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2 crossover issues Please help.

M

Mudstud

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How long is your bent crossover draglink? Mine is from Northwest Fab and appears to be too short at 35" straight accross the bend. With the wheels staight ahead and slightly towed in the TREs on the draglink have less then 1/2" inside the tubes. That is one issue.

Second issue is I can go lock to both sides but the other side has just a lil bit more it wants to turn- I mean it reaches lock before the ghearbox is finished turning. (has like 30* more it can turn) This is putting stress on the frame/gearbox, and components- it pushes the axle to the side some. It's real close to being right on and I'm afraid to simply take out the lock nut on the knuckle as it may put too much of a bind on the axle shaft joints. Both lock nuts are adjusted the same at 5/8ths out of the knuckles.

I have read other posts of people with simular probs and they said the d-link ended up being too long. I have tried spinning each TRE in 6 turns and put it back together butthenit won;t even go to lock.

I plan on calling NWFab tomorrow and see what they say. Any thoughts will be appreciated.
 
I have a drag link from Sky, and I still think it is a little too short, that there is too much thread sticking out at the TRE, and not enough in the tube...However, it works, so I leave it. I have a picture if you need it.
 
My crossover drag link came from ORD and i had to cut it to fit correctly. The length depends on how much lift you have. I have a 6" spring up front with a D60 that netted an extra 3/4" of lift. If you're running more lift that may be your issue. Did NWF ask how much lift you had on the vehicle?
 
Which side bottoms out? It sounds like you need to adjust 1 side and then recenter the draglink, or your tierod is mis adjusted.
 
readymix said:
I bought my crossover kit from NWF and have had no issues with it at all.
Click to expand...

How long is your draglink end to end across the bend? Mine is 35". What PN TREs (I have es2010) you running and how much of the threads are in the tube? The es2010 only have 2" of threaded shanke and each one has less then 1/2" inside the tube when the everything goes together with wheels straight and gear box centered.

I have a 6" suspension lift with a 60 up front. I volunteered all that info so no they didn't ask.
 
ok, since no one else has said how long their drag link is and i have my truck with me today i just went and measured mine. Measuring in a straight line across the drag link from end to end mine is 38" long.
 
Thanks very much. Just left a message on their phone. HOPEFULLY I'll hear something from them soon.
 
Sorry, my phone was in & out of reange last night. I think Leper might be on to your problem along w/ the draglink being to short.
 
Mudstud said:
Second issue is I can go lock to both sides but the other side has just a lil bit more it wants to turn

I have tried spinning each TRE in 6 turns and put it back together but then it won't even go to lock.
Click to expand...

Your drag link is not adjusted properly. Think about it. it would go from lock to lock and keep turning. then you shortened its overall length by turning the ends in 6 times each. then it wouldn't go to lock.

try an adjustment somewhere in between.

When I set mine up I had the axle on jack stands. turned the wheel all the way to the left, tires all the way to the left. adjust the drag link to fit that length, but did not install it on the truck. turned the box and wheels all the way to the right, held the drag link up and made sure it still fit.

mine turns fine. goes to lock on the axle and runs out of turning ability in the box. just like it should.
 
Yea I guess that does make sense- kinda. But "somewhere in between" is gonna correct the one side that is binding now and prohibit the other side from going to lock.

At one point I kept a 1/2" of TRE thread in the rod on the pass side, I turned truck all the way to the one side that binds (turns more) and then tried adjusting the drivers TRE out to where it would fit in the pitman arm hole. I had to completely take the TRE out of the rod and then hold it a lil further away from the rod to get it to sink up with the pitman arm. Just not enough rod to thread into it seems.
 
couple of problems here. you are just looking at it with your eyes. how much is it toed in? are you sure the box is exactly centered as well as the wheel when you are hooking it up?

thats why you need to get the truck up on jack stands. with the wheels all the way to one side and the box also you have eliminated the guessing. try it.

Once you eliminated this variable I would call the manufacturer. the steering arm on the axle may not be the right dimensions to work with the pitman arm on the box. with the proper length drag link and everything adjusted right you should not be able to bind one side more then the other.

your steering box has a certain amount of inches in its swing, the steering arm should be designed to have the exact same amount. if the steering arm is to short (distance from the knuckle centerline to tre hole) your box will bind. if the arm is to long, the axle will not hit the stops.
 
boz42 said:
Sorry, my phone was in & out of reange last night. I think Leper might be on to your problem along w/ the draglink being to short.
Click to expand...


Boz, check your PM's on TOR
 
It is on jack stands. All of this was set up with rims only- no tires, so I could find absolute straight ahead - with the square bar I have- bar touches all four beads then I towed it in a lil. The gear box is definatelty centered as is the steering wheel. All works well except one side has just a tad of adjustment I need to get rid of.

Anyways, I talked with Kyle at NWFab and he's determined the problem to be the different lengths in the threaded shankes from what they sell and off the shelf parts. Same part numbers- just longer lengths from thier supplier. He spent a lot of time with me on the phone going through books and computer to come up with a few PNs I need to try. If all else fails I'll have to pay for shipping another draglink to me and this one back to them. Seems they could help me a bit on that since I did verify PNs I was going to use with them at the time of order but whatever.
 
you should not have to pay to ship back the bad one. I ordered a kingpin rebuild kit the other day from OK4wd. they only shipped me the lower half of what I ordered. they shipped me a complete setup and let me keep the extra lowers for the inconvenience.

like you said, you confirmed what you were ordering, mistakes made by the supplier should not be paid for by the customer.
 
So you bought the ends from NWF or not? If not, it's only fair that you bare the cost of freight. Just because multiple manufacturers use a common part number system doesn't mean they all have to build identical products, that's not NWF's fault.
 
if you bought the TRE separately then its on you. I would just get the right ones shipped to you and return the wrong ones to were ever you bought them. it will be cheaper to ship some TRE's then the drag link.
 
OK so I got TRE PN es2027L for the draglink and since the stub of the joint is a couple inches away from where the threads end it made up the difference lost in the DL bar. When it's on stands it works perfectly both ways / with the wheels on the ground it still won't turn all the way left on it's own. Raise it up and it works fine. Same damn prob I had with the push pull set up. Anyone have a heads up on what's going on with it? PLEASE ENLIGHTEN ME. :confused:
 
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