47-55.1 AD TF steering arm interchange?????

[mr48chev]

I'm in a bit of a quandary on this one. does anyone know if the 53/54 steering arms that have the tapered hole for the tie rod end interchange with 55/59 ?

[1project2many]

I know this question is a few days old. I ran into this while trying to collect interchange information between 55-59 1/2 ton and 3/4 ton steering arms. I *believe* the RH side arms interchange but the LH side do not. I can research this further if needed.

[nvrdone]

my '49 arms did not have tapered holes. so I had a machine shop do it for me. cost about $35.00 total if I remember right.
Also, if I'm correct, the bolt spacing on the TF where it bolts to the spindle is wider than an AD.

[mr48chev]

I was trying to help a guy in Australia out as he had bought a 53/53 with a dropped axle and they had flipped the drag link end so it attached from the bottom but he didn't know if the arm still had half the taper from the top.

The Australian inspection wouldn't pass the dropped axle. I didn't ask but it may be a Speedway axle with the square tube in the middle. His plan was to set it back with a stock axle, get it pass inspection and swap back. later.

[nvrdone]

very interesting question. I think that's a great way to get past the initial inspection but don't they have an annual inspection ? if so, that seems like a lot of work to swap axles every year.

[mr48chev]

I don't know how they actually work the later thing. I also don't know what axle the truck came with either dropped original or aftermarket like the Speedway cobbled together mess.

I'm thinking that he will have have an engineer approve the swap and sign off on it to be legal and can't just arbitrarily swap the axle and be done with it. Modified vehicles down there that are done by the numbers are usually really safe vehicles in comparison to some of the cobbled together see stuff we see running around here. I've read stories of more than one car or truck bought from the US and shipped there that was totally rejected because of shoddy work and build practices.