flip front axle, bump steer cure

[MountainMoparRobin]

before you flip your straight axle you might want to look at setting up a early 80's van truck power steering unit on the Sweptline, the steering gear box sits in front of the driver wheel, and the drag link would be located to the front of the axle, so no interference with the straight axle when turning, I'm trying to get video formated for upload so this can be seen, it was the 1st powersteering upgrade I was told about from street rodders in 1990, I know its not a ford or chevy conversion, but the existing drag link on the 80's steering may just fit into the knuckle of the Sweptline

[motomatt383]

that's definetly an option to look at!! keep us posted on progress.


matt

[MountainMoparRobin]

I'll at least get some pictures up so you can see what I was told about, its looks like the real deal

[motomatt383]

i've got the van that the engine in my truck came out of. its a 97 1/2 ton van. would that be the same box?


matt

[MountainMoparRobin]

I believe its bigger but that shouldn't stop the change, if you look at the way it attaches I think you will be surprised at how it can be done

[funkyjbp]

the dodge box conversions my friends have done on 4x4 and one tons have worked really well. the problem they ran into was the location of the box relative to the axle. the box has to be so far forward to clear the tire when turning that it will stick out through the radiator support on a a non-lifted truck. it works great on one tons and 4x4s because the body is higher on the frames. There are three conversions in my home town, 65 one ton 4X4, 64 one ton 2X4, and a 68 1.5 ton dump truck. I can probably take a few pics. later, JP.

[MountainMoparRobin]

thats good input so I went down and took pictures, it will be something I'll have to measure out closer, take a look





Right now I don't see that a problem, it almost looks as if the holes are there already???

[MountainMoparRobin]

Up date, the new approach will be to take the drivers side spindle and steering knuckle move them to the passenger side and bring the passenger side to the drivers side, (thus crossover steering) will drop the front possible flip of axle, will use steering gearbox from DODGE VAN 3500 (sorry I don't know chevy parts nor do I like them) gear box will sit in exact position of current box, will use a steering colum with tilt from Dodge 80's truck and Van, (not that it is needed just want tilt for convience), will consider doing disc brake conversion at same time depending on availability of space, It will also be Mopar, DAH

[Butch Romig]

robin
if you are gonna do powersteering you might consider useing the pump andlines and master i sent you a long time back when you were still in texas,then you would have power brakes that run off of the ps pump!!,if youve never used them they are really powerful!!
butch

[digdoug]

Up date, the new approach will be to take the drivers side spindle and steering knuckle move them to the passenger side and bring the passenger side to the drivers side, (thus crossover steering) will drop the front possible flip of axle, will use steering gearbox from DODGE VAN 3500 (sorry I don't know chevy parts nor do I like them) gear box will sit in exact position of current box, will use a steering colum with tilt from Dodge 80's truck and Van, (not that it is needed just want tilt for convience), will consider doing disc brake conversion at same time depending on availability of space, It will also be Mopar, :study DAH

Um, Robin. That SAGANAW box is EXACTLY the same as chevy used on thier two wheel drive pickups for close to 20 years. It looks like a great plan, but I dont under stand why you would waste your time switching sides with the steering arms.Are you planing on useing an cam link or something?

Doug

[MountainMoparRobin]

Butch sometine in 08 I'm going to San Antonio and will get the power assist unit, that is a strong thought, with that kind of power brakes not sure going to disc is necessary
Diddoug the reason for the cross over steering conversion is for "Bump Steer" I'm lookin at flipin the front axle, and changing to crossover steering will get rid of "Bump Steer" , when I'm doing this though, when ist actually in progess, this could change

[digdoug]

Sorry ,Robin. I wasn't thinking it through. You need to switch ends to move the tierod to the front of the axel.

Doug

[MountainMoparRobin]

no actually, this is what the forums are for, I could very well have a plan and not even be close, totally forgetting something important

[moparman1975]

I was brainstorming options for bump steer today and here is my question... or statement. The steering rod is suposed to be parellel, when you flip the front axle you effect the geometry, causing the steering rod to sit at a downward angle. What would happen if you shortened the pitman arm about 3" to allow the steering rod to sit parellel??? That would put the geometry back how it was before the flip. A shorter pitman arm would mean a shorter throw that should effect your turning radius but it's a give & take You could also buy a shorter pitman arm if you felt uncomfortable hacking & welding one. What do you think?

[MountainMoparRobin]

WOW,
I covered that almost to the letter in a previuos post, however, my thought was to shorten in 1 1/2 which wouldn't change the turn radius becuase: when the axle is flipped your adding 3" to the length of the pitman arm because the steering geometry was lowered 3" when the axle is flipped, thus adding the 3" to the length because prevuiusly it was used as extensions when the suspension was in motion IE going over bumps and etc. I believe your thinking correctly sir

[wittyhoosier]

I think an easy way to solve the problem would be to heat and bend the arm attached to the steering knuckle. Currently, it sits at about the same level as the spring pack. Heat it, bend it down so that after the flip it wil swing below the axle, in line with the spring pack. I don't believe any other changes would be needed.

Image is supposed to be Robin's second from bottom in the post with all the pictures. It shows well the position of this arm and its attachement to the knuckle via two bolts.

Bonus: if you can find a right hand driver, and swipe its arm, you'd be set!

[MountainMoparRobin]

That was tried with the results of still not having enough room, it actually would be easier to cut and weld, however this create's another problem when going over bumps the shorter, or altered drag link then will cause the steering wheel to turn with the slightest elevation of the suspension and thus breaking arm, wrist, or whatever gets in the way and thats why I did research to find the cross over steering would fix theese problems, a power steering box from a Ram 3500 Van, bolting to existing steering box location, then taking the driver side complete setup spindle and all, transfering to passenger side (this puts the knuckle behind the straight axle) and going from power steering box across to the passenger side now gives the added drag link needed to safely be airborn or elevated suspension without the steering wheel breaking unsespecting body parts

[wittyhoosier]

This is maybe a better example of what I meant, as I don't think that you understood. I don't mean to bend the arm on the gearbox, or the link rod. Rather, I mean to bend the arm that is bolted to the hub assy. You'll have to zoom in to be able to see what I did to the photo.

[MountainMoparRobin]

Your right I did miss the point of the post, I thought you were refering to the drag link, I wonder how much of a flame it would take to heat that???

[wittyhoosier]

I don't know. It looks like the part was forged to begin with, so probably a forge would be best, though a great big torch tip might work.