crossover or drop/raised arms

[yevgenievich]

Looking at prices, for 8" lift, a combination of a drop pitman and raised steering arm, a cross over steering set up is not much more. The tie rods and drag link are shot anyway. Or am I missing things in my mind on the crossover setup? Finding an older set of knuckles seem to be the biggest problem.

 

[climb-101]

i did crossover on truck from DIY4X

some of the buckles can me machined down for a flat top or you can get the from Reed (i think that’s who makes them)

also you use a 2wd steering box. i would also look at doing the ram assist stearing also.

 

[yevgenievich]

I have a spare steering gear box(2wd). The only hang up is the knuckle at the moment. Other parts do not seem to have enough of a difference in price to choose one over other. $300 to fix current steering with drop/raise combo or the $300 kit from DIY4x. Unless something comes up, if I can locate a set of flat top knuckles will proceed with crossover. Also need to look in to a shackle flip with lower lift springs for the rear. Ride is definitely over the top bouncy

 

[bucket]

Steering arms are easy to find used, and sometimes the pitman arm too, for much cheaper than new.

But if everything is shot, then I could see how it would make crossover look like a wise choice.

 

[yevgenievich]

Situation changed a bit. Everything still needs to be replaced in the steering, but truck appears to be 6" lift instead of 8". Still worth to pursue cross over?

 

[PrairieDrifter]

ORD offers those aftermarket flat top knuckels for the crossover, they'll probably be the most spendy pieces. Personally I would do it if everything was pretty much shot and I had over a 4 inch suspension lift.

 

[shiftpro]

Situation changed a bit. Everything still needs to be replaced in the steering, but truck appears to be 6" lift instead of 8". Still worth to pursue cross over?

What's the plan for the truck? How will it be used and what size tires? If you're actually going of road and large tires you will need a D60 (with D70 stub shafts and 35 spline lock out hubs). With a D60 you just bolt on the cross over steering arm.

If it a mall cruiser or lightweight off road duty and the tires are no larger than 35s, 6" lift with raised steering arm will suffice.
A raised steering arm is better than the dropped version.

 

[yevgenievich]

Mild off-road with 37" tires was the plan. Had a sight on d60 but it went away rather quickly. No rocks in our area, so was figuring the 10 bolt to probably last some time. Not really a mall cruiser but drive on the street once in a while.

 

[77 K20]

Although I just have a 4" lift- my goal was a soft riding suspension. What I found when I went from the Tuff Country HD front springs to ORD (Alcan) springs is that the new soft springs have a lot of travel to them. Even just going down a "normal" paved frontage road here. Since my lift height only increased about 1.5" I thought I wouldn't have to make any steering adjustments. But I had BAD bumpsteer. Even with the drag link at the "perfect" angle now hitting bigger bumps still results in some bumpsteer. I am not running a sway bar though- so the front axle can move where ever it feels like.

Depending on what springs you are thinking about running this might or might not be an issue for you also.

I have $$ invested in my D44 already, so my thoughts of swapping out to a D60 seem like a waste. I'd like to do crossover- but have a lot of thinking to do still. (like if I take the time to swap out the D44 knuckles to Reed knuckles then I might as well upgrade to chromemoly shafts at the same time, then upgrade to the CTM axle U joints...)

 

[bucket]

@77 K20 you bring up a very good point about front sway bars that I never thought about. The way they mount up in stock form, they really do kinda double as a track/panhard bar. It doesn't seem to matter at all with most trucks, but if you have really flexy springs then it makes sense.

 

[Jrgunn5150]

Starting from scratch, and given the choice, I would choose crossover also.

 

[Craig 85]

I think with the crossover steering you cannot run a sway bar due to interference. You would have to fab up a torsion set up.

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[Jrgunn5150]

I was not able to use a sway bar on my crossover 87. Rode like a brick anyway lol.

 

[ajd89]

I think with the crossover steering you cannot run a sway bar due to interference. You would have to fab up a torsion set up.

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I was wondering about this too!

 

[Big Chip]

Mild off-road with 37" tires was the plan. Had a sight on d60 but it went away rather quickly. No rocks in our area, so was figuring the 10 bolt to probably last some time. Not really a mall cruiser but drive on the street once in a while.

That's ok, I heard Dana 60's ain't **** anyway.