For those who have done the pickup disc conversion what was your solution for the tie rod length. The pickup tie rod is too long and I was thinking about cutting and sleeving it. What is the total length the tie rod should be not including the rod ends. What diameter tubing should be used for this also? Thanks in advance. CIE

Go get OTT's hy steer arms and be done with it.
Cutting and sleeving the tie rod seems like a really bad idea to me. It would be like adding a weak spot to your draglink. if you are going to shorten the rod just shoten one end and tap it.

I used 1" bar stock for my steering links and 5/8's heim joints. they have held up really well so far...:)

I have a friends cruiser in my garage that were doing a s.o. on and he has the mini truck disc brake conversion. His tie rod is cut to 41" long and sleeved with 1" inner diameter tubing. I have heard of alot of people doing it this way without any problems.

I am that friend, and I am willing to bet that the cut and sleeved portion of my tie rod is stronger than the rest of the rod. I have wheeled the hell out of it for a few years and it is still perfect. I hear it is very hard and expensive to obtain the taps if you were to cut and tap one side. A few bucks in steel to sleeve is also a tad cheaper than hy-steer arms :rolleyes: , although the hy-stter arms would be nice to have if your budget can handle it.

Hy-steer is really cool but if you don't have the money what do ya do?

The mini truck tie rod will work just fine. Sure you bang some rocks with it , but carry a spare. I've changed mine a couple of times cause they got bent but I've never had one fail.

I've shortened a couple of them by taking about a half inch off each side and simply twisting the rod ends in a little bit deeper. Works great, got the right toe-in and like I said never had one fail.

I wheel the sh!t out of my rig and I've got no complaints.