so i m sure this is nothing new, but i finally got my d60 up under my truck and instantly noticed a problem.

its a 80's k5, on 4" lift,stock length springs, and i m running a kingpin 60 w ballistic highsteer arms.

it would appear that i need to move my steering box( 2wd) because the pitman arm ends up right on top of my tie rod.

so, i m about to rebuild that whole part of my frame to relocate that box. is this standard procedure for what i m runnin? or did i fuck up and buy some shit that wont work with my stock suspension setup?

flame away assholes..... i feel i deserve it:shaking:

so i m sure this is nothing new, but i finally got my d60 up under my truck and instantly noticed a problem.

its a 80's k5, on 4" lift,stock length springs, and i m running a kingpin 60 w ballistic highsteer arms.

it would appear that i need to move my steering box( 2wd) because the pitman arm ends up right on top of my tie rod.

so, i m about to rebuild that whole part of my frame to relocate that box. is this standard procedure for what i m runnin? or did i fuck up and buy some shit that wont work with my stock suspension setup?

flame away assholes..... i feel i deserve it:shaking:


no flaming necessary. You put out a well worded question. If you used an after market arm on the 2wd box, how long is it?
how much drop does the arm provide?
those are two solutions off the top of my head without photos..

That's weird, and no it's not common to have to move the box. Are you using an 1104 superlift pitman arm?

looking at the arms on the site it looks like they are longer than stock/others from king pin to tre. that would push the tre under the pitman arm causing the clearance issue.

im not sure exactly what pitman arm i m using. i bought it used off a guy parting a 90's 2wd chevy crawler, he didnt know the brand. it looks like the the superlift one my buddy bought, but it has an eagle stamped in it. and it fits the big TRE w/o modification. its not a super big drop or anything, it looks right.

and yes i was thinking the high steer arms did look a little long as far as kingpin to tre hole, but if the pitman or the highsteer arms were any shorter, thats gonna fuck up the throw of things right? i ll try to get a pic up when i get home from work.

thanks guys

yes, if the pitman arm was shorter it would decrease the amount of steering, so will long arms.

You can use a pitman arm from a fullsize Jeep Wrangler, it is shorter than that superlift arm. Oh you may need to drill out the hole to fit 1Ton TRE.
www.wfoconcepts.com can provide you with what you need.

i just got home with my buddy s superlift arm from oru( he hasnt used it yet) and its exactly the same as what i m running. i really really really dont want to fuck with steering box location so my focus is on those steering arms. i work at a machine shop( as a welder not a machinist) so modifying those arms shouldnt be a problem. i guess i need to move my tre hole closer to the king pin

burt thanks but i dont think shortening up the pitman is the answer. i want that throw

anybody running high steer on a 60 care to give me a dimension of tre cl to kingpin cl? it would be much appreciated. otherwise i ll be makin some phone calls on company time tomorrow

im gonna go out and stare at it now.i ll take some pics and try to get them up in a few

for what it's worth...

damn thanks rock tonka thats what i needed to see. my cl to cl is 6 1/4! wtf!?
off the machine shop we go i suppose. and i m still tryin to get a pic up.....

i know nobody likes links but if you care-
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=43498223&albumID=2517080&imageID=57430155

i guess the moral of the story is ballistic high steer arms are too long for a typical chevy setup. i wonder why they did that....

because leaf sprung chevys are such a small prtion of their market.

i bet that 75% of their customers have links, thick diff covers and hydro stuff to clear

quick solution could be to weld some double shear tabs to the tie rod and run your drag link to that.

Im just running a single passenger side highsteer arm and the tie rod in the factory location moved to the topside of the knuckles.

[QUOTE=hmatiak;10316701]quick solution could be to weld some double shear tabs to the tie rod and run your drag link to that.

that wouldnt solve anything, my problem is the tie rod is too far forward. at ride height they ll be right on top off each other. thanks though

trkklr- thats kinda what i was thinkin. my buddy ran these but he had a linked up toy and mounted his box accordingly. i m too soft for ballistic shit i guess

quick solution could be to weld some double shear tabs to the tie rod and run your drag link to that.

that wouldnt solve anything, my problem is the tie rod is too far forward. at ride height they ll be right on top off each other. thanks though

trkklr- thats kinda what i was thinkin. my buddy ran these but he had a linked up toy and mounted his box accordingly. i m too soft for ballistic shit i guess

Guessing the pic you had a link to is with no weight on the suspension?

I had the same problem with my part mike arms, But I'm running 52" springs.

I ended up moving the box. I cut some 1" solid rod to 1.5" long and drilled them out to 7/16". Then bolted them to the box, made a template of the mounts on a peice of cardboard, marked the frame, drilled them out and welded. Not as easy as it sounds but not a terrible job.

i plan on runnin my rears up front after i get my 63s out back. these 4in ranchos are sort of temporary.i dont know how the spring length will be a factor.... i dont think it should be

thanks for the input guys, i ve got a decision to make. and i m leanin towards modifying the arms. gonna sleep on it....

Hmmm, does a shorter pitman really loose all that much throw? I don't know the science behind that?
All I do know is I had a similar issue with my crossover/highsteer with very low lift, 4" 15yr old springs and a BBC oil pan just wating to get smacked.
I'll have to measure my WFO arms but I am using the shorter pitman arm and it has plenty of throw..knuckel stop to knuckel stop = max throw right?
I do have hydro assit also..
Anyway just talking out loud!

I like to see the distance between the center of the kinpin to center of the drag link hole be the same distance as the center of the pitman shaft to the center of the hole on the pitman arm.

Keep that ratio and you will find your steering will work great.

To me it looks like you need to run the draglink to the tie rod, as is typical when using GM tie rod ends. The hole for the steering shock gets reamed out to fit the drag link end.

burt- i dont quite know how to explain it, i can see it in my head, but idk, i also dont want to buy anymore more parts as i ve already screwed up twice now. long story... pm me i d like to see your rig, i m in salida

lumpdog- thats a very good theory. i ll have to measure and see what i get. as of now i m shootin for 5 in. mostly cus rocktonka is runnin that and its workin, so, thats what i need. but i will check and compare the two. thanks!

i ve talked it over with a few machinists at work and came to this for the arms situation. they appear to be regular 1018 mild steel.i m goin to TIG(with ms filler) up the existings holes, deck it all and bring that offset plane back a little further, shoot my new holes, still gonna be offset per original design, and ream them out with the ball joint reamer.should look stock when i m done. sounds easy enough right?

i want to move the drag link hole back also because i want my drag link and tie rod to be parallel. as is it would be off at a shitty angle. hopefully by the time this is done, i ll getta star and start my build thread....

thanks for all the input. very helpful

i went out and did a better mock up and checked my pitman length. 6 1/4 cl to cl, just like my arms. ballistic was on to something. heres a better pic of whats goin on, at (almost) ride height

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=43498223&albumID=2517080&imageID=57460497

hopefully that 1 1/4 i m gaining will be enough. its gonna be very close

Mine sat almost identical to yours. I would not do anything to the arms and would move the box, especially if your going to put 52" springs on.

with the pitman cl lines the same as the arms you get a 1/1 ratio of knuckle to pitman arm.

with the pitman arm longer than the steering arms you will get a .9/1 ratio.

with the pitman arm shorter than the steering arms you will get a 1/.9 ratio.

factor in the original c/l lengths and you can get stop to stop at the axle and the box at the same time aswell as a few other slick things like faster or slower steering rates.

well shit. i do like the idea of all my cl s the same.....

trkklr- so you re sayin if i shorten up the steering arms, my steering should be faster?

j-ohlin- do you have any pics of your box location? my email is dd_railed@yahoo.com if you cant get them up here. thanks

i m just concerned that my box is gonna be in a fucked up position, or up in my radiator, or hitting my leaf ds spring at full stuff. this will not be as easy as my toyota was...

alright, this issue has been ruining my life. i ve been thinking about it non stop! i ve decided to move the box. the frame is really shitty right there, and its a miracle it hasnt cracked out yet. so this will be a good oppurtunity to reinforce the hell out of it. pics to follow.

trkklr- so you re sayin if i shorten up the steering arms, my steering should be faster?
.

yes/no.

it is based on many things, it can be faster than it is and still be slower than stock.

sometimes you want slower sometimes not and you will find many arguements why you should run it one way over the other.


yes, if the steering arms on the axle are shorter than the pitman arm your steering will be faster.

high speed will equal more stress on the frame and box but you tire will move/turn faster making nimble manuvering easier.