cross over steering
 

just ordered a cross over/ high arm steering system for the truck, a complete kingpin rebuild kit with bronze bushings, new upper kingpins, new springs, lower bearings AND a lower kingpin cap with caster/camber adjusment and a borgeson heavy duty steering shaft... if the truck doesnt handle like its on rails now i'm going to be highly pissed... afterall the trac bar and sway bar didnt do jack. if i had the time i would have just bought the arms and made all of my own links but instead i paid 800 for someone elses pre-enginered product :argh:

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pictures will come as progress is made, have to wait for everything to make it to my door step

cross over steering
 

First box arrived yesterday, it had all the rebuild parts. Well everything except the 7/8 Allen tool to remove the kingpins and the bronze bushings were ordered from a different site. http://tapatalk.com/mu/4ad422ab-8152-1970.jpg

:pca1::c:

:pca1:

Your going to need the 2wd steering box brace or you will get mad frame flex at the box. Dodge connection makes a new one or you can search the yards and hope you get lucky. Its hit and miss on if the factory put them on or not.


You will love the crossover steering. It is amazing how well it works.

Also the spring bushings wear out and cause issues. Check the rivits for the front spring hanger mount. They can work loose. Look your frame over for cracks araoumd the box and the rivits real well too.

cross over steering
 

Thanks for the insight, I have some DOM tubing that should be long enough to make my own brace, already took frame flex into consideration. I'm pretty sure the front hangers are tight, did the lift kit not long ago and everything looked ok. Will double check everything

cross over steering
 

Everything but the steering linkages and lower camber/caster adjustments came in :) woo hoo http://tapatalk.com/mu/4ad422ab-2182-4bea.jpg

Your gonna find that the $50 for the brace is well worth it. Were the box bolts to the frame is not flat, It has recesses and dimples. I considered making a brace for about 2 seconds after looking at it close. The dodge connection brace is a really nice piece. Mine took all of 15 min to install

Power Steering Brace

http://www.dodgeconnection.com/i//steering_1.JPG
http://www.dodgeconnection.com/i//steer_2.JPG
http://www.dodgeconnection.com/i//12-08-06-_2.jpg


If you do build one yourself take pics of the process! Hell document the whole conversion step by step, It will make a good sticky!

i noticed the tilt of the steering box on the Y axis and contemplated leveling it out. just didnt know if the steering box would bolt back to the frame without the factory plate... removed one in my 84 and i'd rather not have to remove it unless i knew itd be worth the time hahaha. man that brace is sweet... i was going to just run a bar made from .250 DOM from frame rail to frame rail. let me make sure i actually have enough tubing before i go about deciding to make one. i will deffinately take pics all the way thru the deconstruction, reconstruction and upgrade. going to pull knuckle and hub off as one whole unit and re-install in the same manner. i dont want to pull the spindles unless i HAVE to :argh: i need to finish my wiring and get the thing inspected before i start on this project, i'll never get the thing on the road if i keep blowing money... i'm contemplating an electric fan set up so i can actually run my fluidampr. someday i'll get to truely enjoy the way this truck should have came from the factory :c:

you should deffinetly make a good write up with this. i think is something id like to do. does it just tighten up everything with the steering?

makes the steering pretty much bullet proof. the longer drag link evens out some angles increasing durability and strength. basically you index the pitman arm 90* to twist side to side rather than front to back, then the drag link travels from the gear box over to the passenger knuckle. the kits come with arms that bolt onto the top of the knuckle replacing the spring cap. this set up also alters leverage (less binding) its a very popular off road upgrade but gives the truck unsurpassed drivability, stability and control. no more wandering or loose steering. of course new links arent going to do anything if everything else is loose which is why i'm doing a complete kingpin rebuild. basically with any amount of lift, and reasonably larger tires its almost a MUST. they sell cross over only kits which are much cheaper than what i got but i got the cross over and high arm, my tie rod will run over top of my springs getting them up out of harms way if i were rock crawling, just at any rate i did it for the heavier steering. a basic kit will only come with the pitman arm, a single steering arm for the pasenger side with one hole, and the adjustable drag link.

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they printed out the shipping label for my steering linkages the other day, havent gotten a notification about departure yet but my lower kingpin caps were backordered until the 16th...since they have camber caster adjustment they're kind of a specialty thing and have to come straight from the manufacturer. i was quite suprised to see that summit had them lol i should be able to go over 55 mph with out a death grip on the steering wheel after im done hahaha

You remove the factory plate all together and the box goes to the 2wd holes.

A brace frame to frame wont work as well, triangulation is your friend. before the brace the bottom of the shaft of the steering box moved about 1/4" left to right before the wheels really started turning. Brace got rid of all of it.

Another Steering Brace Approach
 

If you're on a tight budget and can weld, use a $20 mounting bracket (holes in the right spots), a little triangular piece of scrap plate, and new, longer bolts to fab one up:

http://stuff.is-a-geek.net/PhotoAlbu...cs/CTD_119.jpg
http://stuff.is-a-geek.net/PhotoAlbu...cs/CTD_120.jpg

My truck has always steered pretty nice since I installed a drop pitman to account for the lift.

cross over steering
 

Lol, I'll just make my own so you see what I had in mind, triangulation is being used. I didn't have any luck with a drop pitman, so I got a block to raise the steering arm, then had to get an adjustable drag link... Less than 100 miles on it if anyone wants it when i'm done lol.

1,000x on Mine!
 

My stocker's coming up on 100,000 miles, still tight far as I can tell. But I'm sure it ain't gonna last forever.

Let me know how much for that adjustable one you don't want any more. :hellox:

let me make sure i can get it out with out dammage before i go sellin ya something. no one wants to buy a dead horse. :c: its a skyjacker, i think it was 230 brand new. i'll PM you a more reasonable used price.

thanks for the info. haha ya it would be nice to go over 55 without the death grip. what are the king pins? are they those bearings you have in the picture?

cross over steering
 

The bearings go in the bottom of the steering knuckle and supports the majority of the vehicle weight, the lower kingpin itself is made into the lower cap, the upper kingpins are the black tapered hunks of metal in the same picture as the bearings. They thread into the top of the axle, the tapered bushings ride on the kingpin and the springs keep a constant preloaded on the tapered bushing and the lower bearing.

ah ok i gotcha.

cross over steering
 

Steering linkages will be delivered tomorrow. I hope to start/finish it this weekend. Pictures will be in excess lol

:pca1::c:

cross over steering
 

http://tapatalk.com/mu/4ad422ab-d601-b015.jpg

the linkages came in, that's what 800 bucks looks like. Very nice product tho.

http://tapatalk.com/mu/4ad422ab-d75f-4ed9.jpg

and that's what i'm going to make my steering brace out of, that and a combination of that DOM tubing I was talking about earlier. Shouldn't be ANY flex


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Looking good! Keep us up to date, I love following build threads.

cross over steering
 

I spent the majority of the day wiring the truck, after finding out I can't even get the truck inspected at a normal shop so I started the tear down on the front end, got a few pics. Wheels off, calipers removed, drag link removed, steering stabilizers detached, steering shaft removed, pitman arm removed. The factory splines in the slip joint were worn nicely. I'm going to use the old splines to attach to the new borgeson steering shaft to the steering column; the set screws should keep it tight.


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cross over steering
 

Lower camber/caster adjustment pins will be delivered tomorrow


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Lower pins came in yesterday, i got both upper kingpin bushings out. found something else i need to blow money on... truck needs new axle shafts. one side is froze solid and this truck eats u-joints in about a year so i think its time for some 4340 chromoly axles shafts :w2: maybe one day i'll upgrade to a u-joint that doesnt use needle bearings $300 a set tho hahaha til then, looking at some YuKon axles.

Where did you order the crossover kit from

cross over steering
 

Pretty sure I got it from off road design, they specialize in GM but manufacture kits for dodge. The cross over kit alone is cheaper than what I got. What I got includes the high arm steering kit. I'll be able to confirm the manufacturer when I get back to the house.


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I looked at them. That's the way I'm going to go crossover and high steer

cross over steering
 

I got the rest of my rebuild parts from 4wd factory and the brass upper bushings from poly performance. I got my knuckles off today, if you're removing rebuilds kingpins make sure you have something with a lot of umph behind it. I had my breaker bar on it with a cheater. I stopped before I broke anything. And my $800 snap on impact wouldn't budge it. Had to remove the muffler from the exhaust for the gun to have enough nuts to remove the upper kingpins. the lower kingpins didn't come out without a fight either. Gonna order my new axle shafts and work on moving the steering box while I wait for them to be shipped.


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Unnnngh!?
 

K, that sound pretty hardcore, but I have no clue what it means? :humm:

Either you have an exhaust-driven impact or you're exhaust is masking the report from a firearm designed to remove kingpins to avoid possible police attention. :tttt:

cross over steering
 

Lol nah man, the impact "gun" was supplied with a wad of fiberous material that you wadded in the exhaust port of the wrench to quiet it down. They said it'd take a little bit of torque from the impact but nothing "noticeable" I tell ya what... It's pretty freaking loud now, who would have thought it'd quiet it down that much lol but apparently it was enough to make the difference.


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been doing some reading, King pins are to be installed to 600 ft lb torque. from what i could see there wasnt any threadlocker on the threads but i've ran across one site that recommended a high stength thread locker. ordered a set of ten/factory chromoly axle shafts earlier today... i need to quit finding stuff that needs replaced and soon :argh:

Six foot long cheater bar ought to do it. :humm:

At that level, I doubt thread locker makes any difference. You saw how hard they were to come out. That's not a fitting prone to the type of vibration or torque-induced failure thread locker is designed to help prevent.

What snap-on impact you use? :D

cross over steering
 

I don't know for sure, been a while since I've looked at the specs, magnesium housing I believe. I'll pop out to the truck and look real quick


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cross over steering
 

I lied, $422 quoted on the web site. MG725. Bought it in a bundle didn't know exact price. It's 810 ft lb recommended working torque and 1,190 ft lb break away torque. Should have handled it with ease, atleast that's what I thought lol. Then again I was using the air n arc on the company truck, about 6-10 hits the compressor would cut in to build air lol, if it didn't get it in the first few hits it wasn't going to do the trick


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cross over steering
 

http://tapatalk.com/mu/4ad422ab-7902-7f46.jpg
Getting rid of the swivel probably would have helped with the lack of ass.


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Could be the pic but I think you could use a larger chuck. Looks like you have 1/4" chucks... 3/8" is what that gun needs.

That little baby wont flow the air. I used to sell ALOT of large quick connects and chucks after showing the techs how much better there tools ran with them.

Just like you truck, Don't matter how bad ass the compressor (turbo) or gun (engine) is, if the hose and chuck (tubing) is too small it wont breath!

cross over steering
 

Lol yeah, we hooked a 1/2" air line to our 3/4 in impact. Livened the old thing up. Everything I've ever used was 1/4 so that's what I stuck with for interchangeability.


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