cheap cross over... bad idea?

[neverendingproject]

I was thinking about doing cross over on my 10 bolt and I have seen all of this stuff about strain on the upper ball joint and stress on the knuckles and I was wondering if the possibility exists if I could run my drag link into my tie rod, sort of like some jeep people do. I dont have a need for high steer and my truck is a DD so reliability is a major factor. I just want good steering performance when I go off road. Its not that I dont want to spend money on the setup, I just want performance while keeping stress levels as low as possible.

So what do ya'll think? Am I just being paranoid?

read post 12

 

[hack500]

just make up a new tie rod with a way to connect up your draglink and I see no reason as to why it wouldn't work. do it up a post some pics!!!

 

[supersize75k5]

I dont like the idea of loosing your steering all together id you wack the tie rod,

It would probably be fine for a daily driver, but for a daily driver I think factory steeing is fine,

my opinion is that cross over is not somthing to be cheap on, period.

 

[MTBLAZER89]

Lots of people run crossover on 10b/D44 with no issues. I have had mine for almost 2 years now, and everything is still tight. There have been some threads on this before you could prolly search and find them. My .02 is just buy the parts and do it right, and you'll have piece of mind it is your steering

 

[hack500]

regardless of cross over or not if you lose the tierod, the steering will be fuct.

 

[dremu]

I was thinking about doing cross over on my 10 bolt and I have seen all of this stuff about strain on the upper ball joint and stress on the knuckles and I was wondering if the possibility exists if I could run my drag link into my tie rod, sort of like some jeep people do. I dont have a need for high steer and my truck is a DD so reliability is a major factor. I just want good steering performance when I go off road. Its not that I dont want to spend money on the setup, I just want performance while keeping stress levels as low as possible.

So what do ya'll think? Am I just being paranoid?

The draglink-into-tierod thing is a combo high-steer and crossover, as I recall ... Billavista had a fancy name for it that escapes me.

Anyway, I think if your tie tod is down low the extra angle on the draglink would be kinda scary ... versus a "properly" done, i.e. draglink to passenger knuckle, is closer to flat which is A Good Thing.

That's a highly technical description based on my expertise as an engineer, which is to say, not

-- A

 

[6.2Blazer]

I'm not a big fan of connecting the drag link to the tierod.

As already mentioned you will have alot of angle on the draglink do to the vertical distance between the steering arm end and the tierod location. There is also the possible clearance issue of keeping the draglink from hitting the passenger side spring when turning to the right. The last issue that I know of is that you would want a beefier tierod to take the added stress of the draglink pushing and pulling on it, plus the draglink will add a vertical force component on the tie do to the angle.

 

[Robert79K5]

I had given some thought to this idea once. I was told that having the drag link pushing and pulling on your tie rod will cause the tie rod ends to roll back and forth and create a lot of steering slop.

 

[Seventy4Blazer]

Marv Springer used to run his steering like this. i saw his old green blazer perform and i personaly never saw any issues with it. im not sure about the parts he used, might want to PM him, or maybe he will post up.
Grant

 

[marv_springer]

I was wondering if the possibility exists if I could run my drag link into my tie rod

If you leave the tie rod under the axles, DO NOT attach the drag link to it. Yes, you can flip the tie rod around, drill it out and make an "S" shaped drag link.... I tried it... The drag link angle will give you "bump steer" to the extent that it's nearly un-driveable.....

It will work if you move the tie rod above the springs. But this will require flat top knuckles and steering arms.

Marv

 

[neverendingproject]

Well, that idea is dead. I bouught a steering arm and flat knuckles, but I was wondering if any one had reamed out the stock tie rod location for the big "1ton tie rod ends" or is that hole big enough for the bigger TRE? I know the tapers are the same, I just might need to enlarge it to put big TRE's on a custom tie rod. That leads me to something else. Do you think that 1-1/4 inch I.D. chromemoly that is like 3/8 thick or something like that will be strong enough for a draglink and a NON highsteer tie rod?

 

[u2slow]

86+ F350s use that style of steering.... but note the spring location, and how close the link attaches to the pass-side knuckle.

http://u2slow.gotdns.org:81/steering/f350steer3.jpg

 

[afroman006]

Most if not all Fords use(d) "Y-style" (the kind you are talking about) steering where the draglink connects dirrectly to the tie-rod. I see no problem using this on a chevy, Chevy even makes a tie-rod end with a hole in it for this application (my roommate has this setup on his EB, 3/8 wall 1 1/2" tube with chevy 1 ton ends).

Later model jeeps however, use what is called an inverted y-style steering, where the draglink connects dirrectly to the passenger side knuckle, and the tie-rod connects to the draglink. I dont like this type personaly, I dont see how the tires can stay alligned with the suspension cycling. But, jeep is continuing to use it so it must work fine.

 

[u2slow]

Most if not all Fords use(d) "Y-style" (the kind you are talking about) steering where the draglink connects dirrectly to the tie-rod.

The Y-style isn't an improvement IMO. Not worth abandoning the stock push/pull for.

The 86+ F350 features a knuckle-to-knuckle tierod, and a crossover drag link.

 

[afroman006]

Thats exactly what I'm talking about. How is it not an improvement over push pull? I'm sure there is a little bump steer to contend with but unless you had a geometrically perfect steering system there always will be.

 

[u2slow]

Thats exactly what I'm talking about. How is it not an improvement over push pull?

It is an improvement over push/pull.

This is an example of the 'y-style' I wouldn't bother with at all: