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No, just decided not to muck up the thread any longer out of respect for Carl. Also, had other things to accomplish today like installing solar on my 5th wheel.
I believe both you and I have said our peace and I think that Carl has been provided more than enough information to make a decision that suits his needs and goals.
See you at the next dance sir. I'll be the one dancing like the late and great Mr. Farley!
Fwiw I value your opinion on FTE, and I don’t see it as mucking it up, we hashed out some similarities and differences of 2 vendors core policy, as it turns out, Carl is money ahead paying either of their lower core charges and having them port the box and then adding a ram from any number of vendors, PSC, Howe, Lee or even RNR when they get theirs back in stock.
Point is our dance illustrated some of his options. And if he does go searching for a core and read the link to BT he will know some of the things to look out for to avoid aftermarket steering parts on his core like the torsion spring on the input, the top Cap bolts or even the Allen vrs slot screw on the preload adjuster, All things he would be dinged for on a core from either vendor.
A whole other option if time and money are his main issue at the moment, Autozone sells their reman box with a lifetime warranty for $180 and I know they don’t check cores, heck you could probably put a dead hamster in the box and they could accecpt it. ( not vouching for Autozone quality on that box but it does get you back on the road for cheap )
I have decided to go with a ported and tapped blue box as they will grant me half of their $150 core charge with my broken sector shaft. Once WTOR gets their 1.5 RAMs in stock, I will proceed with that order and install it myself. Maybe take coop up on his offer for his assistance
Here are some links to things I read before taking @The Brad's bait and diving in on this project:
I guess you could say I give 2 kinds of advice...1 will save your family from a fiery crash (steering). The other will most likely put you in the dog house (T4).
If you intend to use your truck off road I recommend mounting the ram either behind or above the tie rod,
regardless of your offroading a few things to watch for.
mount both ends of the ram in double sheer and use a full tube clamp not a steering stabilizer U bolt clamp, I have seen many of if not most of those come loose when used with a ram. If you do mount it down low in harms way the axle end factory steering stabilizer mount often cracks if you don’t gusset it.
Basically I am saying this is an example of how not to do it. ( it’s easy but failure is eminent )
A much better way is to use a fabricated diff cover mount and tubular tie rod mount to get the ram up out of harms way and both ends of the ram are in double sheer, the clamp doesn’t slip or ubolts come loose. The tube clamp is also better then weld on tabs just for doing alignments but weld tabs work in a pinch.
these trucks don’t have much travel so hose routing is simplified but still crucial that they don’t chaff of get pinched and are as protected as possible.
The internet is full of more bad examples then good on this one so try and avoid those.
A decent example of a low mount:
reienforced axle side mount. ( I would have done more, but to each their own)
double sheer tie rod mount and they welded the plate on in addition to the ubolts ( good idea if you insist on ubolts)
perhaps the best part of this setup is the hose routing and protection the hose fittings get, bravo.
I’ve considered the diff cover, but everything I’ve read says the steering movement almost always causes the diff cover to leak.
speaking of leaks..... low mount ram is also more susceptible to pitting the ram shaft which will cause leaks but this is likely going to be an issue more due to where you live and what they use on your roads in the winter.
cover leaks, yup, I’ve seen plenty of leakers,
if you buy a fabricated cover for a ram mount get one that has been surfaced or “decked “ after all the welding is done so it is flat. ( cheap ones often do not get surfaced )
I torque my bolts in a cross pattern and use “The Right Stuff” by permatex, because of how it is being loaded torquing is important, I think many people are used to just bolting them on and dont torque.
anyhow, 5 years and no leaks on mine with several thousand miles of Baja off road travel and 37” tires.
edit.... be sure the cover doesn’t hang below the pumpkin casting and if it does grind it flat... otherwise just jacking your truck up by the diff can cause a leak.
Looking for examples on the Net, I ran across one of my early rock crawler builds ( circa 2000 )
the error here is that the ram is not parallel with the tie rod, this causes the tie rod to roll over and that is hard on your tie rod ends ( this toyota had heim joints so it wasn’t to bad but still not ideal, on a street rig this would be bad.
one up off roads looks worth investigating One Up Offroad
wfo concepts makes one because I just saw it in the office but I don’t see it on their website.
worth a call, I’m sure they will get your the info, they are also a dealer for PSC steering rams and kits. www.wfoconcepts.com
My truck has had 35” tires for all but 2k miles of it’s life. The day after towing my boat home from AZ, the tie rod end at the pitman arm broke while I was backing the boat into its spot. When I looked at the failed part, I could see it had broken about half way through long before giving up completely. By adding the ram I halved the stress put on the box and pitman arm and now I can steer aired down at a dead stop with my foot hard on the brakes with one finger.
While this pic is of a failed sector shaft, the break is similar to my rod end break in that it was rusted half way through.
Great info thanks guys, have subscribed to thread. Brad I had the exact same thing happen as you recently. Was turning tightly at very slow speed out of my driveway as someone had parked directly across from my exit. The threaded tapered bolt at the end of the tie rod, where it bolts to the pit man arm, sheared off at a point level with the underside of the pitman arm. I’ve since heard of it happening to a couple of others. Like you, mine showed signs of shearing about half way through as cracked surface showed signs of age/weathering. Then the slow speed loading did the rest. Makes you feel lucky to be alive. 😃
A decent example of a low mount:
reienforced axle side mount. ( I would have done more, but to each their own)
double sheer tie rod mount and they welded the plate on in addition to the ubolts ( good idea if you insist on ubolts)
perhaps the best part of this setup is the hose routing and protection the hose fittings get, bravo.
Good points on how to install a ram incorrectly. You pointed out exactly why I boxed in the stock mount and welded tabs to the tie bar vs a clamp. I also run a boot (as pictured above) to keep the ram clean. Im not going to lie, my truck is a street queen who's only job is to tow so Im not worried about going of road or else I would have mounted it differently. End of the day, you can only do so much to protect the ram.
I looked into the diff cover mounts but read so much bad press about them leaking and working loose, I moved on.
Originally Posted by pirate4x4_camo
Looking for examples on the Net, I ran across one of my early rock crawler builds ( circa 2000 )
the error here is that the ram is not parallel with the tie rod, this causes the tie rod to roll over and that is hard on your tie rod ends ( this toyota had heim joints so it wasn’t to bad but still not ideal, on a street rig this would be bad.
I spent a good couple hours trying to find the right location to mount the ram but most as you point out cause roll over and not a true push pull. At full lock, the tie bar moves in quite a bit towards the axle.
No matter how one mounts a ram, there are pro's and con's to each!
Great info thanks guys, have subscribed to thread. Brad I had the exact same thing happen as you recently. Was turning tightly at very slow speed out of my driveway as someone had parked directly across from my exit. The threaded tapered bolt at the end of the tie rod, where it bolts to the pit man arm, sheared off at a point level with the underside of the pitman arm. I’ve since heard of it happening to a couple of others. Like you, mine showed signs of shearing about half way through as cracked surface showed signs of age/weathering. Then the slow speed loading did the rest. Makes you feel lucky to be alive. 😃
Scary! And thank God it was at a very low speed an no one was hurt!
01-08-2019, 09:44 PM
( not vouching for Autozone quality on that box but it does get you back on the road for cheap )
