So after replacing tie rod ends every year because of my lift and me going off road more than I should on a daily I finally decided to replace the factory outer tie rods with a set of 3/4" heim joints. Bought some left hand thread tie rods and a pipe with an inner diameter of 1/2" and outer diameter of 1 1/8". Drilled out one side for the factory right hand thread 16mm inner tie rod and tapped it 2" into the pipe. Then drilled out the other end for the 3/4" heim and tapped it for left hand thread 2" into the pipe. I used 5/8" misalignment bushings and a 4" 5/8" - 18 bolt. I did have to drill out the hole for the bolt since factory tie rods are tapered. If I thought about it before I think I would have gotten a full thread 5/8 bolt and taped the hole all the way through just for extra strength. Originally the pipe was 4" long but I ended up having to cut off a 1/4" off each end for it to fit with the rough country lift kit. These pictures are before I found some castle nuts, but I did get a pair and drill a hole for the cotter pin. I may get some shorter misalignment bushings soon and also thinking about welding on a L bracket sothe bolt can go through on the top. Next project is making some inner tie rods out of heim joints.
I run a heim setup on my truck from FFR. The only difference is my tube replaces the inner and outer tierods, the bolt is tapered to fit like factory and I have boots to protect the heims. It's a stout setup for running big wheels on the street, but guys do off-road them. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-T377A using Tapatalk
Is that a red head steering box with some sort of bistein stabilizer? Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
Got them off Amazon. One of my first set of heims developed a click from dirt getting in them. These boots fit perfect and seem to do their job so far, Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-T377A using Tapatalk
The red/Orange you see is my brake caliper or you see the bilstein shocks. I have a factory replacement ac delco steering box. It's not as tight as I would like, but doesn't wander or anything. I wanted to get a redhead but couldnt find a direct replacement. I later found a guy on here that used one from a 2500 or something. Thats a kyb stabilizer. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-T377A using Tapatalk