Mixing Dana 44 and 10 bolt knuckles

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TubeTruck

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So I think I shot myself in the foot here. I bought an 8 lug 10 bolt front, assuming it's an '83 front from the stamping on the ring gear. I took the passenger knuckle off of the D44 that was in my '75 and had it machined for crossover steering since it was a flat top. So now I installed the D44 knuckle on my 10 bolt, got the whole thing together and was planning on putting it in this weekend. Here's my dilemma: The D44 pass knuckle has the tie rod hole reamed from the top down \ /, the driver's side is from the 10 bolt and is reamed from the bottom up / \. This will put my tie rod at a slight angle across the front of the axle. I'm curious if it will cause any problems? Thoughts? I'm probably still going to put it in. I just need to know what I will break, if anything, lol .

I do not have the D44 front end anymore so I can't get the driver's side knuckle.

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Grit dog

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I don’t think it will cause any issues. Not like components that are subject to additional articulation due to suspension movement.
As long as lock to lock angle changes in the knuckles don’t max out the range of motion of the tie rod ends.
 

bucket

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I think it's going to make you lean a little bit when you are in the driver seat. Lol, just kidding of course. Although, the mismatched knuckles would drive me nuts, personally.
 

TubeTruck

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It does @bucket, it does, it's driving me nuts, lol. I moved them side to side by hand on the jack stands and I still get full range of motion. It's not normal and it looks funny.

@Grit dog My thought was that normally it has a lateral push when turning the wheel. Now it has both lateral and angular. Not sure they were made for that. If it wears quickly I'll just drill out the tapers and install heim joints.
 

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^IMO, there’s still the same bearing area and rod ends work through a range of differing angles from lock to lock anyways. So really just working the same range from a different starting point.
Yes there is now a small vertical component of force not 100% lateral like if the rod was parallel to the axle, but it’s on the order of a few % only. So theoretically it “ may” be a few percent weaker.
Doubt it will ever be noticed except for appearance sake.
 

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