Either I'm not seeing something obvious or... (tie rod with flattops)

[lochenjons]

My tie rod from my d44 non flattop knuckles wont work now that I have flattops? If it werent for the taper for the steering stabilizer bolt I could just switch it around and be fine but I cant. Please tell me there's something obvious before I hurt myself thinking too hard . I searched but found nothing . Oh yeah and good news, I'm almost done with my x over/52" swap!

Oh yeah and any tips for getting the steering arm studs out? Two came out all easy by just putting two nuts on and loosening the bottom one but the middle wont come out. I'm gonna try putting a lock washer in between and mess around with combinations of those and similar to see if I can get it.

 

[JDNobodi]

The flat tops have the tie rod mount on the top. The flat-top's tie rods have a bend to clear the leaf springs. I think the tapers are the same, so I would check up on that.
However, if you could mount the later model tie rod on the flat tops, and it clears the springs, the taper for the steering stabilizer would be on the front and be mounted higher.

 

[lochenjons]

Here's what I mean:

Should be enough clearence considering the overload is gonna limit up travel:

The problem:

Because of that taper I can't put the bolt in backwards letting me bolt up the stabilizer.

The bolt only goes in one way and with the tie rod upside down, the bolt faces the wrong way. And it does not look like I could take out the ball joints and flip them around so what can I do?

And I still havent been able to get that one last stud out. I put a nut on then a washer then a lock washer then another nut and it still wouldnt come out

 

[ssped]

easy. swap the 10b arm back in on the left side and run one side up and the other down on the tie rod. I take it this is a temporary set up till you can get new tire rods? I did this to mine. WFO tie rods rule

 

[Jason4x4]

just get rid of the taper bolt, drill out the hole, and put a normal bolt through the hole with a nut, then slide your stabilizer on the bolt with another nut.

 

[lochenjons]

just get rid of the taper bolt, drill out the hole, and put a normal bolt through the hole with a nut, then slide your stabilizer on the bolt with another nut.

Yup thats what I'm doing now. I thought tho that it would all work I never heard anything about it not working as is so I thought maybe there was another way

 

[JDNobodi]

You know what? I was looking at a dana 60 this weekend and the tie-rod mounts on top and the stabilizer mounts the same way as a 10 bolt. I wonder if you could use the dana 60 tie-rod to solve your problem.

 

[gmc4cw]

You know what? I was looking at a dana 60 this weekend and the tie-rod mounts on top and the stabilizer mounts the same way as a 10 bolt. I wonder if you could use the dana 60 tie-rod to solve your problem.

60 tie rods are a different length. just run an aftermarket stabilizer that clamps to the tie rod, or don't run one at all.

 

[lochenjons]

60 tie rods are a different length. just run an aftermarket stabilizer that clamps to the tie rod, or don't run one at all.

Well so far the bolt I put thru there is working just fine. I made the hole a little bigger to get rid of most of the taper but I didnt have a bit big enough to completely eliminate it. It's working fine just the stabilizer is a little tweaked to reach higher and all