79 Dana 60 Steering setup

[CMMagnussen]

I have a Dana 60 Hp from a 79 Ford F-350 that I want to swap in when I do my spring over, I was wondering how to deal with steering. I was going to buy a DPA but I was looking at the high steer topic and correct me if im wrong, it looks like I can swap out the caps on the knuckles for taller ones then use my stock tierods and other goodies...........

Ill prolly need some setting straight new to steering

[jtr]

2 High steer arms with Hummer offset....moves the holes in the arms closer to the center of the vehicle (for the narrow track tie rod to work). I used PartsMike's.

1 Factory Narrow Track Tie Rod

1 Factory Narrow Track Drag Link

Drop Pitman was not needed in my case and I used Chevy Shackles in the front and added a leaf from a Chevy Pack. :D

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i137/justinroose/Img_0254.jpg


http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i137/justinroose/IMG_0749.jpg

[Slick Willie]

You say you're new to steering, so I appologize for the baby talk if you already know this stuff, but just to clarify for my explination purposes:

Tie rod is the long rod that connects the driver knucke to the passenger knuckle. Drag link is the short rod that connects the pitman arm on the steering box to the tie rod (non-stock-Ford). A kingpin cap is the round little cap on top of the knuckle that holds the spring and other kingpin stuff in the knuckle. A high steer arm is an arm that bolts to the top of the knuckle where the kingpin cap is, but the kingpin cap goes on top of the high steer arm.

Alright, you have a few options. Does your axle have the stock tie rod? Are you going to use it? I left the stock tie rod in place, bought a Poison Spyder passenger side high steer arm, and connected a 36" drag link from the pitman arm to the high steer arm. I didn't need a drop pitman arm, I didn't need a new tie rod. I just had to make a longer drag link. That's called crossover steering. The draglink is now over the leaf springs, and the tie rod is under the leaf springs, in the stock location. Full high steer involves buying both the driver and passenger side high steer arms, putting the draglink the same as crossover, but making a new length tie rod that connects to both the high steer arms, making the draglink and tie rod rest above the top of the leaf springs.

Full High Steer:
https://www.spydercustoms.com/parts/steering/imga0218.jpg

Crossover Steering:
http://www.offroaddesign.com/images/D60crossoveraxle.JPG

[Slick Willie]

Some things to add, you can imagine full high steer will be more expensive than cross over steering. But either way, do not half @$$ your steering. It's hard to get off the trail without steering control, and if you're on the road at all, well, you get the point. I don't recommend putting bends in your tie rod or drag link, even if you guss the bends, and I bet nearly 98% of people anywhere will say the same. I would think 1 ton tie rod ends fall into the "recommended, but not required" catagory because it's just like the tire size/axle combo argument. There's always someone that does it the different way and it works. And bracing your steering box is also up to you. If you think your front crossmember is held securely to the frame, and your box is in good shape, you may not feel the need for a brace. But it couldn't hurt to take the stress off the box and put it on the less expensive TRE's.

You can search around on this site and read for hours about steering box braces, Dana 60's, Dana 60 swaps, etc. So I'd recommend checking it out in your spare time. :thumbsup: If you find anything on what the stock tie rods are rated to, let me know. I've compared them to 1 ton and 1/2 ton, and it doesn't look like either.

[CMMagnussen]

Crossover looks like the way to go, Im going to look at my axle and stock steering again to get a better picture of how this works.

With the crossover Im unbolting one kingpin and putting in a passengerside highsteer arm.... this is a bolt on solution? I want to keep my downtime minimal....

Yes I have my stock tierod and it looks to be in good shape so ill keep it.

[CMMagnussen]

Found a high-steer arm for a D60 Kingpin style CNC machined with a very nice warranty $60 shipped

jump on it?

[Slick Willie]

I got my Poison Spyder for ~$129 after shipping. It's thick as hell though, so I'm not worried about it ever bending, even if I eventually go full hydro. One thing to look for is a 7 degree or so slant in the tie rod mounting surface compared to the kingpin mounting surface. This compensates for the slant in your knuckles.

It's a bolt on, but you'll need longer studs, and some come with a kingpin spacer and some don't. You just take the cap off, make sure nothing falls out, put the HSA on top of it, add the spacer the HSA came with, then replace the cap on top of the HSA. Unless you feel the need to rebuild the kingpin settup, but that's up to you. It's not too bad, and quite a few people sell great kits to rebuild them. http://www.partsmike.com/old/catalog.htm , www.sky-manufacturing.com (http://www.sky-manufacturing.com) , etc.

Check out Billavista's D60 bible. http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/60_front/index.html