dana44 stearing arm

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baddodge
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dana44 stearing arm

Post by baddodge »

Planing disk brake axle swap and keeping manual steering (at least for now) and have questions about steering arm length. When compsring the two axles the distance from the balljoint center to the steeringarm hole are about an inch differance. I have read forums stating this creates steering effort issues relating to leverage. I have also been told that ford steering arms of relative vintage are closer to the length needed. When I find my camera I will post photos,this is the last logistical hurdle for this project.

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Re: dana44 stearing arm

Post by digdoug »

Here is what I know.The Dodge Dana 60 steering knuckle arm is @ 5.25 inches on centers. The sweptline Dana HD44 steering knuckle is about 7.5". You can get a ford Dana 60 steering knuckle arm that is 8"(I have one kicking around my work bench from a 1978). The ford 60 arm is straighter than the dodge 60 arm. The dodge 60 arm has 1" more rise. It looks as though a " competent person" could heat and bend the ford 60 arm to match the dodge 60 arm's profile and end up pretty close to the final length of the stock 7.5 ". I don't think you could use the ford arm ,as is ,without interference with the spring plates or the shocks :thinking You may still have interference,as the newer axle sets the steering arm closer to the springs( narrower track).

The biggest thing to help steering effort when swapping in a newer axle is to orient the springs the same as they are on the newer axle.(spring eye below the leaf in front and eye above the leaves in back. If you just bolt the new axle to the stock sweptline springs the way they are you will have way too much + caster and greatly increased steering effort.(I know this from experience)

The difference in arm length makes for @ 20-25 percent faster steering.You may be able to live with the added steering effort, if you are running skinny tires, until you get power steering. If you are mostly off road you could shim between your leaves and pads to bring your caster closer to 0 .

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Re: dana44 stearing arm

Post by baddodge »

i should be more specific. 1970 w100 with closed knuckle dana 44 and drum brakes is the truck. the donor axle is from 1982 ram 150 dana 44 with disk brakes. not planning on much bigger tire than the stock 16" 135 85. are dana 44 steering arm bolt patterns the same? i will need to recheck the caster and pinion angles as i thought they were close.
here are some photos of the arms and measurements. from the center of the piviot to the draglink center is about 7 3/4" on the original and about 6 1/8" on the donor, and the over all from DL center to the mount studs is about 7 5/8. my book says the caster on the donor shoul be 1/5 deg. and 3 deg. on the original but dose not list a pinion angle to compare.
DSC04460.JPG
DSC04461.JPG
DSC04489.JPG
DSC04491.JPG
Last edited by baddodge on Mon Jan 16, 2012 7:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: dana44 stearing arm

Post by Lowdown »

Does the factory steering box have stops built into it? If not, then the length of the your steeering arms will only impact the effort required to turn the wheel and not the overall steer angle (how far you turn right and/or left).
In a perfect world, the steering box will hit its internal stops at the same time the steering stops on the knuckles hit.

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Re: dana44 stearing arm

Post by sweatybetty »

baddodge wrote: from the center of the piviot to the draglink center is about 7 3/4" on the original and about 6 1/8" on the donor
DSC04460.JPG
DSC04461.JPG
your first 2 pics show you measuring from 2 different places. it looks like if you were measuring from the same points on both front ends the centers would be the same. :thinking

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Re: dana44 stearing arm

Post by baddodge »

the donor first measurement is from the draglink hole to thecenter of the knuckle piviot and the other measurment is to the arm mount ing bolts. the measurment from the closed knuckle is from the center of the knuckle piviot to the draglink hole

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Re: dana44 stearing arm

Post by surfnuke9 »

digdoug wrote: The biggest thing to help steering effort when swapping in a newer axle is to orient the springs the same as they are on the newer axle.(spring eye below the leaf in front and eye above the leaves in back.
I dont follow what you are saying here. Could you explain a bit more? I simply bolted my 93 D60 up to the stock springs....looks like I didnt do what you are saying here....and I DO have difficult steering.

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Re: dana44 stearing arm

Post by Hobcobble »

surfnuke9 wrote:
digdoug wrote: The biggest thing to help steering effort when swapping in a newer axle is to orient the springs the same as they are on the newer axle.(spring eye below the leaf in front and eye above the leaves in back.
I dont follow what you are saying here. Could you explain a bit more? I simply bolted my 93 D60 up to the stock springs....looks like I didnt do what you are saying here....and I DO have difficult steering.
Tim,
Eye.... meaning the leaf "curl", I believe is what Doug is saying
[curl up vs curl down] :thinking :Thumbsup
John

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Re: dana44 stearing arm

Post by surfnuke9 »

OK, thanks John. Will have to look and see what I have... :salut

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Re: dana44 stearing arm

Post by digdoug »

surfnuke9 wrote:
digdoug wrote: The biggest thing to help steering effort when swapping in a newer axle is to orient the springs the same as they are on the newer axle.(spring eye below the leaf in front and eye above the leaves in back.
I dont follow what you are saying here. Could you explain a bit more? I simply bolted my 93 D60 up to the stock springs....looks like I didnt do what you are saying here....and I DO have difficult steering.
Basically the springs need flipped end for end. Stock swept springs will need a little chopping on the second leaf most likely. I just used newer springs.72-91 are ideal but 92-93 springs can work with a bit of bushing trickery.
front spring.jpg

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Re: dana44 stearing arm

Post by jimmy »

I also used the 92' springs the way they were bolted to the 92' axle as Digdoug told me to. Everything works great. I softened up the very stiff ride of the Cummins pack by removing a middle leaf later after getting my truck on the road.

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