Fixing my steering today...

[OregTrailBlazin]

I'm stretched a bit thin right now as well... If I could get a couple clients to pay on their invoices I'd order it today.

I know how that goes, in the same boat right now... Waiting on a few people to pay up for side work.

My tie rods have always been at differing angles than my LCAs. It's more pronounced now, but the LCAs are going to be moving downwards soon anyway. That should fix the issue.

What about your uppers? If you drop your lowers, you either have to drop the upper too, or make a longer knuckle or the difference in angle between the two will be too severe..

[Trail X]

Donny,

Why didn't you go from the bottom, like stock? I realize this is more straight with the lift, but not being at the angle of the lower control arm is going to cause toe issues through the wheel travel...

Mike

I'm guessing the biggest benefit is straight forces through his steering rack. By getting rid of the mechanical fuse in the tie rod, you could potentially move the failure into the steering ram by putting bending pressure on the rack. By being more inline, you'll reduce that bending moment in the rack.

What about your uppers? If you drop your lowers, you either have to drop the upper too, or make a longer knuckle or the difference in angle between the two will be too severe..

I don't think there's any real danger in having non-parallel control arms. It just means when his tires droop, he'll get a lot of negative camber... and positive camber when the suspension compresses.

[Rob93]

I don't think there's any real danger in having non-parallel control arms. It just means when his tires droop, he'll get a lot of negative camber... and positive camber when the suspension compresses.

I wouldn't call it dangerous, but its more desirable to have camber remain as close to zero as possible as your suspension travels

[OregTrailBlazin]

I don't think there's any real danger in having non-parallel control arms. It just means when his tires droop, he'll get a lot of negative camber... and positive camber when the suspension compresses.

I wouldn't call it dangerous, but its more desirable to have camber remain as close to zero as possible as your suspension travels

As long as everything was slow speed travel it wouldn't be dangerous... But a higher speed water bar, or during an emergency maneuver the drastic camber change could cause some undesirable handling conditions..

[fishsticks]

Don't worry, the uppers are coming down an equal amount to the lowers...

...as is the front diff.



Then I just need a set of coil-overs that won't break...

[fishsticks]

Found one of my wheelin crew with a 7 degree reamer I can borrow.

[The Roadie]

...suprised Roadies not here yet.....

It was on a list of my dream mods. Was going to work on it with Greg as well. Now I'm so busy at work I can't even get the Icon's back together and I cry about that more often than anything else at the moment.

[OregTrailBlazin]

Found one of my wheelin crew with a 7 degree reamer I can borrow.

Perfect!!!

[fishsticks]

Mike was right. (No surprise there).

With the tie rod on top, unloading the suspension causes enough of a shift in toe to make driving the truck VERY interesting over bumps.

Fortunately, there's enough meat in the knuckle that I can taper the bottom as well. I'll shift them to the bottoms until I can get the "other" project done then flip em over again.

[fishsticks]

New hardware...




Old bushings were pretty well shot. I haven't had them apart yet but the truck rides so differently now. My wheels are actually the same distance away from the sliders now too! My old ball joints are well worn, but still serviceable (no slop). The old arms will make good trail spares and mockups for the next project.

I garage aligned the truck for maximum positive caster (front adjustments all the way in, rears all the way out) and got the toe pretty dead on. The truck tracks straight as an arrow with no hands on the wheel. I have a slight negative camber that I may try to fix. Right now I'm close enough that I think I can cross a rack alignment off the list.

Before pic:





After pic:

[bartonmd]

Wait... So you have 1 side coming from the bottom and 1 side coming from the top on the TRE?

Mike

[Regulator1175]

Mike was right. (No surprise there).

With the tie rod on top, unloading the suspension causes enough of a shift in toe to make driving the truck VERY interesting over bumps.

Fortunately, there's enough meat in the knuckle that I can taper the bottom as well. I'll shift them to the bottoms until I can get the "other" project done then flip em over again.

I am pretty sure you missed the "Mike is right" post!

[TBNewbie]

Is the reason for the curved tie rod clearance and now that we run adapters we can run straight ones?

[Trail X]

Exactly. Stock, the tires are tucked in so tight, they would interfere with straight tie rods on full lock.

[navigator]

so if I read this thread right to upgrade our inner TRE we can:
get a 7degree reamer and ream out our knuckle
buy TRE for a 2500 silverado and it is pretty much a direct swap.

am I following this right?

[fishsticks]

You got it.

[Trail X]

Still unsure about the inner thread diameter though. Did we ever determine what that was on non-2002s?

[fishsticks]

Still unsure about the inner thread diameter though. Did we ever determine what that was?

Not yet, someone needs to measure their 16mm inner and see what the rack side is.

[Trail X]

Rack side is 18mm on mine.

[fishsticks]

Rack side is 18mm on mine.

Mine too. So they are the same...