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Tie rod ends or Drag link ends, for crossover??

85mudblazin

85mudblazin

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I am working on crossover for my 10b and I am a little confused about a few things. First WFO concepts says that a draglink end has a double pivot ball and allows you to get more angle out of them, SKY manufacturing says they use tie rod ends and that there arms are tapered for TRE's. Is there a difference in the taper between the 2??
Thanks
-Chris
 
Yes there is a difference between the 2. They have different tapers on the studs and a DLE will take more angularity then a TRE.

I am running all TRE's in my crossover steering setup. I run a bent draglink so the TRE's in the draglink don't see that much angle and the TRE's in the tierod don't see squat for angle obviously. I have been running my TRE's for over a year with no problems at all.

I built my crossover system to use 1 TRE. All four of my TRE's are the exact same part number. They are all right hand thread TRE's. This way I only have to carry around 1 spare TRE. It is also the one of the most common TRE's out there. It is a standard Chevy 7/8" TRE. Part #2234R. I got mine for $27 each at the local parts store and they have a lifetime warranty.

The only downside to using all right hand thread TRE's is that if I need to adjust my tierod I have to pop one end out of the knuckle to adjust it. That is no big thing though in my opinion.

A bent draglink has to have one end popped out to adjust it no matte what so that is a non-issue.

Harley
 
Hossbaby50 said:
Yes there is a difference between the 2. They have different tapers on the studs and a DLE will take more angularity then a TRE.

I am running all TRE's in my crossover steering setup. I run a bent draglink so the TRE's in the draglink don't see that much angle and the TRE's in the tierod don't see squat for angle obviously. I have been running my TRE's for over a year with no problems at all.

I built my crossover system to use 1 TRE. All four of my TRE's are the exact same part number. They are all right hand thread TRE's. This way I only have to carry around 1 spare TRE. It is also the one of the most common TRE's out there. It is a standard Chevy 7/8" TRE. Part #2234R. I got mine for $27 each at the local parts store and they have a lifetime warranty.

The only downside to using all right hand thread TRE's is that if I need to adjust my tierod I have to pop one end out of the knuckle to adjust it. That is no big thing though in my opinion.

A bent draglink has to have one end popped out to adjust it no matte what so that is a non-issue.

Harley
Click to expand...

If DLE's will take more angularity then why did you use TRE's instead? I have a bent draglink on my crossover and i can adjust it without taking and of the ends off, i just need to have the wheels turned slightly to the right for it to clear the crossmember.
 
Some hardcore guys will bend the bodies of the DLE because of their long length. I use the short RH TRE's on my bent draglink, the same TRE that is on my tie rod.

Blake
 
TREs and DLEs have the same taper. Just a DLE is larger in diameter (taper run "deeper").

DLEs have a habit of bending when they have a side load put on them. Most bend right at the end of the threads. Since your DLEs are above the leaf springs the probability of this happening are slim since you'll tear the steering box off before the DLE bends.

If I were doing my own reaming I'd run DLEs for the drag link. But, since I did no reaming, I ran a mixture of Chevy and Dodge TREs so I could adjust my steering without popping out a TRE to do it.
 
OK so I see what Hoss is saying about the bent draglink releaving the angles on the TRE's, I am thinking that using the short TRE's would be the strongest thing since that would allow more tube in the draglink.
So pretty much I will have to get all of my crossover stuff from either one company since WFO uses draglink ends on all of there stuff and SKY uses TRE's on all of there stuff.
I also like the idea of only using one kind of TRE so I only have to carry one spare.
So who is it WFO with draglink ends or SKY with TRE's??
 
Bent draglinks deflect when you steer. I'd rather run DLEs which offer far more deflection than run a bent draglink.


I'd buy Sky's "tall" arm and run TREs for everything. Or have Sky ream the holes a little deeper so you can run DLEs. I'd really avoid running a bent draglink unless the crossmember is in the way.
 
crossmember is going to be in the way, no way around that so I will have to run a bent draglink which I feel fine doing. I think I am going to get the sky tall arm and run all TRE's.
 
That is what I run. I run a Sky Tall steering arm with a bent draglink. Sofar so good. I run all #2234R TRE's. They are the shortest ones available and are strong.

One of the reasons I ran TRE's in my draglink was I had already bought a HD tierod with 2 right hand ends that were the #2234R's so I just used them again in my draglink. It worked out great.

Sky's Tall arm is BEEFY. I love it. There normal arm is good but the Tall arm is freakin huge. There price and customer service kicks ass too.

Harley
 
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