Ok I give up how do I do the sterring in this conversion? I have a set of 76 chevy dana 44 front out of a full size blazer I want to put this under my 81 Cj-5, But what will I need to do to make the sterring work?
Thanks Wilseya.

Orbital, pump, ram, lines and a little fabricating :D :D :flipoff2:

TTT

We will keep this one around for a while. I know myself and two other individuals would like to know the EXACT same thing. Drag links and Tie rods are the main issue here!!!

This really shouldn't be too hard. Just get some hiems and tubing adapters and make your own:D You will have to drill out your pitman arm and steering arms for a grade 8 bolt. If your set on using TREs then it can be alittle trickier and more expensive. You may have to get a reamer or have a machinist match the tapers for you.:smokin:

The problem is the steering arm also! If we don't want to spend the cash/or time to take the passenger nuckle off and have it tapped for a high steer arm, what are the options???


Sorry WILSEYA, I am not trying to steel your post here, just want to learn for all of us. I have done countless searches and think we are peeeerty much screwed without going high steer.


:beer: :beer: :beer:

I'm not sure how it would work, but what about running your drag link to the driver side high arm and using it like crossover instead of high steer? Your tie rod would be down there still...but It might work.

i ahd the same problem so I just took the dana 30 knuckles off my old front end and it fits great, and should work fine until I buils my cross over steering

Ok so dose any one have pictures of what they have done?
Can I switch my stock dana 30 knuckles with the dana 44?
What all is involved with converting over to the high sterring setup?
Thanks Wilseya.

do the work. find a flat top 44 knuckle, use it for the core to get an already machined knuckle, crossover arm, build a tie rod and you will be much happier. and dont use hiems if you drive it alot. they get sloppy and create toe change(wandering and sometimes death wobble). just my .02 :beer:

Yes, dana 30 knuckles are interchangeable with dana 44 stuff as long as your talking about the older cj dana 30. The yj and tj junk I"m not sure about...but you don't want those anyways;)

A TJ/YJ or any 30 with unit bearings will not work on a 44.

But your 76 44 should have flat top knuckles. Take off the stock stearing arm on the drivers side and get the passanger side to match. Any machine shop can do it.

You have most of what you need for High steer. Do a search on it and see. You should do it, you will be much happier.

Nate

If you find jeenjer floating around here, you can also ask him how he got his to work on his 76 '7.
The only problem he had was using implement arms with heims, (for the trac-bar) they wore out too fast. He's got the jeep under the knife again and using a heim kit from a quality manufacturer is in the works.

Here is a link to how I do it in my CJ7.

http://community.webshots.com/album/23929365iHkCAhNuYt

The rod ends are standard GM rod ends used in 1 ton and down sized stuff and can be purchased at any Autozone. The High Clearance arm is an Avalanche Engineering arm. The tierod is, currently, a stock Chevy tierod, but the high clearance arm has provisions for high clearance tierod attachment points too. The pitman arm is a stock CJ pitman arm.

We are currently testing this setup and intend to begin selling them this summer. It is really easy to make this all yourself, you just need the right taps for the GM rod ends. The steering arms you can buy direct from Avalanche with the taper already built in.

Hope this helps.

What vehicle had factory flat top knuckles with holes tapped in them for the steering arm, or did you tap these yourself???

All Chevys have the driver side done. Does'nt matter if it's a 44 or 10bolt. Maybe Dodges too.
You can find flat tops on '74 - '76 Chevys & Waggys. They need to be milled & tapped.
All this info & much more is already on this BB.
Try the SEARCH button at the top.

The flat top knuckle shown in those pictures IS a factory passenger's side knuckle. The picture was sent to me by someone who found one in a junk yard on a rig. Problem is, he couldn't remember what vehicle!!! I'm guessing a right-hand-drive Chevy truck of some sort. Could have been a right-hand-side full sized Wagoneer. Unfortunately I don't know the application.

Cheap way:
-take the tierod....turn it around the other way so the bung and hole for the steering stabilizer is on the pass side...then bend and gusset/extend your draglink and shove the rod end in the hole and drive :D

Originally posted by Sillyneck
Cheap way:
-take the tierod....turn it around the other way so the bung and hole for the steering stabilizer is on the pass side...then bend and gusset/extend your draglink and shove the rod end in the hole and drive :D

come out the dude already has enough bad info we don't need to see any more exaples of Z shaped draglinks, bends in your draglink are a BAD thing :flipoff2:

Still would like to see some pictures of the stock pass. side nuckle befor and after the machining, Any body have any Pics?

I think four by nut is the best way to go.
The hardest part will be fabbing the draglink because unless you have 5/8-16 (or is it -18) right AND LEFT hand taps, it will be either hard or expensive to get the threads for those TRE's done. That was the hardest part for me at least was the tie rod because I shortened the axle (a 79 Chevy 3/4ton D44) to Scout width, used Scout inner axles, and then had a 1 1/8" dia solid bar drilled and then tapped by a local machinist far cheaper then buying the taps and doing it myself.
Then, the point of my post, I worked at a parts store for two months and was able to go through the parts book and find two TRE's that matched the length I needed and thread I needed. I measured the length drag link I wanted and matched two tie rod/draglinks that would screw into a sleeve and accomplish the length I needed. Plus, they are both for 1 ton trucks and can be bought at a local store. Look in the back of their TRE book and there will be all sorts of length dimensions and different types of ends with 0 to 15 degree angles, different threads, etc...
I don't know if any of that made sense, but if it didn't I won't waste your time again and if it did good.

Good info. Thanks.
Wilseya

A person just really needs to tear into this stuff to figure it out, I called Avalanche and wanted to order some high steer arms and they were backordered. So, yesterday my brother-in-law went to the local iron shop and picked up some steel, 1 1/4 X 2 1/4 and we started. I just layed the driverside arm on it upside down and traced were I needed to trim. Got it acceptable and drilled the holes out with a small 1/4" bit. Next I borrowed a bench sander (6" wide) and layed the nuckle on it to smoothen the top surface. Now the knuckle is ready to get drilled. Just layed the table over sideways on my drill press and bolted the knuckle to it. Next we leveled the top surface of the knuckle, and tightened it down to the table. With the new high steer arm clamped to the top of the knuckle to guide the drill bit, I drilled the first hole.

Then we ran out of :beer: :beer: :beer:

Tomorrow I am picking up the right tap (9/16" fine) and drilling and tapping one hole at a time. When the first is done it will get tightened down with a bolt, then on to the next.

We already have a tappered reamer located from a racing buddy to take care of that, then it is off to the local machine shop for heat treating!!! Total today I have $15.00 into 3' of steel, $8.00 into a 6" sanding belt and $5.00 into 6 grade 8 fine thread bolts and $15.00 in beer , and Avalanche wanted $98.00 for one arm!!!

The only drawback is when this is done, this hole layout on the knuckle is ONLY for my arm. So IF it breaks I am :rainbow: