mortimersnerd
Sr. Member
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2010
- Messages
- 743
My ’71 needed new rod ends, tie rod drag link. I opted to swap over to DOM tubing with Chevy rod ends for better strength, significantly better availability of parts (the rod ends, mainly) and lower cost. Thought you all might like a write-up of how I did what I did, as it was a great solution. I’m writing this for people who aren’t born fabricators, so apologies if it seems a little basic at times. Also, please note that I’m just some guy on the internet, so if doing this kills you your next of kin should not sue me. You’re on your own and I accept no liability for poor decisions, questionable advice, lousy fabrication or anything else that goes wrong. Ever. Also note that there several vendors out there that market this setup both as a kit and as a set of complete links. I like buying locally and didn’t want to pay shipping so I went the fabrication route.
Parts list:
1. DOM tubing. You have 2 options here. You can buy 1.5” .250 wall tubing and use weld-in inserts for the threads. The other option is to use tubing with an ID of about .8130 and thread the inside of the tubing. This works out to 1.25” x .219 wall, 1.375” x .281 wall or 1.5” x .343 wall. When you’re picking a size, keep in mind that it may be better to have a tie rod fail than to have a knuckle or other more difficult-to-replace part break in the middle of nowhere. I originally wanted to thread smaller diameter tubing for better clearance and easier fabrication, but no one had it in stock in my area. I purchased a half stick (11’ 4” in this case) of 1.5”x.250 wall tubing for $6.75/foot from a local metal supplier. 6 feet should be enough if you can get someone to sell you a smaller piece.
2. Inserts if you’re using them. These are little bungs that slide into the DOM that have threads. They have to be welded in. Remember to get 2 each of RH and LH thread. I got mine for $11 each from High Country 4x4 in Denver.
3. Tie rod ends and high misalignment joints for the drag link. These ends are used on everything from the K5 Blazer to 1 ton Chevy pickups and are at least 1 ½ times the size of the stock ends. Tell the parts store you want ends for a 1985 K5 Blazer and you’ll get the right stuff. You’ve got two options for these. You can buy cheapie Chinese made joints that are probably perfectly fine for $20-25 each at nearly any parts store. Your other option is to use higher quality, American made parts. You want to support American workers, right? You’ll spend more ($40-45), but have fewer opportunities to curse at your truck. The parts numbers for the cheap ends at Autozone and Moog (better American) ends from O’Reily/Checker/Shuck’s are the same (I have no idea why):
ES2233L Passenger’s side tie rod
ES2234R Driver side tie rod
ES2027L High misalignment drag link end
ES2026R The other high misalignment drag link end
4. Jam nuts. These tighten down on the rod ends to keep them from turning after final adjustment is made. One should come with each of the tie rod ends, so you’ll need one each of the LH and RH. They’re apparently a pain to find as Chevy has reportedly stopped carrying them. I also got these from High Country 4x4 in Denver for $4 each and didn’t do any looking around since I was getting other parts from them.
While I failed miserably at taking pics during the fabrication and install, it isn’t too hard to figure out. Directions:
1. Set the front axle on jackstands. You probably also want to take off your front tires. Check your alignment. Lobotomized chimpanzees can do this in under a minute with a tape measure and it will get you close enough. Google it if you don’t know how. The interweb gurus say the toe should be anywhere from 0-1/4” in (front of the tire closer than the rear). Take this measurement into account when you’re fabbing up the tie rod.
2. Measure the distance between the tie rod ends. Take your measurements from the center of the tie rod stud.
Take off the stock tie rod and drag link. I used a pickle fork and an BFH, but you may have some other, better way. Hitting the knuckle or pitman arm really hard with the BFH may also work.
3. If you’re using them, thread the inserts onto the rod ends.
4. Lay out the tie rod ends on your workbench, garage floor, etc. and figure out how much DOM you need for both the tie rod. We tapped the rod end/insert combo into the tubing to get a more accurate measurement.
5a. Weld the inserts on the tie rod if you’re using them. Skip to 5b if you’re tapping the tubing. I’m not going to tell you how to do this. Take it to a welding shop or super-welder buddy if you aren’t 100% certain that your welding skills are good enough. If this breaks, you might wind up as a horribly mangled corpse, making all this hard work moot. Zillacon was kind enough to do mine since I can’t weld and don’t want to die.
5b. Tap the DOM tubing for the rod ends. You’ll need a 7/8-18 tap. These are unlikely to be found locally and will probably cost you at least $100 (more likely $150+). You can get them from McMaster-Carr (http://www.mcmaster.com, #2595A424 7/8x18 RH, 2595A999 7/8x18 LH) Your other option is to cut all your tubing and have a local machine shop tap them for you.
6. You’ve got another decision to make at this point: tie rod under (stock setup) or over the knuckle. If you want to mount the tie rod under it should mostly bolt right up. Moving the tie rod to the top of the knuckle will give you about 3” of extra clearance. The down side is that the tie rod will hit the lower track bar bracket and may have clearance issues with the tires. This is a good opportunity to install a track bar riser bracket, which you probably need anyway. I went with a tie rod over swap without relocating the bracket and am only losing a few degrees of steering, so it isn’t a big deal. You may be able to install a slimmer nut on the track bar and cut down the mount a little. I had aftermarket wheels with enough backspacing to run the tie rod over the knuckle with no tire clearance problems, but small (1/2") wheel spacers may be needed depending on your setup. If you’re going to relocate the tie rod to the top of the knuckle you’ll need a 7 degree reamer ($50 at Goodson #TR-216-2 http://www.goodson.com/) to ream the knuckles from the top down. I cheated and borrowed one from a guy in my Bronco club (www.coloradoclassicbroncos.com). You only get one chance to do this right, so go slowly and check often. Use cutting oil or the person you borrowed the reamer from may hurt you.
7. Install the tie rod. Don’t forget to use anti-seize on the rod end threads and make sure you put the cotter pins in the tie rod studs. I can't remember the torque spec on the rod ends. We just got them really tight. Looking them up and doing it right may not be a bad idea, I'll probably do this after I pull them for paint.
8. Measure for the drag link. We rotated the passenger side knuckle to the end of its RH turn travel and turned the pitman arm all the way to the passenger’s side as well. Again, measure from the center of the center of the holes on the pitman arm and knuckle. Cut your tubing and fab in whatever method you’re using to keep the rod ends from falling out.
9. Install the drag link. You’ll probably need to ream the pitman arm and the hole where the drag link meets the tie rod with the 7 degree reamer. The drag link will install on the front side of the pitman arm. I don’t think it matters which end goes to the pitman arm and which goes to the drag link. I used the longer end at the tie rod to give a little more clearance between the tie rod and the DOM in the drag link. Someone please correct me if I’m wrong.
10. Install zerks, cotter pins, tighten jam nuts etc. You probably also want to prime and paint the tubing to prevent rust. I haven't done mine yet, but will be in the near future.
11. Check your alignment again before you set the truck down. You want to have 1/8-1/4 of an inch of toe in (fronts of the wheels closer than the rears). I'd suggest taking it to an alignment shop, but doing it in the driveway will work well enough, especially on a trail rig.
You should be done! Enjoy your new beefy, slop free links. Rocks are now at least 15% more scared of you. You’ll probably notice more bump steer if you’ve moved the tie rods over the knuckles without changing the angle of your track bar, but it isn’t a huge deal. I’ll be installing a new lower track bar bracket at some point in the near future to deal with this and get rid of the clearance issues, but it doesn’t really affect the driveability of the truck. I’ve attached a pic of the finished product for reference as well as one that does a good job of showing how the tie rod and drag link connect and the clearance issues I mentioned above. I need to give a big Thank You to Zillacon for doing the welding, turning wrenches with me and generally making sure I didn’t do anything that resulted in serious bodily injury. I also want to thank Zoso of Colorado Classic Broncos fame for the use of his reamer, which saved me $50, making my wife less likely to cause bodily injury. Please feel free to post up with questions and corrections. I’ll do my best to deal with both competently.
Parts list:
1. DOM tubing. You have 2 options here. You can buy 1.5” .250 wall tubing and use weld-in inserts for the threads. The other option is to use tubing with an ID of about .8130 and thread the inside of the tubing. This works out to 1.25” x .219 wall, 1.375” x .281 wall or 1.5” x .343 wall. When you’re picking a size, keep in mind that it may be better to have a tie rod fail than to have a knuckle or other more difficult-to-replace part break in the middle of nowhere. I originally wanted to thread smaller diameter tubing for better clearance and easier fabrication, but no one had it in stock in my area. I purchased a half stick (11’ 4” in this case) of 1.5”x.250 wall tubing for $6.75/foot from a local metal supplier. 6 feet should be enough if you can get someone to sell you a smaller piece.
2. Inserts if you’re using them. These are little bungs that slide into the DOM that have threads. They have to be welded in. Remember to get 2 each of RH and LH thread. I got mine for $11 each from High Country 4x4 in Denver.
3. Tie rod ends and high misalignment joints for the drag link. These ends are used on everything from the K5 Blazer to 1 ton Chevy pickups and are at least 1 ½ times the size of the stock ends. Tell the parts store you want ends for a 1985 K5 Blazer and you’ll get the right stuff. You’ve got two options for these. You can buy cheapie Chinese made joints that are probably perfectly fine for $20-25 each at nearly any parts store. Your other option is to use higher quality, American made parts. You want to support American workers, right? You’ll spend more ($40-45), but have fewer opportunities to curse at your truck. The parts numbers for the cheap ends at Autozone and Moog (better American) ends from O’Reily/Checker/Shuck’s are the same (I have no idea why):
ES2233L Passenger’s side tie rod
ES2234R Driver side tie rod
ES2027L High misalignment drag link end
ES2026R The other high misalignment drag link end
4. Jam nuts. These tighten down on the rod ends to keep them from turning after final adjustment is made. One should come with each of the tie rod ends, so you’ll need one each of the LH and RH. They’re apparently a pain to find as Chevy has reportedly stopped carrying them. I also got these from High Country 4x4 in Denver for $4 each and didn’t do any looking around since I was getting other parts from them.
While I failed miserably at taking pics during the fabrication and install, it isn’t too hard to figure out. Directions:
1. Set the front axle on jackstands. You probably also want to take off your front tires. Check your alignment. Lobotomized chimpanzees can do this in under a minute with a tape measure and it will get you close enough. Google it if you don’t know how. The interweb gurus say the toe should be anywhere from 0-1/4” in (front of the tire closer than the rear). Take this measurement into account when you’re fabbing up the tie rod.
2. Measure the distance between the tie rod ends. Take your measurements from the center of the tie rod stud.
Take off the stock tie rod and drag link. I used a pickle fork and an BFH, but you may have some other, better way. Hitting the knuckle or pitman arm really hard with the BFH may also work.
3. If you’re using them, thread the inserts onto the rod ends.
4. Lay out the tie rod ends on your workbench, garage floor, etc. and figure out how much DOM you need for both the tie rod. We tapped the rod end/insert combo into the tubing to get a more accurate measurement.
5a. Weld the inserts on the tie rod if you’re using them. Skip to 5b if you’re tapping the tubing. I’m not going to tell you how to do this. Take it to a welding shop or super-welder buddy if you aren’t 100% certain that your welding skills are good enough. If this breaks, you might wind up as a horribly mangled corpse, making all this hard work moot. Zillacon was kind enough to do mine since I can’t weld and don’t want to die.
5b. Tap the DOM tubing for the rod ends. You’ll need a 7/8-18 tap. These are unlikely to be found locally and will probably cost you at least $100 (more likely $150+). You can get them from McMaster-Carr (http://www.mcmaster.com, #2595A424 7/8x18 RH, 2595A999 7/8x18 LH) Your other option is to cut all your tubing and have a local machine shop tap them for you.
6. You’ve got another decision to make at this point: tie rod under (stock setup) or over the knuckle. If you want to mount the tie rod under it should mostly bolt right up. Moving the tie rod to the top of the knuckle will give you about 3” of extra clearance. The down side is that the tie rod will hit the lower track bar bracket and may have clearance issues with the tires. This is a good opportunity to install a track bar riser bracket, which you probably need anyway. I went with a tie rod over swap without relocating the bracket and am only losing a few degrees of steering, so it isn’t a big deal. You may be able to install a slimmer nut on the track bar and cut down the mount a little. I had aftermarket wheels with enough backspacing to run the tie rod over the knuckle with no tire clearance problems, but small (1/2") wheel spacers may be needed depending on your setup. If you’re going to relocate the tie rod to the top of the knuckle you’ll need a 7 degree reamer ($50 at Goodson #TR-216-2 http://www.goodson.com/) to ream the knuckles from the top down. I cheated and borrowed one from a guy in my Bronco club (www.coloradoclassicbroncos.com). You only get one chance to do this right, so go slowly and check often. Use cutting oil or the person you borrowed the reamer from may hurt you.
7. Install the tie rod. Don’t forget to use anti-seize on the rod end threads and make sure you put the cotter pins in the tie rod studs. I can't remember the torque spec on the rod ends. We just got them really tight. Looking them up and doing it right may not be a bad idea, I'll probably do this after I pull them for paint.
8. Measure for the drag link. We rotated the passenger side knuckle to the end of its RH turn travel and turned the pitman arm all the way to the passenger’s side as well. Again, measure from the center of the center of the holes on the pitman arm and knuckle. Cut your tubing and fab in whatever method you’re using to keep the rod ends from falling out.
9. Install the drag link. You’ll probably need to ream the pitman arm and the hole where the drag link meets the tie rod with the 7 degree reamer. The drag link will install on the front side of the pitman arm. I don’t think it matters which end goes to the pitman arm and which goes to the drag link. I used the longer end at the tie rod to give a little more clearance between the tie rod and the DOM in the drag link. Someone please correct me if I’m wrong.
10. Install zerks, cotter pins, tighten jam nuts etc. You probably also want to prime and paint the tubing to prevent rust. I haven't done mine yet, but will be in the near future.
11. Check your alignment again before you set the truck down. You want to have 1/8-1/4 of an inch of toe in (fronts of the wheels closer than the rears). I'd suggest taking it to an alignment shop, but doing it in the driveway will work well enough, especially on a trail rig.
You should be done! Enjoy your new beefy, slop free links. Rocks are now at least 15% more scared of you. You’ll probably notice more bump steer if you’ve moved the tie rods over the knuckles without changing the angle of your track bar, but it isn’t a huge deal. I’ll be installing a new lower track bar bracket at some point in the near future to deal with this and get rid of the clearance issues, but it doesn’t really affect the driveability of the truck. I’ve attached a pic of the finished product for reference as well as one that does a good job of showing how the tie rod and drag link connect and the clearance issues I mentioned above. I need to give a big Thank You to Zillacon for doing the welding, turning wrenches with me and generally making sure I didn’t do anything that resulted in serious bodily injury. I also want to thank Zoso of Colorado Classic Broncos fame for the use of his reamer, which saved me $50, making my wife less likely to cause bodily injury. Please feel free to post up with questions and corrections. I’ll do my best to deal with both competently.
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