How much suspension lift do you need to run a Tie-Rod over setup?

[Blue71]

Was gonna get the tie -rod over setup and was wondering the minimum susp. lift needed to clear everything?

Thanks Much,

Blue71

 

[EricLar80]

Its not a matter of having to clear anything in the suspension, it's a matter of your drag link being parallel with your tracking bar. When you lift your truck, you get bump steer because the two do do not rotate about the same axis, so when they are at different angles, they want to do different things (hence, bump steer). So, in order to make them parallel again, you lift the drag link up to match the lift. Obviously the tie rod having been raised will allow it to clear obsticales better, but it doesn't need to clear any suspension parts. The one thing you do need to worry about, is whether it will hit the tracking bar bolt on the axle at full right-steer, which would be an issue no matter how high you lifted your rig. On mine, I cut off the very tip of the bolt with a cut off wheel to make it just about a 1/4" shorter so the castle nut would still go on with the cotter pin, but it would not interfere with the tie rod. Of course on mine, I have a little heavier steering than some (1" thick bars), so it may vary some.
-Eric

 

[red67]

Performance Unlimited told me that a 3 inch lift was necessary for TRO so that under full compression the tie rod/ draglink would not hit the pitman arm and steering box. I personally have the 2wd F-150 box that hangs down kinda low. So even with my 3.5 inch lift , I couldnt do the TRO because of steering box interference. I too had to grind some off the nut that bolts the track bar to the axle.