ok ive got a 79 f-250 with a dana 60 front and 4 in of lift. i was just lookin on ebay at a complete high steer kit. ive heard guys talk about high steer but i have no idea the reasons behind it. but everyone that goes wheelin alot has it. so is this kit a bolt on or do i need to do any machining on my knucles and if im not doing really serious wheeling is there a need for it?

 

how do you know you have a 60 front? unless you got the snofighter package or it has been swapped in you are running a D44HD up front. thats makes a big difference.

hi-steer is used to get steering up and out of the way of rocks and such so as not to bend them. its also the best way to get the optimum steering linkage angles. the closer to horizontal your steering is the better. the TRE's are under less stress when they arent trying to be forced up/down as well as side to side

there are a couple different ways you can go. if you want true hi-steer you have to get 2 steer arms, one for the pass side with 2 holes and one for the driver side with one hole. the drag link will connect the pitman arm to one of the holes in the arm on the pass side. then the tie rod will connect both knuckles.

however you can do what is called cross over steering, which is what i run. all you need for this is one steer arm on the pass side with one hole. the drag link (pitman arm to knuckle) will be up high over the leaf pack and help keep the pitman arm to knuckle angle nice and as level as possible esp with the use of a drop pitman arm. and then the tie rod can be just a stock unit connecting both knuckles.

a lot of people do whats called TRO, or tie rod over. they ream the holes from the top of the knuckle with a special reamer and get adapters to go in the holes. this helps get the steering up and out of the way by about 3-4" depending. a lot of times enough to make a difference!

hope thats helps, sorry for the long-windedness, lol

-cutts-

 

ok so i beleive ive got a dana 60 cause the lock out is 4 in wide but if i dont how can i tell? its got all the other bells and whistles that a 79 had. b4 i put the lift on it set higher than my 78 like about 3 inches.

 

ok also just went and looked its got king pins instead of ball joints. and its got 12 bolts holind the cover on. still got the tag on it but its to cold and wet to get underneath it. also i know its got 410s axle code on the tag is b41 or b4l cant tell if its a 1 or an l the book says its dana 60 rear with a ls 410 but cant find the front in the book

 

wow! awesome man, thats a 60 alright! 4" hubs are a dead giveaway!

here check this out, you should be able to run your tag number here. (copy and paste in the address bar and remove the space) http://www.pira te4x4.com/tech/billavista/60_front/

-cutts-

 

Hey, this is what I am getting ready to do. I got the tie rod ends, but was going to make 1 order to get the tubing, inserts and jam nuts. I didn't know about the adapters. Where can I get them? I was looking at spidertrax because I like their hex insert.

 

it depends on the size taper of the TRE, but sometimes you have to use a shim to keep from gettin sloppy steering. it just depends

Here is some more good info i found, i think it explains it a lot better than i did

the credit goes to CK5... http://coloradok5.com/ordcrossover.shtml

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Cross over explained

Steering problems are very common on a lifted 4x4, and unfortunately for us, the GM straight axle steering is the worst of them all for problems associated with a lift. The general term: “steering problems” basically amounts to one of 4 specific problems.

1: It breaks. Crossover (or any other kind of steering) doesn’t do much if you’re steering box isn’t attached to the frame, or if the linkage is broken. But the parts in the kit are beefy enough it should never break. A box brace is always a good idea also.

2: It lacks power. Crossover doesn’t do much for actual steering power, you’ll have to go to hydraulic assist or other steering upgrades for that one. It may help just having the proper geometry from the crossover, but that’s not the main purpose of crossover.

3: This is the good stuff: Bumpsteer, Bumpsteer is defined as unintentional steering motion of the front tires when the suspension moves in a straight up and down motion, for example hitting a speed bump or large dip in the highway. This causes both front tires to move upward the same amount. You can feel bumpsteer in your truck by letting go of the steering wheel when you’re driving over speed bumps or “whoops” in the highway. If the wheel jerks as you go over the bumps, you have some degree of bumpsteer. Stock GM steering can work well in preventing bumpsteer just because the steering linkage is pretty well located for vertical travel and moves in the correct arc to keep the steering wheel and the tires in sync. Crossover steering will have some bumpsteer because the leaf spring suspension moves straight up and down while the crossover draglink moves side to side. Since the draglink end at the axle will move in an arc, it will have some small component of side to side motion as it travels vertically and this side to side motion causes bumpsteer. However, this is generally an acceptable level of bumpsteer for most drivers.

4: This is the really good stuff: Roll steer. Roll steer is defined as unintentional steering motion of the front tires when front axle “articulates” compared to the frame, meaning one side moves up while the other goes down. Roll steer conditions are possible in two driving circumstances: cornering, where the whole body rolls compared to the frame, and off-road driving where only the front axle moves compared the frame. Roll steer is usually just annoying when driving on the street, it’s hard to get enough body roll to cause serious problems.

The off-road articulation situation is the one that concerns us. The steering action pops up in 2 ways; One is when the axle housing itself under steers when articulated due to the arch in the spring. This motion is one we just have to live with because it’s due to the motion of a leaf spring suspension itself. As one side of the suspension compresses and the other extends, the leaf will make the axle move forward on the extension side, and backward on the compression side. This motion will steer the axle housing under the vehicle. Make sure you understand how this works before you continue reading, it’s important to understand that the axle housing steers under the truck when it articulates.

The other way the axle can steer is when the steering linkage moves in a different arc than the axle. This is found in poorly designed link type suspensions, and is also found in the factory GM front suspension. This is where crossover steering comes in to play. Imagine the standard GM steering on your truck, with the suspension twisted in such a way that the left (driver’s side) tire is drooping away and the right side is compressed. The left side of the front axle will be moved forward because of the increased arch in it’s spring, and the axle will be at an angle under the truck because right side is moved back due to the spring being close to flat on that side. Now try to turn left. Your steering box turns the pitman arm so that the end of the arm moves to the front of the truck. But the end of the draglink where it ties to the axle is already closer to the front of the truck than it’s supposed to be so your pitman arm’s motion doesn’t actually turn the tires to the left, it just makes them straight again.

Keep turning the box till you’re against the stop and you’ll find that you can only get the tires to point straight, it won’t move them to left because the steering box is maxed out and doesn’t have any rotation left to pull the draglink forward.

Now imagine the same scenario with crossover steering. Since the draglink in a crossover setup moves side to side, the angle of the axle under the truck doesn’t make an appreciable difference in how the linkage acts when you steer. A little forward and backward motion of the axle ends doesn’t matter so when you move the steering wheel, it translates into side to side motion of the draglink and steers the wheels all the way to the axle stops. This is the big deal with crossover steering, it works when you twist the truck up in an off-road situation.
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-cutts-

 

So basically there is no way to do it without using a 2wd steering box?

 

In the chevy application that was described in the link uses a chevy as an example. Chevies require the use of a 2wd steering box to convert to crossover steering. Sector shafts on the saginaw 4wd boxes will not accomodate the re-indexing of the pitman arm. The factory power steering ford box will allow the re-index of the pitman arm, so a 4wd box is alright.