Problem with High Steering. need advise

[Heimeken]

Here's what it looks like now. I just finished this and my 8 lug conversion on Sat.

http://home.elp.rr.com/bela/P1001700med.jpg

Problem: as you can see on the passenger side the connection point where the drag link meets the tie rod comes very close to the spring. I found a few places online that will custom fab both. But I'm wondering if a stock tie rod can be cut and threaded to make a drag link? That way I can cannect it all the way to the arm. I'm looking for the cheapest solution not the strongest, since the parts are already out of harms way.

[Bob Barry]

Sure, it comes close, but does it actually contact the spring on full-droop? That will be when the clearance is the least; when compressed, the spring will be out of the way even more. You can get a spacer for the flat-tops to raise the whole steering arm, or you can cut and thread a tie-rod (you may need to turn it on a lathe). It does look good though.

[River Beast]

You can always use 1" spacers that they make to lift the arms off the knuckles more. Remember... I had a 3" spacer on my pass side knuckle...

[Heimeken]

I already have 1" spacers on the flat tops. This tie rod is actually from my old Narrow-trac axle and is a bit bent with a downward curve. Notice the driver's side has a bit more room. I put this on because the wide trac turned out too long. The steering arms land about 3/4" more inward than the stock ones. So I'm prolly gonna do some machining to the WT rod to make it fit. As you can see this one is not safe at the sleeve.

[Sundowner]

a company called OTT makes arms with a shank in them that gives an extra 1" clearance.
so does a comany called jeepxtremes in NJ.

[ June 30, 2003, 10:01 AM: Message edited by: Sundowner ]

[Bob Barry]

You should be able to bend that tie-rod back straight with no problems, just as long as you do it cold. Remove it from the truck before you do that, though.

[Heimeken]

problems solved: I took two stock tie rods (long ones) to the machine shop I had one cut about 3 inches to fit the new length between the arms. I had the other cut to fit from the pitman to the passenger side arm. Both were threaded to match the adjuster sleeve. Fit perfect and less stress on the steering. I'll post a pic in the next few days.