Gettin ready to do crossover...

[durantk5NC]

So I'm getting ready to do crossover steering and I am going with the kit from ORD. I currently have a severe case of the death wobble and was hoping that this will help me combat this issue. I was planning on getting my 2wd steering gear from the local Napa warehouse but I have heard of some people getting them and the hose fittings not being exactly the same. I was also wondering if the mounting bolt pattern is the same. I know it needs to be from an early to mid eighties 2wd chevy but do I need to be more specific when telling them what I need? Thanks

Oh yeah, I Hate the death wobble!!!!! shimming the kingpins did nothing to help out in my case

 

[MTBLAZER89]

Save your $$ and just get a junkyard box for $50 or so. The steering box lines changeover year was 81 I believe so depending on what your truck is. Bolts right up where the 4wd box went.

 

[K85 Octane]

got my rebuilt box for $100 at a swapmeet, hopefully it's good, at least it's a brick and mortar style company

and crossover steering isn't a cure for DW. What all have you done to fix this? I don't understand shimming of kingpins. Sounds like a d60 at least.

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

How new are the kingpin spring and bushings?

What brand/size tire and how are they balanced?

What is the toe and camber setting?

Are you sure every part of the steering is in good shape?

 

[DokWatson]

Crossover itself won't fix the death wobble, but its still an awesome upgrade and you may end up replacing a problem item in the process. Makes a night and day difference in the way the truck handles. I've rebuilt my entire steering system. Brand new box, Sky crossover, ORD 1.5" tie rod, kingpin springs and bushings, the whole deal. I still have bad death wobble so we are going to try balancing the tires with airsoft BB's and go from there.

 

[owenst7]

So I'm getting ready to do crossover steering and I am going with the kit from ORD. I currently have a severe case of the death wobble and was hoping that this will help me combat this issue. I was planning on getting my 2wd steering gear from the local Napa warehouse but I have heard of some people getting them and the hose fittings not being exactly the same. I was also wondering if the mounting bolt pattern is the same. I know it needs to be from an early to mid eighties 2wd chevy but do I need to be more specific when telling them what I need? Thanks

Oh yeah, I Hate the death wobble!!!!! shimming the kingpins did nothing to help out in my case

If you have a good box in there right now, just swap out the sector shafts. Takes like ten minutes and it's a hell of a lot easier than trying to hold up that heavy damn box with one hand and thread the long bolts through the frame with your other.

The bolt pattern is the same. There are two input shaft diameters and also two types of fittings (metric/o-ring and SAE?). They are related to year, so the simple answer is that if you buy a 2x4 box from the same year as your truck, it's a direct swap.

The newer boxes with larger input shafts are the ones that will work with the XJ steering shafts FYI if you are interested in taking that route. Changing hoses/pump fittings is no big deal so I wouldn't worry about that too much. The pump fitting can be changed really easy and it gives you a chance to drill out the flow control valve if you want.

 

[scrappyk5]

I just installed crossover, but really havent driven it yet except around the block. I will say it is Day/Night when comparing it to stock. When you get your steering box, just try and get the same year as your truck, you cant go wrong when doing that. I pulled my 2wd box off a junker the same year as mine. Make sure you install the draglink in the outer hole on the steering arm. Also, have you wheels off the ground while adjusting your steering and bleeding the pump of air, it goes alot easier.

As far as the death wobble goes, if any of the following applies, crossover will not always solve Death Wobble : bad kingpins, bushings,springs.
Out of balanced tires.
Worn tires.
Bad tre's.
and possible bad steering stablizer.

 

[bot0611]

Takes like ten minutes and it's a hell of a lot easier than trying to hold up that heavy damn box with one hand and thread the long bolts through the frame with your other..

Man is he right on this one.... i put mine in alone and i struggled a bit i wont lie to you. had to put my beer pong skills at play here

 

[durantk5NC]

How new are the kingpin spring and bushings?

What brand/size tire and how are they balanced?

What is the toe and camber setting?

Are you sure every part of the steering is in good shape?

Well I was going to go ahead and get new kingpins and bushings when I do the swap. I have shimmed them and it helped for about two days then the wobble came back.

I've got 39.5 inch iroks and they are balanced with sticky weights inside the rim. I have it toed in just a little to try to help with the wobble but that was just an attempt to bandage the problem when it was my DD. I'm sure my current front to back drag link ends are toast but they have gotten that way due to the wobble. It was so bad it even wollared out the spring bolt holes in the front hangers, which now means I get to cut all of those rivets and replace the hangers. (SWEET!!! or not) and I guess the best place to get those hangers is from LMC. I am hoping most of the problem is in the drag link and the new one from ORD will help out a lot. I also have a pretty stout tie rod on there I had made when I put the 60 and 14 bolt under it. There is actually a very small amount of movement in my steering arm which has the spacer between it and the knuckle so I am really hoping that by going crossover most of my issues will be taken care of.

 

[Bowtie85]

ive always had death wobble on my 83. even when it used to have 33" ltb's. It did get better with the dana 60 swap though. I just put my ORD x over on a month ago and have only driven the truck a couple times, all i can say is it is night and day difference over the stock push pull setup. My TRE's are shot which i believe is the majority of my problem now though.