does anyone know who builds custom tie rod end adjustment sleaves?

 

There are a ton of off-road builders that have very heavy-duty tie rod parts in stock.

Here are two of many:
http://www.jackit.com/catalog/chapte...orrections.pdf

Poly Performance Inc. :: Steering :: Tie Rods - Jeep JK Synergy Suspension Systems, Fox Racing Shox, Beard, CTM, Johnny Joints®, Currie Enterprises, Edelbrock, Total Chaos, Ramsey Winch, Walker Evans, Wilwood, Mastercraft, CNC Braking, Sway-A-Way (Ra

If you need more "custom" than that, you'll have to find a local machinist.

Here is a good discussion, with lots of part numbers and options on Pirate 4x4.

TOTM: Steering Tierod/draglink setups - Pirate4x4.Com Bulletin Board

 

doing tie rods out of heim joints is that D.O.T. legal?

 

I'm not sure... I know a ton of guys who have done it. For street use, I prefer regular tie rods though. Heims are too noisy. There are some heavy-duty tie rod upgrades that can be done using Moog or other quality parts that may require reaming the steering knuckles to fit, but which add a ton of strength and rigidity to the steering mechanism.

I know that when the time comes for my own truck, I'll replace the wimply factory stuff with a hand-built setup using DOM, weld in bungs, and a straight-across design instead of the inverted Y that Dodge prefers. Even Dodge has done this on the newest models (which ought to fit earlier years as well -- Dana 60 is Dana 60 for the most part).

 

how would you do that the ball joints on tie rod ends are tapered shafts. i would rather conect the two steering knuckels with a single ashaft the run a shft from the gear box to the pasenger knuckle to tye them in

 

You change the steering arms on the top of the spindles.

For instance, these from Blue Torch Fab Works:

- Blue Torch FabWorks, Inc.

Or this:

NorthWest FabWorks - Products - Steering - Dana 60 Steering Arms

Offroad Design - GM GMC Chevy Dana 60 Crossover Cross-over Steering and High Steer Kits

Poly Performance Inc. :: Steering :: Steering Arms/Kits :: Dana 60 Steering Kit - Jeep JK Synergy Suspension Systems, Fox Racing Shox, Beard, CTM, Johnny Joints®, Currie Enterprises, Edelbrock, Total Chaos, Ramsey Winch, Walker Evans, Wilwood, Master

Here's one guy's how to:

Crossover steering conversion - Dana 60 - TDR Roundtable

That should give you some ideas as to how this can be tackled using tie rod ends.

 

thats basically what im wanting to do but the knuckels on the 2ng gen d60 are bottom mounts not top mounts like those you you cant just bolt that steering bracket to the top of the knuckle

 

If you really want the best (strongest) steering, you can swap out the outers. The Dana 60 C's are all the same as far as I can see.

I'll have to look under my own truck to see what they look like. I've built a ton of 60 axles for off-road stuff, but I just got the Dodge and haven't really scoped it over much yet.

 

Ive never heard anything otherwise

My drag link is DOM with weld in bungs and ballistic super duper kevlar-teflon-trojan-man heims. I wish I had used tie rod ends. Even with studs machined/pressed into the pitman arm and steering arm, its really lose compared to tie rod ends. That taper is just needed on a street rig, the amount of play in the wheel is aweful, even for a chevy.

 

Just to be clear... I recommend tie rod ends for street use. I'm not a big fan of the heim joints until the only use for a vehicle is competition, and then only if that is the only thing that will work.

For suspension links, I prefer Johnny Joints (or similar, preferably rebuildable). Heims have their place, and a lot of guys run them, but they have issues.

Here's another link that should help. Lots of good advice goin' on:

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showt...na+60+steering

And here is Dana 60 in general:

Pirate4x4.Com - Extreme Four Wheel Drive

Note that you can run the high steer arms. You just have to finish the machine work on the knuckles and bolt them on. There are places that specialize in this work, or you can purchase the knuckles all ready to go.