The old tie rod measures out to 1.000” while the new one is 1.250”. Below is a comparison shot of the old inverted Y steering to the 98-99 HD T steering. With all three rod ends popped free, remove the old steering assembly from the truck. You do NOT want to use them on rod ends that WILL be reused as they tend to destroy the rubber grease boots. A pickle fork works great for removing rod ends that will not be reused. The process is the same for the pitman arm rod end as well. You wedge it flat side down in between the knuckle and rod end, then drive it in with a large hammer. This image shows a pickle fork being used. I was unable to use this puller as it was damaged while removing a stubborn pitman arm. It's a straight forward tool to use, just tighten down on the bolt head until the rod end pops out. This image shows a pitman arm puller installed. Passenger and pitman arm nuts are 21mm, driver side is 22mm. Once the cotter pins are out, remove the nuts. Using needle nose pliers remove the cotter pins from the driver, passenger, and pitman arm rod ends. The frame side bolt head is 15mm and the nut 18mm. This is NOT required for the steering conversion so please disregard.įirst step is to remove the steering dampener bolts located at the arrows along with the dampener. NOTE: I had the passenger side knuckle apart because I was replacing the ball joints when this picture was taken. It would also be a good idea to chock the wheels as an added safety precaution. You can do this conversion with the truck on the ground, in fact it makes keeping the alignment correct easier. Start off by making sure you're parked on level ground, wheels pointed straight ahead and the steering wheel straight. PN: 45A0871 Drivers Side TieRod RockAuto link PN: 45A3073 Passenger Side Tierod RockAuto Link CarQuest offers these parts under Raybestos Pro and are also about 60% higher than RockAuto. To complicate things a bit more, these same parts are offered by NAPA under their own name for about 60% more than AC Delco Pro from RockAuto. AC Delco Pro parts are easier to locate than Raybestos, which is I why I used them. These AC Delco Pro parts are actually re-branded Raybestos Pro parts. All part numbers are AC Delco Professional. Here are the parts you will need for the conversion. I currently do not have a dampener installed and to be honest I really don't feel the need to use one with this steering. However, there is one catch, in order to retain the steering dampener you will need a universal style bolt-on mount. One of the best parts of this conversion is that it is a direct bolt-on for the 94-97 trucks. The HD steering option was only available for the 98-99 model trucks. The drawing below shows the 94-97 light duty inverted Y steering and the 98-99 heavy duty T steering. So, besides dropping big money on a custom steering setup what other options do you have? Why converting to the 98-99 HD steering of course!ĩ8-/3500 trucks came with either the light duty inverted Y steering or the optional heavy duty T steering. As a note you can't simply drill out the tapered holes, they require a larger diameter TAPERED hole and NOT a straight diameter hole. The problem here is that the tapered holes in the knuckles will have to be enlarged in order for the 4th Gen parts to fit. If you do a Google search on the subject you're likely to come across numerous discussions of using the T style steering from a 4th Gen Ram for the conversion. The heavy duty T style steering eliminates the pivot point by utilizing a one-piece tie rod which is unaffected by suspension movement. This design can also cause death wobble, even when all new parts are installed. The problem is that as the tie rod pivots it also changes the toe-in/toe-out of the alignment, which in turn causes the front end to “walk around” or “wander”. This setup allows the tie rod to pivot as the axle moves up and down during normal suspension travel, which is exaggerated even more when traveling down very bumpy roads. Instead it connects to the drag link which is then connected to the knuckle. Notice that the tie rod on the light duty inverted Y steering (94-97) does not directly connect both wheels together. How will converting from an inverted Y setup to a T setup improve the steering you may ask? It's simple really. Before you set your truck on fire and/or pull your hair out, you may want to consider upgrading from the factory Y style steering to the later T style. You may have replaced all the ball joints, tie rod ends, track bar, and even the control arm bushings on your truck but still have wandering or death wobble issues. If you own a 94-/3500 4x4 then your probably aware of the steering related issues these trucks can have, most notably the dreaded “death wobble” and steering wander.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |