On FTE and other offroad sites you will hear almost daily to upgrade your steering to crossover vs the factory push pull but you never see write ups. After reading everything FTE had to offer and deciding to jump into it head first I see why. Many of the biggest advocates are posers who have never actually done it. I could go on and on of why I dispise incorrect information but rather than bore you to death Ill continue.

This is a step by step "how to" on 77.5-79 F250s. I cannot say what works and what doesnt for the older highboys or what is transferable over to the D44HDs. I can probably get close but rather than talk about something I dont know I wont say anything. Good advice FTE posers!


Here is my completed D60 under the truck.


You will notice I was trying to run a high steer tie rod connecting the two knuckles. High steer moves the tie rod up above the leaf springs to get it out the way of rocks stumps etc. Later I will show you why this IS NOT possible from what Ive seen. I am using crossover steering arms that I bought off ebay. They were $180 for the pair but you will only need the passenger side because the driver side wont be used. Some sites sell them seperate so do that if you can. If you can show me pics of it done please do. I love being proved wrong. The arms came reamed for Chevy TREs so thats one less thing to do.

The first thing you must do is remove your factory dog leg steering arm and purchase a 79 F150 (150 not 250) pitman arm which is straight. You cannot use the factory arm because the bend will hit the engine crossmember at about half right turn.


Buy the F150 pitman arm, stock for a 4" lift or 4" drop for lifts above 4" (I bought a 4" drop based on a FTE members recommendation and it was wrong...too much drop for my amount of lift.), and have it reamed with a 8* taper reamer.


This will properly taper the hole in the pitman arm for a Chevy TRE to fit.

Once its reamed you will need to install it 90* from the factory location. On a 77.5-79 F250 the factory pitman arm is pointed out toward the front driver side tire. For crossover you will need to clock it 90* so that it faces the driver side rear tire. There are 4 indexing tabs on the sector shaft so you cant get it wrong even 1*. Tighten the pitman arm nut down and admire your work

Next purchase about 3' of 1.5" .250 DOM for the drag link 1- #2027 Chevy TRE 1-#2026 Chevy TRE 1- 7/8-18 TPI LH tube adapter with jamb nut and 1- 7/8-18TPI RH tube adapter with jamb nut. I got everything from Mike at Completeoffroad.com and would recommend him again. Great guy and even better service.

Once I started bolting everything up I noticed the passenger side steering arm would hit the shock. This was an easy fix by relocating it behind the front axle similar to the way the driver side is set up.



Here is a pic of the shock tab moved to the rear of the axle and out of the way. You must also move the top shock mount rearward also but I found 2 holes that lined up perfectly as if it was meant to be.


Once the shock bracket was moved I noticed another problem. With the highsteer tie rod in its correct position there was no room for the drag link. Because of the holes in the steering arm, the drag link was meant to be in the rear hole and would intersect with the crossemember.



I decided to scrap the idea completely and just have crossover.

Your tube adapter length and tie rod end (TRE)length will determine exactly how long your DOM tie rod will need to be but for me it was 28". For the sake of explaining it I will use my measurements. Please measure twice and cut once. DOM is expensive. Cut your 3' piece down to 28" and weld on each tube adapter. The over all length of my drag link with the tube adapters welded in was exactly 30". Then thread in each respective TRE and jamb nut. My measurements was figuring 3/4 of the total length of the tread to be inside the tube for strength. This allows 3/4-1" of adjustability on each end which is more than enough. Dont cut it too short because you didnt factor in the thickness of the jamb nut. These are necessary to keep the drag link from loosening.

Once its assembled I highly suggest aligning the front end.

Here is the finished product installed. Pay no attention to the oil on the drag link and oil pan. I have been chasing a pesky valve cover leak since day one of building this motor.


You will notice a drastic decrease in wandering and bumpsteer from your lifted 77.5-79 F250. It makes it much more fun to drive without the feel of chasing it all over the highway.

Hopefully this helps. Any questions or other detailed pics please let me know.

 

great write up. rep for ya if I could....

 

what he said.

 

Good to see you got it to work.

 

Thanks, Can we get an overall kind of picture? kinda showing the whole set up? and you are running a 4in lift? So good to have a real write up, thanks again

 

Yes, I have a 4" lift now. I will eventually lift it with 4" 99-04 super duty leaf springs which from what I understand will give a 77.5-79 F250 an extra 1" of lift. Ill do a write up and detailed pics and measurements of that as well. To get a complete front end pic Im going to have to pick it up with my forklift I think which I dont mind doing.


Im tired of reading 100 post from people saying do it this way and its so easy but none of them can give pic 1 of any of it done. Im a firm believer in (especially over the internet) "if you cant post a pic you havent actually done it"

 

I think I covered that - for everyone



Good writeup - its in the tech folder

 

I'm sure they make them for a D60 also, but did you ever consider moving your tie rod above your pinion?

Aside from the shocks needing to move, could that make high steer work for yea... its hard to tell in the pics if you have a clear shot

 

Are you saying move the tie rod behind the axle? Yes I thought of it but didnt have the extra $180 at the time to do it. Its not life threatening for my build so I didnt invest the coin.

The shocks will need to be moved for crossover steering. Its stupid to run a highsteer tie rod if youre not taking advantage of crossover. If you look you will see I DID move my passenger side shock.


Your sig is cute. I like the fact that you select group of newbs think you can start talking ***** about everything we say and expect to be though of as "cool."

 

AWESOME writeup! I've been looking for info on how to do this for some time. I want to do the same thing, but I think I have even less lift. Could you do me a favor and measure the distance you have between the top of the spring pack to the bottom of the frame? Mine is right around 7", I have 5" of up-travel setup in my shock. The TRE is about 3" tall so that's not leaving a lot of room in there.

Do you ever have any interference problems? It looks like if you were turned right (?) and the drivers side was fully compressed it'd hit the pitman arm?

 

AWESOME writeup! I've been looking for info on how to do this for some time. I looked forever trying to find some good info on doing this. Ive found that on FTE it does not exist. Ill warn you and everyone else reading this tech thread that there are several people running around saying theyve done this before and based off the info I was given by them there is no way theyve even seen a 79 F250 much less attemped this.

I want to do the same thing, but I think I have even less lift. Could you do me a favor and measure the distance you have between the top of the spring pack to the bottom of the frame? Mine is right around 7", I have 5" of up-travel setup in my shock. The TRE is about 3" tall so that's not leaving a lot of room in there. I just measured 7 1/2" from the center of the spring pack to the frame. I know I have a 4" rough country lift kit. I seriously doubt my stiff **** front springs will ever flex 5" to bottom out the shock. A TRE is only about 1 1/4" tall. Its about 3" if you count the bolt. Dont figure that in your measurements.

Do you ever have any interference problems? It looks like if you were turned right (?) and the drivers side was fully compressed it'd hit the pitman arm? This is a common problem on trucks lifted as little as ours. If I turned my wheels to the right and compresses my springs fully I think the pitman arm would hit the springs. Just be careful or put on a 6" or bigger lift

 

You are seriously cranking out some good tech threads!

 

Im tired of the poser wanna be-s of this site! There is also so much bad information floating around you dont know who to believe. I hope these articles can help someone. My new moto is if you cant show pics of a completed project then you havent actually done it.

If anyone need additional pics just let me know. I am eager to help.

 

I'd still love to see a shot of the whole setup, if ya feel like it, thanks

 

If you look at these two pics you can basically see the whole thing. I kinda broke-did my truck so once I fix it Ill take some pics and post them up