dodge cummins steering help

[fubar_k5]

Figured id ask here i know theres a few people on here with cummins. Buddy of mine bought a 01 cummins its got 6 inch lift and 37 inch tires. typical mall crawler.

Anyways all the draglink and tie rod ends are wore out hes looking for something with more beef. I cant find the kit he found but it replaces it with all hiem joints cant think of the technical word for it but the drag link and the tie rod bolt through the knuckle at the same spot.

Was just looking on some feed back on this setup or if theres any other kits that anybody knows of, this thing is strictly on road I dont ever see him wheeling this thing. thanks for any input

 

[NorCal_Chris]

I dont reccomend Rod ends for a Daily driver.

Get beefier TREs

 

[fubar_k5]

Yea I would rather go TRE on it. Is there any aftermarket kits out there for these things? all the websites ive checked dont offer anything for the dodges.

 

[NorCal_Chris]

check this out. My buddy reccomended switching to inverted that the older trucks had, rather than the y.

I upgraded my steering from the inverted "Y" system to the heavy duty crossover system or "T". The inverted "Y" setup has a couple drawbacks. First it's quite a bit weaker and second is that the toe setting will move with any change in front end height. The solid bar between the two wheels is a lot stronger and holds the tow setting spot on at all times no matter the ride height. The HD system may cause a little bump steer if a truck is lifted a lot without having a dropped pitman arm. I don't notice any bump steer with my 2" leveling kit.

I installed Moog parts from Carquest for the 1998 year (the HD system was used only in '98 and '99). Notice the size difference in the main tie rod between the wheels and the huge adjusting sleeve. Below are part numbers for the complete setup, which should work for '94-'02 trucks. To the best of my knowledge the pitman arm taper was changed in 2000 so for '00-'02 trucks you can use all the parts listed below except for the upper drag link end, in which case you need to use p/n ES3527. Another option would be to install a pitman arm from a pre year 2000 truck. The original drag link adjusting sleeve will interchange. I went ahead and got a new one so I wouldn't have to fight the rust.

I have no clearance issues at the wheels, as some have reported, even with the 2001 8" factory alloy wheels (original wheels were 6.5" steel on this truck) and the '96 D60 axle, which was changed out because the original '98 axle was damaged in the accident this truck was in before I got it. So there you have it, a 1998 truck, 1996 front axle, 2001 alloy wheels and 1998 heavy duty tie rods and it all works great.



- Drag link: DS1459
- Long tie rod (passenger side: DS1456
- Left tie rod end (driver side): ES3496
- Drag link upper end (at pitman arm): ES3497 (ES3527 for '00-'02)
- Small adjusting sleeve (drag link): ES2012S
- Large adjusting sleeve (long tie rod): ES3498S

 

[fubar_k5]

Cool thanks ill show this to him see what he thinks . I like this setup a lot more than the inverted y.

 

[sweetk30]

also lots of talk about hime ends not legal for steering ends.

ya ya lots do it. but not me.

those dodges steer funny as it is then lift kit makes it more funny.

get some good 1 ton size stuff. and also check the track bar. super comon item on these. truck parked level ground. no need to have running. 1 guy watch end of trac bar at upper frame mount. then 2nd guy twitch the steering wheel till just start to feel system move. watch for the arm end to go up/down or almost pop out. if bad only buy best prem or find a upgrade kit to didtch the stock style with tie rod end up there and swap to a fixed bushing. but his lift kit might have done that already.

 

[Blazinaire]

I also replaced my "Y" steering with the HD "T" setup on my '03 with 3" lift and 37"s, but I must have got a bad batch (OEM dodge) because 3 out of 4 ends were sloppy in under 3k miles. The steering wandered less and was more responsive initially, so I'd imagine with the same setup but using better components, this would be the way to go. As far as converting to a heim setup (I still have mixed feelings about using them on my daily driver) I have had excellent dealings with Don Thuren with many of his other components so I would recommend his products in a heartbeat: http://www.thurenfabrication.com/crossover.html

 

[MNorby]

I just converted my 97 to inverted T style using Chevy TREs and reamed out the knuckles and pitas arm. Huge difference.