BroncoII4x4.com

EBSTEVE said that he uses 3/4" jam nuts, then drills and taps them to 7/8-18, is that what you are doing?

Are you tapping your tubes, or doing them on a lathe?

I make my nuts from solid hex stock, the tubes are tapped 3" deep on the lathe, on each end, one end left hand, the other right hand.

how much for the complete steering in eb size? I know I can frankenstein something together, but nice and clean would be great.

It is around $200.00/ You can buy the ends there locally and ream the one end yourself or I'll pick them up and ream the one piece, and supply the tubing. If you are going to do top steer the knuckles will need to be reamed also. I can do all of it or as little of it as needed. The reamer can be purchased from the Snap-On man for about $65.00, or ordered from a auto supply house called "Goodson". for about the same. Or you can ship me the knuckles and pitman arm, I'll ream all parts and supply the tubing for tie rod and drag link, and return freight the items to you for $325.00 total. That does include freight back to you.

Would I need a drop pitman arm? Right now it seems so high up there and looks as though it should be much lower to steer.

When you are reaming it out, you are making the hole the same not tapered anymore right? Then just using the straight bolt?

Do any of you guys have closer pics and both sides including connection to the pitman? I dont care if the pics are top steer or bottom. I am trying to see whats been done and then make a decision. Thanks Bob.

Jason

No on the straight bolt. I used a Chevy tie rod end with a standard taper. When you ream the knuckles from the top the larger taper of the Chevy will end up removing the original taper rom the other side. I did not use a drop pitman arm on mine, and as you could see from the picture the drag link and trac bar are almost exactly the same angle which is very important to stop bumpsteer.

any better or closer pics of the whole setup? So the reamer just does a taper from the top and bigger. I gotcha.

Those were shot at the end of my build, and even though I used the flash they aren't the clearest. I will get better pictures for you if you want.

That helps a lot. I also like the shot of the track bar mount at the frame. I am taking it all in so I can get my crap running.

I originally tried a snap-on reamer and it sucked. Now I have one from speeway motors. It's a nice one and has spiral flutes. $79.95

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/p/2918,,_ ... mNo=REAMER

I would recommend buying your own reamer, so you have it when you need to replace the one end that needs reaming. They bend on occasion.

I make my own tie rods the hard way...tapping by hand. I know I will need new ones from time to time, so I just got my own tools. I've actually made quite a few sets for people. You just have to be careful not to break the taps.



Bob, I'd be intrested to see a pic of how you cut the threads with a lathe. Some day when I'm rich, I'd love to have my own machine shop.

Here is a pic that show the Tie rods pretty well.



As for the drop pitman arm, I think when I build the next Bronco II, I am not going to use a drop pitman arm. I think it's a good idea, to try and keep the upper tracbar mount near the same height as the pitman arm. So by not using the drop pitman, you can move the trac bar mount tighter to the frame.

General rule of thumb is the trac bar and drag link should be at the same angle, but length also plays a part in it.

This is a good illustration of steering geometry, and the cause of bumpsteer.

http://www.bulletproofsteering.com/geometry.html

Here was my last trac bar mount. Never had any problems with it, and I hammered it pretty damn hard.

So which reamer do you use with the chevy ends? 7 or 10 degree?

Phillippi wrote:So which reamer do you use with the chevy ends? 7 or 10 degree?

7* or 1-1/2" per foot.

In an effort to make this easy, could I get a price for the setup like this Bob? It would be great to only have to ream out the knuckles and pitman and install it. Thanks.