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steering setup questions

K

K5dreamer

1/2 ton status
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Alexandria, Va
Hey all, droppin off the truck at the bodyshop to get the crash damage fixed and get the truck painted, having a white truck in a blizzard led to my current situation. so while its there i figured id do some work on my 1 ton axles to get em ready to put in, so of course, ive run into a few questions. Because my steering stuff was all screwed up in the crash, and id have to pay to replace the stock parts anyway, ive decided to spend a little extra and do the crossover while im at it.

Truck specs - 1986 M1009, see sig for details
Axle specs - 1985 DRW Kingpin D60 from a K30
Mods being done at same time - 6in lift, Super duty shocks, 38in TSL radials on H1 beadlocks.

The plan is to do things in stages, starting with just crossover, then doing a high steer setup, and then going with hydro assist. So here are my questions.

1. Ive heard of interferance between the crossover steering and engine crossmember. Will i need to worry about that with 6in of lift? I was thinking of a 4in drop pitman arm, but worry that they may be long enough to cause a weak spot in the steering, would a 2in drop pitman be a better choice?

2. When i go to high steer, can reuse the stock tierod? or will i need to make a custom one?

3. What are the pros and cons to a standard or reverse high steer setup?

4. For the hydro assist setup, is one better than the other for the high steer arrangement?

5. Anyone know the part number for the 2x4 steering shaft I need to put into my 4x4 box? and do yall recomend i rebuild it while im at it? and how much of a PITA is this.

Thanks yall.
 
I dont think the origional tie rod can be used with high steer, do you really need high steer tho..? I just have crossover with hydro assist and it does pretty good with 39s. I just bought a 2wd box instead of changing the shaft, much easier and bolts right on. Ive had my same crossover with 6 and 8 inch lift, i have a drop pitman, the bent draglink(for clearance) and a 2inch tall virginia 4x4 steering arm. I bought EMS offroad a cap for my box and had the other tapped there cheap. With the pump mod, a 2.0 ram, 2x 4ft hoses it seems to work real well. Some say tho that for the street to use a smaller ram. A steering cooler and a larger reservoir will be needed but their cheap.
 
honestly i dunno if i need high steer, certanly not right off the get go. I might do it later as long as the steering arms i get are set up for it. wasnt sure about the 2wd box, i had heard something about the line fittings not being the same between the 4wd box and 2wd box, but it would seem thats not the case. I was gonna make the draglink out of a mid 80's tierod, which of course is strait, so thats why i was a bit worried about clerance. last thing i wanna do is need to build a cross member. i dont have any welding skills. hence the reason if i ever get off my duff and figure out my D70HD disk brake brackets ill need kert to make em :bow:
 
gunna need to put some loot aside for new hubs too..
wouldnt worry about highsteer really, i think rob h hit the nail on the head:wink1:
 
I think the reverse high steer arms are kore of a solution for coil suspensions like fords. I don't think you would be able to run it on a leaf setup like outs without cutting and turning the knuckles, as the tie rods would be passing through the leafs. Maybe it would work with highly arched springs, but i'd be worried about hitting it if you ever dropped down hard on the front suspension.

Normal high steer is something I have very mixed feelings about. The only real benefit I see is preventing damage to the tie rod from hitting rocks. However, you lose a lot of leverage, meaning everything wears out quicker. My biggest concern, is that the stock knuckles are not designed to take that
much load at the kingpins. Running the load out in front
of the knuckle where the arm is cast in is much stronger, and I'd rather deal with a damaged tie rod than a damaged knuckle on the trail.

The 2x4 sector shaft takes about 20 minutes to swap out. If you can source one cheap, go for it. Otherwise, the fittings on steering boxes were year dependant. I'd say just bring in your hose or take mental note and double check before buying.

A 4" drop pitman arm is the standard, easily obtainable arm that everyone uses around here. A 2" drop pitman would be more along the lines of the 1.75" drop van arm that I use. Mine barely clears the frame and would have been a crossmember clearance issue, but I'm running stock 52"s up front and staying as low as possible too.

I would say you could *probably* run a straight draglink with what you are doing and be ok. If it turned out to be an issue, I'd bet you could trim a little off the crossmember and get it to fit.

That said, I would encourage you to consider an aftermarket crossmember anyway. The stock one is very very poor in design and you will prevent several problems by supporting the engine better.

If your motor mounts are worn out, I wouldn't even consider putting clamshell mounts back in considering how cheap the tube style ones are from DIY4X. They really don't noticeably transfer vibrations any more than the clamshells, and the durability and lifespan isn't even comparable.
 
Dana 60 tie rods are very different than the 44/10 bolt setup by the way. The drivers side end is actually the whole damn bar, so short of rethreading it, you can't change the length. If you can get a 44 tie rod real cheap, you could cut it down. Just be sure to use DRAG link ends on it and not TREs like it comes with. They are longer so make sure you measure twice, cut once, etc.

If you have a local 4x4 shop or time to order online, you can make tie rods and drag links really cheap. Either buy it with the correct ID to thread or buy weld in inserts. The welding is very minimal, and if you do the couple minutes of prep work, I'm sure you could find someplace with a welder to run a couple beads real quick for ya. It will cost about the same as junkyard parts and be far superior in strength if you can work it out.
 
owenst7 - very interesting to know on the reverse high steer. and sounds very much like im not gonna go high steer, i really dont do much rock crawling anyway, mostly trails and mud.... and earlier this year snow. and while i agree an aftermarket crossmember is better, despite all the money im pouring into this truck right now, there isnt exactly an endless supply of it. Simply a matter of timing where all the parts i was looking to upgrade got damaged, and im making enough money that i can kinda afford to take care of it all at once. but i gotta have some limits. hence the reason im not putting detroit lockers in the axles right this second.

Thanks all for the replys, forgot how much i missed getting on here and distracting myself from work. just re-upped my membership, figured id log in and get my moneys worth out of ya all :wink1:
 
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