

I was going to run a setup like what you have above, I just need to figure out a good reamer for the tapered washers. There are several people making arms for the unit bearing hubs, but sky is the only one offering a package deal. Naturally I want to save some cost and machine them my self.

Ford Dana 60 Ball Joint Crossover Steering Convers - Sky's Off-road Design

 

My Tie Rod isn't isn't bent its the tie rod end. Look at the picture and you can see how its bent

 

I understand now.

I used a regular 7* reamer with no washers. The Chebby TREs fit fine.

Next time only leave about 1/2" of threads on each side. 1" is plenty of adjustment.

 

You almost understand I think, The taper I'm talking about is for taper cone washer on the studs like on a dana 44 high steer arm.

I.E. Dana 44 High Steer Stud kit

The cone washer sandwiches in there allowing the more grip of the stud, and a tighter more snug fit.

 

Oh ok. Its been a long day...


These washers fit in the crossover arm. Not the knuckle.

 

How bout something like so?


Or adding a stud to the top of the knuckle to get a tighter clamp without needing cone washers. From what I remember most high steer arms are just strait bolts..

 

Yup. Mine are just studs with nuts

 

Kingpin Dana 60s are just studs, but that's also do to the fact that the studs are spread out more. The dana 44 has less studs and a smaller area to put them so they use the cone washers. I'm wanting to use cone washers on my ballpoint dana 60 for the same reason. But it may or may not be necessary. I should be able to get 5 9/16" studs in the knuckle along with a key way for the arm to 'grip'. Should take a significat amount of shear away from the studs.

 

I dont think more is better in your case but do what you want

 

I was just going off of sky manufacturigs setup above.

Below is a machined knuckle. It looks like a pretty good setup. I think the step or keyway design is the way I'm going to go