well im not trying to play coppy cat ,, but if he removed that leaf.. i believe i will be doing the same! by the llooks of the pics in his gallery that thing flexs like no other highboy i have ever seen.. so if i try and coppy and can even be conisder a 75f350 POSER i will be plenty happy and pat my self on the back . besides this thing allready has so much drop i would rather not drop it another couple inches.. (even though in actuallity it wont really drop the entire spring it self that much farther down) 4" drop hangers and my lift springs are plenty plenty,, if i designed it for sd springs but continued to run these for a while it might look like i was going for even MORE life.. get what i mean?

 

Thanks for the replies you guys. I am sure it isn't a concern, but you get a bending moment when it isn't in line with the frame, so that is why I wondered about it being inboard.

Again, great work! Keep posting pics.

 

The way they tie into the 1.25" solid pieces helps with the moment be transferring the load to a broader area of the "structure" that is the cross member.

Again - if I put a little more thought into it I could have made it a little bit better - but I am still happy with it.

 

I to had a lot of time rapped up in this project of yours haha!,, it takes alot of time to read through all your progress posts...I am very happy with how it turned out.. and its not even my truck
its my attempted compliment for your fine fab skills !
good job..
now lets see some pics

 

I do that a lot

 

here are some pics from last night.

I'm starting on the frame supports while I wait for my buddy to cut the final plates for the leaf hangers.

Remember the 7/16's bolts from earlier in the build? They will be the base for these...


Bottom plate and top plate seen here


Tube connecting the 2. Part of the upper structure is not in yet obviously.


Tube fitment. They will get welded tonight. I hope to have both sides done...

 

hey i know this is off topic but i was lookn at the whole cross over steering stuff blahh blahh blahh,, and im having trouble understanding the whole thing.. all these web sights talk about heim joints and propper tie rod size, "D.O.M. tubing",,heim joint tube adapters.. threaded tie rod bungs.. welded bungs..witch end has the left hand threads and witch has right handed threads and why . alll these things they talk about .. idk im new to all this. i know this is the "spring hanger thread" but to me this is the "front end of my highboy thread" lol
thanks
john

 

John, this is a good place to actually discuss this. Unfortunately this term "crossover" steering is like voo doo or something and this could use some clarification.

Crossover is simply a term to describe a steering design that uses a long drag link that runs parallel to the tie rod, and crosses over from one side of the vehicle to the other. This is very different from the push / pull design that our trucks came with.

Ok, some systems will use Tie rod ends for the connections and some will use spherical rod ends. Either is suitable, and some have advantages over the other. Main thing is cost. The TRE is less money than the spherical rod end.

SO you have a steering box that is cann accomodate the crossover design. This box will have to sweep the pitman arm from left to right and not front to rear like the original boxes. Yes, in our case, it requires a different box. There are several ways to accomplish this, but for the purpose of this explaination we will just use a general idea that the pitman arm sweeps from left to right.
Now we have to connect the pitman arm to the pass side knuckle. This has to be accomplished with a section of tubing and this common tubing used is called DOM, or drawn over mandrel tubing. This tubing is seemless, and typically very strong.
Each type of end, either the TRE or the spherical rod end uses threads to connect to the tube. This means that the tube has to have threads. One can thread the correct size tubing. Wall thickness is important here, or one can insert a weld in bung that already has threads machined right into it. This is good for the "do it yourselfer" that can weld but might not otherwise be able to tap a left and right hand thread. The 7/8" tap is not cheap and it requires two different ones. The left hand thread is not common nor is it real cheap, so justification for one let alone two might overload the budget.
One end is threaded with right hand threads, and the other is left handed. This is so that adjustments can be made without removing one end. Only the jam nuts have to be removed, and the threaded tube can be turned one direction to lengthen it, or the other direction to shorten it. Its a pain to make such adjustments if both share the same thread.
The rest is attachment of the two ends. Some axles are easier to adapt while others take some work and fabrication.
There is no kit available for anything earlier than a 77.5 ford truck.
Earlier trucks used a manual box with power assist and not power steering. The original early noxes cant accomodate any crossover design so everything for our early trucks has to be fabricated.

Here is a pic of some DOM tubing along with some chebby tie rod ends. Included are some part numbers for common ends used.
Shperical rod ends can be used, but these are a little spendy and require a bit more maintenance.



Here is a shot of my junk that includes crossover, with shperical rod ends. These are chro mo 1.25" units. Kind of huge and plenty spendy:




Some more junk of another rig using chebby tie rod ends:

 

I used the Chevy tie rod ends too but It's not as pretty as Ed's though

 

Dont forget your bling hydro assist Mark. I dont have that. I shold though.

 

I just read this whole post.....Boy did I get about 20 questions answered.....Haha.... On my first truck I tried putting Superduty Springs under it, started re-drilling shackles then figured out it was just making more work!!! stupid....stupid... Have enough knowledge from on here to do it right now!!

You guys do some nice work.....

 

ed,,,,,,, your the man,,, need i say more?
hahaha I'm sure when somebody like your self replies to post after post over the same subject they tend to all run together.. but if you rember a while back.. ( quite a few months now) the first week i got this truck you helped me with understanding the process involved in adapting either a 78/9 power steering box..i feel i am to the point where i can take all the bits and pieces from these threads and make something work on my truck
.
either tomorrow or thursday i will be halling my frame over to a friends shop to use his welder.I gave up on craigslist after a 4th deal on getting a welder fell through..
expect progress in the very near future as i plan on pulling some allnighters till school starts in 1 week
thanks again for all the help everyone
john.

 

While we are talking about steering, ChaseTruck754 has done a real nice job of installing a saginaw box. You can see some of the fabwork in a couple of his pics. Maybe I an ask him to post some pics of that install as well, and we can blow the top off of this thread. This thread has discussed many valuable topics.
He will be doing a form of crossover. He will be installing an Inverted "T" style stering using factory components.
That is if I ever get his dana 60 complete and re-built. Good labor is hard to find, lol.

 

Hey guys - I had to run out and actually "work" for a bit today - so I didn't get time to post before I left. I then get a message from Ed saying we went into a steering discussion on here and to hurry up and "post up".

Well - I am back and here we go...


1st I'll start with the bling pics of last nights work!

some more welding


a little bit further along


trying to keep some strength in this yet still clear the bolts and sockets



welded up


painted and in


started other side - should hopefully finish tonight





Ok - now onto steering.

1st off - Ed - I'm not 100% sure on the inverted T yet. If someone would finish my axle - maybe I could look into that - hahahahahaha!

2nd - you and your "bling" 1.25" heims... What - big tires don't pull enough chicks for you???

I go for the truck that looks subtle from a distance, but the details let you know it's well thought out and executed. Not saying your trucks aren't either Ed - you just like to show off the fact that they are from a distance - haha


Now into the real content of this post.

Here is what my steering box was when I bought the truck... Notice the bottom portion of the C on the frame is gone!


Yes, that is a 2wd box NASTILY stuffed onto my 4wd frame. The leafs would hit the box under any suspension compression and the fabrication was fugly - so it HAD to go. Why anyone would do this - I do not know...

I wanted/used a saginaw box for a couple reasons. 1) they are strong 2) they are easy to find and find parts for because they are used on all sorts of cars and trucks 3) because of #2 they and parts for them are cheap. These are all GOOD things to me.

Plus the dodge truck I was originally using as a cummins donor had one on it - so I cut the hunk ofr frame it was mounted to out and grafted it to my truck!

Normally I wouldn't have grafted the frame piece as I am NOT a fan of shortening (eh - cutting a couple feet off the back and moving the leafs forward is ok), lengthening or splicing frames. BUT - based on how CRAPPILY the previous owner HACKED my frame to put that 2wd box in - this was the best way for me.

Old steering box mount before removing



Dodge frame hunk used to graft


Here are some pics of the dodge frame graft.





There are more if you want to look through my photobucket account here. Flip through the pages to find more pics.
http://s453.photobucket.com/albums/q...wap/?start=120


Ok Ed - I showed mine - now you shows yours! You had a saginaw box in before I did...

 

Makes a great steering dampner.