ooooohhhhhhhh

the fedex web page shows my tie rod and drag link on the truck to be delivered today. maybe i need to take the afternoon off.............

That sounds like a perfectly rational decision. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Gotta get that SAS project off the shelf... afterall, you are going to bob the bed too aren't you?

Ask the driver where the hell they put Little Joe's addaleafs.

got them in. hit them with a tiger disk and primed them. i will bolt them up after work. the tie rod is super beefy. once everything is said and done, i will bob the bed when i move to the new house in july. i will cut at least a foot off of it.

Did you get Rockstomper linkage after all? You can't tell where the rod stops and the rod end begins; it's just FAT all the way through.



With what for a rear, FF14 bolt at that point or try to make your converted rear keep up? I almost wish I didn't need to build the Cruiser so I could get on that myself.

i got shaker built steering. sleeved tie rod. i will send you pics when i get back from vacation. i have it bolted up, but need to wait for some roger brown shims to get my final setup ready.

i would leave the rear as is and only upgrade to a diamond housing. the shafts are chromo with the full floater already. my weak like would be r&p. i'd want the custom front to keep my beadlocks. i would have the 60 made with 6 on 5.5 lug pattern.

I guess Rockstomper doesn't do them anymore, so he went with Shaker. They are actually a little heavier wall too (forgot the dimensions now though).

speaking of heavy duty steering components...desert guys are running heim joint steering...what diameter tubing would be good to setup with some heims and weld on threaded bungs i think they call them??? Id love to loose my tie rod ends for some heim joints...(Total Chaos $384 <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" /> for their kit)

I think you're better off w/ TRE's myself, especially on something you drive on the street. Racing trucks get thoroughly inpsected often and don't put on a lot of miles. TRE's are plenty strong and more reliable in the long run (better sealed and lubricated). Supposedly heims are illegal for use on the street for steering too (FWIW). For a while the rockcrawling world was big on heims for steering (still is for the comp rigs), but that seems to have lessened.

If you were to do anything, I would just upgrade to beefier TRE's. Scott at Rockstomper did it using big GM 1-ton ends (people call them 1-ton, but mostly the same ends are used on the 1/2-tons too <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> ). If you do some searching around you might find it.

I would probably try to do it using Toyota parts though. The FJ80 ends people use for rock crawling are extremely tough and you might not have to re-taper the holes in the steering arms and center link (I'd build a new center link though). I did a little searching for tubing inserts and I don't even see anyone making metric ones anymore? (didn't look very hard though). You could do what they do for most hi-steer kits and just have the tubing itself threaded. 1.25" x .219 or .250" wall tube is pretty common for that and would be overkill for the short IFS links. If you knew the tubing lengths, I'm sure someone like Shaker could make them for you. Need to upgrade that Idler arm too (total chaos makes a nice looking one).