Why not?

[6.2Blazer]

Keep in mind that most factory setups using this style of steering (draglink connected to the tierod) did not have to contend with leaf spring interference. Jeeps were either spring under so the tierod was already above the springs or had coils, the early Ford F-150s and Broncos were also coil sprung so on leaf springs. This allows the draglink end to be very close to the passenger tire and helps eliminate the angle. All of these vehicles also had panhard bars that were set to really close to the same angle as the draglink to avoid bumpsteer issues.

With the relatively narrow spring spacing of this era GM trucks and the spring over suspension the draglink would have to attach to the tierod much further away from the tire (towards the center of the vehicle) to provide enough clearance of the passenger side leaf when turning to the right. And since you can't put too much drop in the pitman arm (it would hit the driver's side spring plate) there would be a pretty substantial angle on the draglink causing crazy bumpsteer and the other associated downward stresses on the draglink and tierod mentioned above.

Not saying it wouldn't work at all, but it is far from optimum and thus the reason it is not the common solution used.

 

[mnstrburbon]

Oru sells the right nuckle cast for cross over for 180.00 thats the way i plan on going and you can get tie rod up or down so you dont have to change the driver side. most are nut down the factory flat tops where the other way.
To me it would increase resale of the 44 or 10 bolt and you will be ready for cross over on 60 later.
i believe the full kit is 450 not a bad deal i think they have a custom pitman arm that alows you to use the stock 4x4 box. so for 450 you get a complete crossover setup
http://www.offroadunlimited.com/orustore/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=502&idproduct=8239

 

[colbystephens]

that's very interesting! I'll look into it, but I think that $500 on my dana44 is half of what it would cost for me to get a dana60.... ofcourse, that's likely still needing cross over tho. I like that the knuckle is ready for the drag link to go over the spring tho!

 

[buefchris]

I spent a lot more than $450.00 to do my crossover... good deal.

 

[jekquistk5]

I know a couple people that ran the Zlink like that. My buddies jeep would bind when he compressed the passenger side. If your going to buy crossover arms why not just spend an extra 100 bucks and do it right. I have little over 400 in my setup now, 150 of that is the arm. When I switch to my 60 all I have to do is buy the arm, and sell the 44 stuff. Regaurdless if you have a 60 or not, your still gonna pay to do the correct setup later. Why pay for an incorrect setup, just to buy the right setup later.

 

[original balzer]

You need to factor in ALL the costs of a D60. the purchace price is just the begining. Once you see a grand total it may be worth it to spend a little on your current axle.

for example I have a D60 in the back yard, BUT near as I can tell so far I need about $1000 to get it where I want it before I can use it.

 

[mnstrburbon]

For a 44 cross over i dont think you will find a better deal than the oru (and all you will need when going to a 60 is the arm for the axle.)
By the time u buy both flat top knuckles get it machined by the arm and the studs you will be in it way over the 180.00 for a new knuckle ready to go. and you only have to by 2 ball joints for the pass side and only take the one side apart. seems like a win win to me.

 

[supersize75k5]

wfo will sell a machined knuckle for around 75.00, and he charged me around 25 bucks each for the the moog ball joints and installed them for free.

also using the crossover I mentioned I was able to re-use my drag link when I upraded to a 60

 

[colbystephens]

Very good info here, guys. So, what I'm gathering is that if I do all this stuff right to my dana44, I'm really only out the cost of a knuckle since everything else should transfer over just fine. That doesn't seem like that big of a loss in the scheme of things.

 

[jonathon]

Oru sells the right nuckle cast for cross over for 180.00 thats the way i plan on going and you can get tie rod up or down so you dont have to change the driver side. most are nut down the factory flat tops where the other way.
To me it would increase resale of the 44 or 10 bolt and you will be ready for cross over on 60 later.
i believe the full kit is 450 not a bad deal i think they have a custom pitman arm that alows you to use the stock 4x4 box. so for 450 you get a complete crossover setup
http://www.offroadunlimited.com/orustore/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=502&idproduct=8239

Interesting... looks like I would need at least 1" more of lift to run it though..

 

[mnstrburbon]

drag link yes tie rod no and ya it gets you way better steering and also alows for the 52 or 56 spring swap as you dont want to move the axle forward and use push pull.

supersize75k5 what about the driver knuckle? from all that i have seen the flat top knuckles have the tie rod on top and the non flat tops from the bottom?

 

[jonathon]

I'm still pretty sure I'm gonna run flattops, that knuckle is pretty badass and if I were running more lift I'd go with their setup in a heart beat.