What's new
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

Crossover steering K5

Chris Ziemer

Chris Ziemer

Daily Driver
 Premium
Joined
Jun 8, 2022
Posts
151
Reaction score
131
Location
Galt CA
I have a 82 Blazer with a 6“ spring lift. An acquaintance of mine is going to install a Dana 44 in the front, with crossover steering. He mentioned something about the steering wheel being off and possibly not turning the same distance lock to lock. Did I hear this right? Are there disadvantages to crossover steering in an application like this? Just trying to get some information before I talk to him again.
Being meticulous, I kinda have to have my steering wheel straight. If for no other reason that my turn signal cams work.
Thanks!
 
Centering the steering wheel depends on the length of the draglink, or really the distance between the DLE studs and the type of steering arm on it. If this came from a different setup (like a D60, or a Ford), or someone has swapped between short (ORD-style) DLEs and normal ones, you could have a situation where you can't adjust the DLEs enough to center the wheel and the draglink would need to be shortened or lengthened.

That's only tricky because the ends are both threaded, one right-hand and the other left-hand, so you're either re-tapping one end or cutting the thing somewhere in the middle and rewelding. Typically on a square-body, the draglink is bent as close to the DS as possible, to aid in clearing the crossmember, so you probably can't modify it there. You also have the option of calling ORD and having a new draglink made based on your measurements.

As for disadvantages, a few come to mind:
  • You can't run the factory sway bar. There are aftermarket ones available, but they aren't cheap.
  • The expense (duh) and you may end up with some parts (DLE) that aren't available at the local parts store.
  • There is a form of bumpsteer, different from what you get with the push-pull steering. Some people claim to never notice it. It's not generally considered a big deal.
 
Yes the gear box turns counter clock wise for cross over.

The factory left side drag link turns clock wise.

You will need a 2 wheel drive steering gear for cross over.
 
Sounds to me like your friend might not be the one to do your work . . Those comments he made is rookie stuff . If he doesn't know what he is doing then say so .

If swapping whole axle does the gearing match old ?

Hope he understands you need a 2wd steering box .

You should be running the bolt in steering box brace from offroad design.

And to center just the wheel its the link from the box to axle . You can do that your self .

To set toe is the link between tire's . This also you can do your self .

A alignment on our old trucks is these 2 things i just said . Caster and camber require a LOT more work and parts and labor to set up .

Hope this helps you understand . Your in the right place here for sure .
 
Thank you guys for your replies. So, the deal is this young man is a very talented mechanic here in town. His family are pretty extreme four-wheel-drive Blazer guys. They are fabricators and like many of you, do everything themselves.
So, I bought some quarter inch DOM tie rods, weldable tie rod ends, the 2 wd steering box, braces and a drop pitman arm. He’s going to cut and weld the tie rods to fit. But apparently, his experience, the steering wheel is always cockeyed. It sounds like it may have a lot to do with how long or short the tie rods are.

The 44 is geared correctly to my 456 gears. Came out of his 83 blazer. It had already been set up for crossover steering because that’s what he runs.

It feels a little like I’m fixing something that’s not broken, but everyone’s been telling me for a long time that crossover steering is the way to go and I believe he’ll do a good job.

Is this a mistake? I can always save all the crossover stuff for another day.
 
Last edited:
At 6" I think crossover is a worthwhile investment.

If the steering wheel is cockeyed then he isn't allowing enough adjustment to center it when he builds a drag link. You can absolutely center the wheel with crossover.
 
I really can’t tell how bad my steering is. I drive it everyday. On the rare occasion on my wife drives it she can barely keep it on the road haha.
There’s an obvious answer to that problem, but she may be looking. ☠️
 
Can you let go of steering wheel at 60+mph and track straight? Or are you scared to do that?

When you are driving are you constantly adjusting the steering wheel back and forth to keep it going in the direction you want?

Is there any movement in the steering wheel before the wheels start to turn?

Ive dd’d trucks that had horrible steering issues but you learn to adapt to them. If another competent driver hops in the driver seat and says something about the steering or cant keep it on the road, you have your answer.
 
Thanks muddybuddy, I know when I picked this up a few years ago, I could hardly keep it on the road myself. Nowadays, I really don’t move the steering wheel much at all down the road. It drifts one way or the other, but I know it’s going to drift back….wait for it….

So….okay that doesn’t sound good in print… it’s not the best steering. Like you said, I’ve adapted.

As my father-in-law says, I pay taxes on both sides of the road.
 
Chris Ziemer said:
I really can’t tell how bad my steering is. I drive it everyday. On the rare occasion on my wife drives it she can barely keep it on the road haha.
There’s an obvious answer to that problem, but she may be looking. ☠️
Click to expand...
you have other problems your use to sounds like .

and they way you talked above about him and his ability's is a but sketchy .

you know you can buy a bolt in kit for crossover and no welding needed and full adjustment . i my self might be afraid of him at this point in his ability's .

check all your parts first . ball joints / tie rod ends / drag link ends . snap some pics of your steering box area and drag link to axle . let us look it over first . you might just need 1 part tweeked .

i run a 6" lift and 38" swampers for years on stock steering . off road and daily driver .

what is you use of this rig day to day and weekends ?
 
My wife won't drive mine on the street because it's so soft and has no swaybars. If you've been running a swaybar, be prepared for that change, or look into one of the aftermarket sway bars that works with crossover.

If during the swap, you end up with all good ball joints, tie rod ends, a properly adjusted steering box, etc, all of those things will help.
 
Wes Harden said:
The factory left side drag link turns clock wise.

You will need a 2 wheel drive steering gear for cross over.
Click to expand...
The 2WD and 4WD use the same rotation, but the steering arms are clocked 90 degrees differently. In fact, you can convert one box to the other by swapping the sector shaft. That's the real reason you want the 2WD box - you can't get a pitman arm pointed in the right direction due to how the sector shaft and lock bolt are located. There are a few instances of people working around this, but fabricating a steering arm is no territory for a novice.
 
Last edited:
There is a big difference on the road and especially offroad with crossover. You probably won't notice how bad the stock style is till you have crossover. In my opinion just because people do alot of mods to their vehicles doesn't mean they know what they are doing. YouTube and social media is full of them. I would be leery of letting someone with questionable skills fab up steering components on my truck. You can measure all of those and call ORD and they will send you what you need, and without the welded end bungs.
 
I have the ORD kit and it was a bolt-on deal. I don't remember getting a 2WD box, but I guess I must have... I did replace the box around that time. Anyway, with the ORD springs, crossover and no sway bar, the ride is pretty squishy. It leans and bumpsteers but otherwise not scary. The main reason I got the crossover was because the ORD springs gave so much flex it was limited by that. I don't do serious off-roading with it but I could see how it could be really hard to steer where you wanted when flexed out.

All these mods are kind of a rabbit hole. It was fun building up my truck, but at this point I whish I had just kept it a bit more mild. You might consider whether you really need or want all this. If your steering is "scary", it's probably loose ends, loose steering box, or bad caster.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Posts

Top Bottom