Greetings!

I have a 1" thick piece of steel with a 5/8" hole thru it. I need to make this a tapered hole that goes from 3/4" on the large end to 5/8" on the small end (to fit the tapered shaft of a tie rod end.) I'm pretty sure there's a drill bit of some type for making this type of hole, but I don't know what it's called or where to find one.

I'm assuming a machine shop would have a drill press that would do this in a second, but I'd like to do it myself.

Anyone have any idea what these bits are called and where to find them? Also, any tips on drilling this kind of hole?

Thanks in advance.

Kevin K.

 

You can get tapered reamers. A lathe can bore a tapered hole.

 

If the powers that be don't get PO'd, here is a suggestion. Check the link for what you want. Tapered Reamer

 

Sweet! "Tapered Reamer" is what I'm looking for. Now I can search the web and stores for one.

Thanks for the link. That's EXACTLY the one I need. If I can't find a cheaper one somewhere, I'll probably get that one.

Mike W, I'm actually drilling the steering knuckle on my D44. I don't know if I could get it off the axle much less onto a lathe. Thanks though.

Kevin K.

 

DetailerDave,

Thanks again for that link. I bought it, got it in the mail yesterday and reamed all 3 holes in about 10 minutes. It saved me hours of messing around with my dremel.

Thanks again!

Kevin K.

 

What kind of mod are you doing to the D44?

 

I took the tie rod off and flipped it to the top of the knuckle. I bent the heck out of it the last two times out and didn't want to go with an expensive High Steer setup. It took me all of 30 minutes to do the whole job and it raised the rod about 4"-5".

Kevin K.

 

Now if you have a track bar drop bracket because of a suspension lift, remove it and your stearing geometry will be back on track.
If you don't have a drop bracket then say hello to bump steer.
I hate bent tie rods.
I can live with bump steer.

 

The PO of the truck did the lift with bigger coils in the front and blocks in the rear. He never put in a drop bracket for the track bar or a drop pitman arm. He didn't even drop the radius arms. So, yes, the steering system geometry is very close to the stock setup now.

See pix here.

Kevin K.