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crossover w/o the arm? aka y link

NorCal_Chris

NorCal_Chris

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So was taking a look at ballistics crossover they have listed for chevy's. Never saw that setup before, well not on achevy at least it kinda looks like a stock ford setup.

thumbnail.asp

Anyone running this? It is a whole lot cheaper, im just wondering about clearance with the leaves?

any insight?
 
NorCal_Chris said:
So was taking a look at ballistics crossover they have listed for chevy's. Never saw that setup before, well not on achevy at least it kinda looks like a stock ford setup.

thumbnail.asp

Anyone running this? It is a whole lot cheaper, im just wondering about clearance with the leaves?

any insight?
Click to expand...


It's the same as my jeep wagoneer stock setup.
On the GM which is spring over axle, you need to make sure you clear the springs at full droop on the passenger side when full lock to the passenger side.
Mine cleared just fine, but I have seen some that didn't.
 
Sloppy. As the draglink pushes on the tie rod, what's the first thing that moves? Nope, not the steering arm, the tie rod end cams over. Watched it many times while spotting the FJ40.
 
X2

I considered doing this before I did my crossover.
But I soon realized it's a crappy solution.
Because of the angle you won't be rid of the bump-steer.

Another problem is the stock tie-rod arms on the knuckles are about 8" long from the center of the knuckle to the center of the tie rod end (if we're talking dana 60).
And I don't think there is any pitman arm out there thats long enough to steer it fully lock to lock, with a "steering arm" as long as that.
 
Plus that draglink isn't as long as a regular crossover draglink, its really more of a compromise in between the stock steering and real crossover.

As mentioned that's the stock type steering setup on a lot of Ford's and Jeeps, and many of those get swapped to real crossover for good reason ;)
 
This might be one of my better options. I wanna put something besides push pull on my I.H. But it has a front sump oilpan. It may not be ideal, but i can't lift it high enough to clear crossover, and it has to be better than stock style.
 
I didnt think about the shorter draglink.... I guess the onlt pros on this is simplicity, and maybe not having to clearance your crossmember.

I already have the flat top knuckle, guess i need to just bite the bullet and drop the 4-500 and do it
 
I think this is the setup I am going to go with for a couple reasons. The first, I'm going to have hydro assist on it also, so I shouldn't have an issue with turning power. The second, right now I have a D44 and plan to move to a D60 as soon as I can get the money (probably after college graduation next May), so I don't want to spend a bunch of money on getting a flattop, having it drilled and tapped, and then getting steering arms.
 
maybe this is a good option for the newer SAS trucks that are mall crawlers??
 
kicker30 said:
I think this is the setup I am going to go with for a couple reasons. The first, I'm going to have hydro assist on it also, so I shouldn't have an issue with turning power. The second, right now I have a D44 and plan to move to a D60 as soon as I can get the money (probably after college graduation next May), so I don't want to spend a bunch of money on getting a flattop, having it drilled and tapped, and then getting steering arms.
Click to expand...

One thing that many people don't realize is that mechanical steering and hydraulic steering DO NOT mix.

The mechanical (crossover, push/pull, whatever) steering is affected by suspension travel, hydraulic steering is not. Even with crossover, your effective draglink length changes as the suspension travels, just to a much lesser degree than the super short stock draglink.

Hydro assist and crossover work pretty well because the draglink is long enough that this difference is relatively minimal, any binding that would occur can be taken up by the springs/bushings. I run crossover and hydro assist and its works just fine.




Now, when you use a shorter draglink with hydro assist you can run into trouble. I remember way back when I had a 4" BDS lift on my Blazer and just a raised steering arm. If the drivers side was at full droop I could have the steering wheel cranked all the way to the left and the tires would be straight.

In this situation, imagine hydro assist being hooked up. The box is already at lock, full crank left, wheels are still pointed forward because of the short stock draglink. The ram, however, has no regard for where the tires are pointed. Its going to try to force the axle to steer full crank left, but the mechanical system is going to prevent that. Which means the bushings/springs are going to compress/twist until something else gives, which will probably be the steering box or frame. You would be practically adding a ram, which can apply several thousand pounds of force, so that it can rip the steering box from the frame.


Anyway, moral of the story, mechanical steering with hydro assist is best off with the longest draglink possible. If you can't spring for real crossover IMO you're best off waiting on hydro assist unless your suspension has very little flex.
 
38377k5 said:
One thing that many people don't realize is that mechanical steering and hydraulic steering DO NOT mix.
Click to expand...

I think this is urban legend. It has already been proven that you can do hydraulic assist with stock push-pull steering. The key is that you have a hydraulic steering gear and a hydraulic assist ram. The fluid is shared between them. The factory power steering is a mix of hydraulic and mechanical steering to begin with.
 
ballistic also has full crossover kit just check the second bubble. That's what I'd go with of course.
 
Im not a fan of this set up any more.

I want BEEF on my trucks, not a damned veggie burger.


Lucky for me I happen to carry a spare being the driver of my vehicles walks a fine line for sanity.. and he stumbles quite a bit side to side.

DSCN2678.jpg

DSCN2700.jpg
 
Never thought of doing it that way, doesn't seem like a bad way to do it. Doing it that way gives you the longest possible drag link that has been mentioned and keeps you away from the problem of breaking the TRE in the y-link set up. The vehicle in the picture has coils in the front, so no clearance problems with the drag link. In the case of leaves, a zero rate and/or bent drag link may take care of that problem.
 
I guess that's what they mean when they talk about a double-shear mount...
 
Merv said:
No. Double shear is one heim sandwiched.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know. But the setup above has the same bolt in single-shear on both sides....that's gotta count for something...
 
Merv said:
No. Double shear is one heim sandwhiched.
Click to expand...

Michael was being sarcastic, they're both in single shear and its even further compounded by the fact the the top side will want to do the opposite of the bottom side and vice versa.

Its easy, but its a crappy way to do steering.
 
supersize75k5 said:
Im not a fan of this set up any more.

I want BEEF on my trucks, not a damned veggie burger.


Lucky for me I happen to carry a spare being the driver of my vehicles walks a fine line for sanity.. and he stumbles quite a bit side to side.
Click to expand...


What are the tie rods tapered for. Chevy, Ford? Any part numbers handy?
 
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