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Hey guys,
I would greatly appreciate it if you dana 44 front end gurus could lend a hand. I think the front end was changed at some point but I'm having a hard time figuring this out. So, anyways the steering knuckle has a trapezoid attachment for the steering arm, and from what I have found is that these were used on 63 and newer axles? The steering arm is beating in the side of the shock. however the shock mounts on the tube are facing the correct way and I cannot find anywhere where someone would have ground off rear facing shock mounts. The only numbers I can find on the axle are: on the tube: 215 OB2 389, top left on differential: 31116, bottom left differential: 2018812 (patent number?), bottom left differential: 44 4f. Any help would be awesome! thanks again!
You may be correct, on someone changing the spindle arm/knuckle. Whats the length of steering spindle arm. The one on mine is ~ 8" from king pin center to drag link center.
Does the king pin cap on the PS spindle arm/knuckle look the same as your DS, Square or trapezoid?
Whats the width across the back side of your Knuckle/spindle arm?
Teddy, the length of the arm is also approx. 8'" long, width at axle mounting bolt widest point is approx. 3.5". Excuse my abreviation understanding but im assuming PS is for power steering and I don't understand what DS means. I think the biggest problem is the fact that this steering arm is pointed so far forward. Is the stock steering arm this far forward? thanks for the help!
Sorry about the abbreviations! Passengers Side, Driver Side.
There is not much room between the drag link end and the shock on mine, so if you're steering arm is more than 8 inches or flatter then mine, I could see where it would hit the shock.
Here's some pictures of my steering arm.
Wheels straight
Turned left not quite to the stop
About a 1/4 Inch space between the end of draglink and shock.
Here you can see the rise or offset in the steering spindle arm
Thank you very much Teddy! I greatly appreciate the help. Looking at it yours doesn't look all that far off angle wise from mine however your shock looks significantly skinnier than mine, and with the close tolerances with yours maybe it's just a shock issue. I'll do a double check I might be okay running this. Thanks for the help again and you have a beautiful truck by the way!
Teddy,
Well after some careful examination your spindle arm definitely has a higher offset. Mine is darn near flat.. maybe about 1"-1 1/2" of lift on the arm. My shock is roughly 1 7/8" wide which I would guess is somewhere near the correct diameter. So now the game of figuring out where to find another knuckle with arm begins...
You might try bending you're arm> one of the problems I have had over the last 40+ years with this truck is the weak spots in the front axle. If you look at the small square bolt pattern on my king pins, (where the steering arm connects to the knuckle) this is where i have sheared them off. You're more spread out pattern would surely be stronger, and may be why it was changed. If it were me I'd try to make the arm work.
Here's some of my thoughts, Shocks for these old trucks are not popular and so what is available suck. You might be better off redoing your shock mounts and upgrading to a better shock. (This is something on my list). Not knowing what you're plans are, this is just a suggestion. It looks like you're upper shock mount is bolted not riveted, has it been moved?
Thanks again Teddy! Yea I think I will be better off trying to bend the arm to look like yours. Which if you wouldn't mind giving the measurements of how much it bends up in total height. That would be amazing, and hopefully I can bend it without any cracking. My plans for the truck are to keep it as original looking as possible but not opposed to doing helpful modifications. Here's some pics of the rig at a friends shop immediately after I bought it.
Thanks for the pictures! Looks like a pretty solid truck for a start. Your bed like mine shows the years of work it was used for.
Heres a couple pics' of my spare steering arm.
Teddy, you are a awesome! Thank you those pictures are perfect! Yea she was a farm truck... Montana farms are a little rough on things but rust wise it has less than most newer trucks I've seen. And yea the bed looks like a ocean... Nice and wavy. Thanks again good sir!
You might take a look at the knuckle pivot bearings also. If they are shot, the camber may be off and cause the arm to hit since the clearance is so close to begin with.
The steering knuckle has an upper and lower pivot bearing. If they are anything like a GM closed knuckle Dana 44 or the old Jeep model 25 and 27, they look just like a small wheel bearing. These take a lot of abuse (especially on farms) so they may be due for replacement.
Normally the top of the tire when viewed from the front should "lean out" approx. 1-1.5 degrees. If yours are leaning "inwards and the top, this may be due to worn knuckle bearings. This effectively tilts the whole knuckle assembly which your steering arm is attached to.
Could be a bent arm, but might not hurt to check those either.
I have several old 4x4s with the closed knuckle set up and each one has needed these bearings replaced. I might assume your truck might be in similar condition based on it's history.
The bearings I'm talking about are located under the little caps with the 4 bolts on them on top and bottom of the knuckle in case you've never had one of them apart. I attached a picture if that helps any.
Just my 2 cents.
I just got a 1960 F250 4x4 back in November. My first ford truck (unless owning a 1971 Ranchero counts) I'm pretty excited about it, but I have issues on the front axle as well. Not the same as yours, but It will need some sorting out.
02-17-2015, 02:02 AM
