TRE/DLE Info

[DavidB]

95 Dodge Cummins 4x4 previous owner built. (not that it matters).

'78 Ford D60 with factory top of steering knuckle raised steering arm. The DLE is worn out. It's 7/8" 18 shank. Tried an ORD DLE off my blazer and the taper is too small, DLE falls right in. DLE off the Dodge doesn't fit the Blazer steering arm taper. The TREs on my dodge and blazer are both 1" shank. What is this? Looked at ES2234 @ Autozone, it's 1" shank. The Ford app stuff I found on Napaonline doesn't look like it. Dodge stuff doesn't look like it. It's 4.75" Overall, 2.25" of thread righ up to the body.

Thanks

 

[4X4HIGH]

Try an ES2010L and ES2010R. These are Dodge TRE's with 7/8-18 threads and they are used in the ORD steering arm for crossover steering and also fit the factory knuckles for the tie rod. These are the shortest TRE's available and supposedly the strongest. I run these in both my draglink and tie rod on my D60.

 

[DavidB]

The pic the guy on pirate posted and partsmikes dimensions don't match, mostly close. My part matches the taper on the pirate pic for 2026/27

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showt...23#post7654623



http://www.partsmike.com/tie_rodid.html

My part doesn't match NAPA or PMike dims for 2010. http://www.napaonline.com/MasterPages/NOLMaster.aspx?PageId=430&CatId=7&SubCatId=1

Small Diameter Taper (Dimension C):.68" Mine = about .715"
Taper Length (Dimension D):.81" Mine = about .640"
Large Diameter Taper (Dimension B):.78" Mine = about .795"


So it looks like I have a ES2026/2027 shaped stud with a 2010 body/shank..or something.

Here is a pic of mine held in front of the screen left of to the pirate guy's 2010. The body on mine is shorter = doesn't have the lip/groove to retain the spring on the boot and the tapered stud part is different shaped.

https://www.t-mobilepictures.com/myalbum/photos/photo19/ec/cf/8ec96f330098.jpeg


My part only get's about 20* of angle/swing. Does have the dual ball/socket setup inside. The ORD is single ball, same range of motion.

According to PMike : The drag link ends ES2026R and ES2027L were used on GM ½, ¾ and 1 ton K series vehicles and use a larger taper. Both of these ends have 60 degrees of motion.

My truck is flexy (60" leaves in the front) so the DLEs need lots of range of motion.

May end up making a new drag link for the 2026/2027 as the existing one is RH/RH = a pain to adjust. Something with a 1" shank prolly wouldn't be a bad idea, I saw and old post here on CK5 where coloradok5 was looking for a different DLE 'cuz he was breaking 2026/2027s...I have hydro assist, Cummins, and 38" Michelins....

 

[DavidB]

From PartsMike (thanks Mike!) He knows his stuff.

David,
The ends you have I believe are after market here is a link http://www.superlift.com/accessories/draglink.asp
Note the stock ends that they have bent in the top picture, the link below it has their own tre's which replace the stock tre's. This was done to keep from bending stock parts to fit. I don't know if they sell the tre's separately. I have run into their tre's before.
If you want to have l & r tre's for the taper you have the ES2027R and L that we build would do the job, they have the correct taper and are 6.5" from center to end of thread.
Hope this helps,
Mike

I decided against using another of the same end since it only has a 40 degree range of motion (20 up 20 down). I'm going to use readily available stock Chevy drag link ends. part numbers ES2026R and ES2027L. 60* ROM. make sure you use drag link ends for drag links, as they have more angle capability than tie rod ends.

NOTE: make sure the tapered hole for the DLE is tapered to the right diameter. If it's too big, the stud will seat too deep and the body of the joint will bind against the arm = break and you lose steering and die - or at least it will eat the rubber boot seals.
I played with my pitman arm getting it just right and took some pics. Had to grind the (Dodge) pitman arm down from 1-1/16" to about 7/8" so that the cotter pin would go into the slot in the nut.