Out of adjustment on draglink????????

[throttle out]

I have completely gone through the suspension and steering systems on my
87 V10 short bed. I've gone through the process of centering the new steering box but in order to keep it on center and keep the steering wheel straight the draglink will not shorten up enough. I also finally got my Tuff Country 3" lift installed and now that I can actually turn full lock it turns much sharper right than it does left. Now obviously I've got some more adjusting to do, and potentially may need a drop pitman or raised steering arm. Does anyone see anything wrong with cutting an inch or so off each tie rod end of the draglink to gain the adjustment I need?

 

[jetman]

The gear box is designed to provide just enough rotation of the pitman arm to provide full left-right movement of the steering, sending it stop to stop, and no more. Hence gross adjustment of the draglink will not get your steering moving stop to stop. I make my first "centering" adjustment at the splined steering input shaft, timing it to center as close as possible, then fine tune via pitman arm adjustment, to get equal and if possible full L-R movement stop to stop for maximum low speed maneuverability.

 

[throttle out]

Thanks jetman.
Before when doing what you describe I did not have enough room to "suck" the draglink in to get everything happy. Ended up carefully cutting a 1/2" off each tie rod on my drag link and everything is money bags!!

 

[Camar068]

I've always been curious, is there a spec for max/min length of the draglink assembly?

 

[highdesertrange]

so, first off cutting tie rod ends to get proper steering is so wrong I can't even believe you did it. yes you need a steering arm if you lift it. that is where the problem lies. get a steering arm, new tie rod ends and fix it right. as far as the length of the drag link you can take the tie rods as far out as you want, just as long as the threaded part of the tie rod is completely clamped by the clamp. you must have a couple of threads at least beyond the clamp. highdesertranger