ford TTB tie rod ?'s

[arizonae]

I have a ford TTB kunckles off an 84 f150 and purchased ford TRE's with plans to make custom steering links. The TRE's appear to be 7/8 18 tpi so I purchased some weld in bungs for some 1" id tubing. So now I have both the TRE's and weld bungs in hand but they dont thread together. are the ford TRE's not this thread? are they metric? So now what do I do? my delima is the ford knuckle tie rod end mount is about 1" thick so I don't think the chevy 1 ton tie rods will work. does anyone have experience beefing up the ford TTB steering? what thread is the ford tie rod?

[animator]

I beefed mine up by reaming out the holes and using 3/4" heim joints...

not that this really answeres your question. But it is an option to consider.

[94stepsideford]

I beefed mine up by reaming out the holes and using 3/4" heim joints...

not that this really answeres your question. But it is an option to consider.
Thats what I'm going to do

[4x4junkie]

On my Ranger the driverside TRE had a 3/4" thread, the passengerside 7/8". Both were 18 TPI.

[Donahue]

I beefed mine up by reaming out the holes and using 3/4" heim joints...

not that this really answeres your question. But it is an option to consider.
heims are not designed to run single shear. it wears them out faster, and wallers out the hole. i know because i just got rid of my heims for a TRE and DLE setup. they work much better in single shear applications.

[arizonae]

My project is a desert prerunner so having heims in single shear would be a bad idea with the high speeds. TRE's are my best choice because I want to stay as stock as possible. Has anyone out there beefed up the steering on there ttb front end? The TRE's I picked up as stock replacement for my 84 f150 front end are not 7/8 18tpi, but they are very close.

[Ditchrunner]

The adjuster sleeve clamp bolts are metric, so I'm going to claim that the TREs are metric thread also.

[welndmn]

TRE's are metric.
I would just use the stock TRE's and sleve them as far as you can.
The TRE's don't really fail on the TTB (wear out yes) but the desgin makes the steering links bend a lot, so sleeve it.

[Blown]

Chevy 1 ton will work and are bigger/stronger but you have to ream the knuckles, same taper but larger. I reamed both my TTB knucks and solid axle knucks from the top to gain clearance and used the chevy TRE's.

[bremen242]

I have a ford TTB kunckles off an 84 f150 and purchased ford TRE's with plans to make custom steering links. The TRE's appear to be 7/8 18 tpi so I purchased some weld in bungs for some 1" id tubing. So now I have both the TRE's and weld bungs in hand but they dont thread together. are the ford TRE's not this thread? are they metric? So now what do I do? my delima is the ford knuckle tie rod end mount is about 1" thick so I don't think the chevy 1 ton tie rods will work. does anyone have experience beefing up the ford TTB steering? what thread is the ford tie rod?

The tie rods on my '85 F250 are metric. ford is notorious for using metric odd-ball threads that seem like SAE threads. It is possible your '84 has them. they changed the F250 threads in early '85, I think F150 threads changed in '82 or '83. you might be able to exchange them for older ones..

I looked up one on www.partsamerica.com.. it is saying it has a 20MM thread.

that works out to be 0.787401574".. 7/8" is 0.875" so it probably looks pretty close...

checked into it.. 80-86 is all metric. 76-79 F150 tie rods are different.. I get one and compare..

[Donahue]

TRE's are metric.
I would just use the stock TRE's and sleve them as far as you can.
The TRE's don't really fail on the TTB (wear out yes) but the desgin makes the steering links bend a lot, so sleeve it.
my dad used a 3/4 ton setup when he bent his. it was way stronger. perhaps the TTB 1 ton stuff might work aswell?

[welndmn]

I know the TTB steering from the f-250 was about .2 inches thicker then the 1/2 ton items, not enough of a change to warrent it.

[Donahue]

I know the TTB steering from the f-250 was about .2 inches thicker then the 1/2 ton items, not enough of a change to warrent it.
well, in my dads case, he bent the original. so when he went to get another one from a JY, he just got the thicker one instead.

[arizonae]

So I did a little research today and discovered that the stock ford TRE on a TTB front end is a M22 x 1.5 thread, so it isn't going to work with my 7/8 18 tpi bungs. I spent some time looking through the napa catalogue and found a different part number with a 7/8 thread and the taper is almost identical. I also found a 1" 18tpi tre that had the exact same taper specs as the stock unit. I'm using 1.25" .120 wall cromo tubing for my extensions so a 1" male thread would be a little to large. does anyone know where I can find weld on bungs with a M22x1.5 thread?