Question for Ruslow or any front end experts
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Senior Member
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 185
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From: Knoxville, Tn
Question for Ruslow or any front end experts
I have a dropped front end, one inch lowering spring and the western chassis two inch control arms.
I am working with an alignment guy and trying to make a bump steer kit.
We are going with the heim joints and in the process of trying to find the tie rod end tapered studs. There is a racing shop near me who has several tapered studs for the heim joints but I haven't found out if any of them will work for the L. Anybody know if these exist.
I know Ruslow is using a stud and spacer.
I just talked with another guy who said to keep the geometry correct you cannot just change the tie rods, you have to also change the upper connection to keep the pivot correct.
Is this true?
I am not real experienced with front ends so please make it simple enough for me to understand.
Any help appreciated
Thanks Chris
I am working with an alignment guy and trying to make a bump steer kit.
We are going with the heim joints and in the process of trying to find the tie rod end tapered studs. There is a racing shop near me who has several tapered studs for the heim joints but I haven't found out if any of them will work for the L. Anybody know if these exist.
I know Ruslow is using a stud and spacer.
I just talked with another guy who said to keep the geometry correct you cannot just change the tie rods, you have to also change the upper connection to keep the pivot correct.
Is this true?
I am not real experienced with front ends so please make it simple enough for me to understand.
Any help appreciated
Thanks Chris
Senior Member
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 1,703
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From: Atlanta
You are not going to find a tapered stud that fits the Lightning spindle, or at least I tried for months and no luck. You can drill out your spindle to accept a bolt, but you will have to use a ¾ bolt unless you have a crush sleeve, and you will need to have the tie rod sleeve rethreaded to accept the inner tie rod. What tubing are you planning on using for the sleeve?
Thread Starter
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Senior Member
Joined: Oct 2002
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From: Knoxville, Tn
Ayrton
I hadn't gotten that far with the sleeve. Is there one that works the best. Also is there no heim joint with the same threat pattern as the tie rod so one doesn't have to re thread the sleeve?
Thanks for your help
Chris
I hadn't gotten that far with the sleeve. Is there one that works the best. Also is there no heim joint with the same threat pattern as the tie rod so one doesn't have to re thread the sleeve?
Thanks for your help
Chris
Senior Member
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 1,703
Likes: 0
From: Atlanta
Most 6061 tubing is going to be 7/8 OD with 5/8 threads and if you drill out one side to tap it with the 18x1.5 threads (inner tie rod) you will not have enough “meat” to safely hold the tie rod. The choices are custom ordered tubing or converting the inner tie rod to heim as well. You will still have the problem of needing a crush sleeve for both the inner and outer tie rods.
What sucks the most is all of these parts are available for this, but the taper that Ford chooses to use on its ball joints is larger than the “standard” used by the racing community. I have already been over all this with my local machine shop and he has a tapered bolt in his possession along with an F-150 center link to match up the taper. Hopefully I will know something by Friday.
What sucks the most is all of these parts are available for this, but the taper that Ford chooses to use on its ball joints is larger than the “standard” used by the racing community. I have already been over all this with my local machine shop and he has a tapered bolt in his possession along with an F-150 center link to match up the taper. Hopefully I will know something by Friday.