Flip tie rod to front - anyone done it?

[yossarian19]

So, I've got the position of my 4.8 / 4l60e just about dialed in. Only catch is that the stock tie rod is 3.25" under the oil pan. Not much up travel & the engine isn't even resting on the chassis.

Since I'm using CPP's power steering setup, it seems like I can hack off the u-turn section of the driver's side steering arm (drag link section) and then flip the steering arms side to side, moving the tie rod to the front.

Has anyone done this? See any dangers I haven't thought of? Other / better ideas?

If I move the powertrain further back, I start running in to space issues with the bell housing & firewall. Pan swap = an option, for sure, but I'd rather not spend money on it if I don't need to.

Thoughts?

[mknittle]

I don't see why it wouldent work as the parts are bolted to the spindles. you may have to fab an arm for the drag link though

[yossarian19]

I didn't specify - the CPP power steering kit includes a steering arm that mounts with the two bolts above the spindle's shaft (not kingpin, the one the bearings ride on), so I don't need the original drag link arm at all.
Thanks for the feedback, Mknittle.
Incidentally, this truck came from my girl's parents, just up in Nevada City. It'll move back with the two of us in a year or so...

[mknittle]

Originally Posted by yossarian19

I didn't specify - the CPP power steering kit includes a steering arm that mounts with the two bolts above the spindle's shaft (not kingpin, the one the bearings ride on), so I don't need the original drag link arm at all.
Thanks for the feedback, Mknittle.
Incidentally, this truck came from my girl's parents, just up in Nevada City. It'll move back with the two of us in a year or so...

Hell that is only about 16 miles from where i live.I used to work up there quite a bit when i was driving 10 wheelers.
there are some cruse nites in the grassvalley nevada city area and auburn has a cruse nites once a month from may through september.

[mknittle]

I forgot about the kit having the seprate arm. that is a big plus!
you should gain plenty of clearance if you can move the tie rod.there are at least 3 people that I know of on this board that have found out the hard way about that kit!

[yossarian19]

So far, I've bought two things from CPP. One was a CPP product through Speedway. purchase went smooth but come to find out the kit has problems with bump steer. The other was direct from CPP and fitment, service, purchasing etc has all been a bummer.

Live and learn. None of it is going to slow me down too much, so I won't worry about it. I just won't buy much else from CPP if I can help it.

I'll post pics when I get the steering flipped.

[yossarian19]

Oh - and I'll look for you when I get up there to cruise night. The rate I'm going... well, it should be running by the time my lady and I find a place up there.

[mknittle]

Mine too

[mknittle]

oops double post

[mknittle]

Originally Posted by yossarian19

Oh - and I'll look for you when I get up there to cruise night. The rate I'm going... well, it should be running by the time my lady and I find a place up there.

I am not too hard to spot just look for a really ugly guy with no hair and a scar on the right side of his head

[yossarian19]

OK, probably a bad idea to simply flip the steering arms around to put the tie rod in front. Ackerman angle would probably / almost certainly be out of whack, causing handling issues at all speeds (unless I was 4 wheel drifting the car, which will probably never happen)
So, now, unsure how to proceed. Call it a dead topic for now.

[mr48chev]

There is a lot of controversy over swapping the tie rod to the front to the front on I beam axles. It's one thing that I have never been involved in either in doing it., driving a car that had it done or working on a car that had it done on it so I don't have a lot of input. I will say that the majority of cars that guys do it on are light weight cars that probably don't have a thousand pounds on the front wheels. they also almost always have pretty skinny tires so side slip may not be all that noticeable on turns.

If it turn out that you do do it. I don't think that driving straight down the road or freeway will be affected appreciably. Where the issues might come up are in turns where you might be dragging one front tire through the turns because it isn't tracking right with the other front tire. If things are right on a vehicle Ackerman wise you can go to a large flat area and drive through a puddle getting the tires wet and when you make a turn on the dry pavement all four tires will follow the same arch of the radius of the turn. It's kind of like watching a semi truck and trailer rig make a turn and the trailer smoothly follows in the same arch as the tractor while another truck and trailer rig that isn't set up right will look like it is fighting with the trailer to get it around the same turn.

Back to the truck it's self and the situation at hand. With the truck sitting static on the floor how much clearance do you have before the axle bottoms out on the frame or the rubber bumpers? It may be that the suspension will bottom out before the tie rod hits the pan.