Doing some steering upgrades to my old '58 IH pickup. Dropping the old steering box in favor of a Saginaw 525 and cross steer. Thread here: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/58-ih-cross-steer-questions.1249139/ Anyway, my trip down the rabbit hole brought me to this: Why doesn't anyone make steering arms for Chevy spindles that take traditional tie rod ends for cross steer conversions? Next to the traditional Ford axle, the 49-54 Chevy axle seems to be a very popular axle for the g***er and Chevy pickup crowd when it comes to brake and steering upgrades. Cross steer seems to be the premium setup using a Vega or larger Saginaw boxes. Literally the missing link to complete this upgrade is a steering arm with two eyes on the p***enger side to attach the new drag link. Yes...I know the flat style arms are available...but not recommended for ball style tie rod ends (TREs) . Heim joints (SREs) are not recommended for street driven cars, and flat style arms don't have the thickness for the conical shape of TREs to do what they are engineered to do. So what are folks using for steering arms for cross steer conversions on Chevy axles on street driven cars and trucks using TREs? Is there enough demand to approach the big suppliers about expanding their steering arm options?
Change to the Ford Bronco style tie rod end and connect the cross steer rod direct to the tie rod on the right side. Nothing new about that. Speedway has both the ream to do the job and the ends.
I have taken those bent flat plate arms and welded on a tapered bushing, also from Speedway. https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Round-Weld-On-Shock-Eye-Mount-for-Tie-Rod-Shock,17470.html
That was my first thought (Bronco TRE), but the consideration is getting the steering box as far away from the firewall as possible. Wouldn't the Bronco TRE require the steering box to be up or back to make enough of an angle that the drag link doesn't interfere with tie rod? I'm just playing Devil's advocate here.
The flat steel ones for Chevys are about 1/4-inch thick, and don't have enough material to properly support the taper.
I believe he's talking about using the Chevy unit with forged bolt on arms. You can change the tapper on those with no problem.
I've done a bunch of axle swaps using 50's Chevy truck axles, and it used to be impossible to find the flat bar tie rod arms for the backing plates. For whatever reason places like Speedway didn't carry the proper arms with holes spaced to fit these Chevy axles. But they do now, and that's what I usually buy. But way back before this, I simply robbed the stock arms off the '55-'57 Chevy cars, and bolted them to the spindles on the 50's Chevy truck axles. You can flip them side to side, or get an extra arm to bolt to the top of the spindle for the drag link, and they'll have the typical tapered end you need if you choose to go that route. I personally prefer heim ends, and use flat bars for the tie rods, and for the steering arm for the drag link. But for guys on a low budget in a Tri Five axle swap I've salvaged the stock steering arms and flipped driver's side lower to p***enger side upper and then kept the stock tie rod and ends. Then used the factory steering box with it's pivot ball end on the pitman arm, and made up a drag link using the two factory ends, and a piece of DOM tubing between to fabricate a drag link. Doesn't look as clean as a custom tube for tie rods and drag links with heim ends. But it works just as well. And if you want to go front side steering you can add a arm across the top two bolts on the spindle, and point that arm forward and the steering arm backwards to make a flat drag link that works with either style stock or flat bar arms. This is my current '59 Chevy axle I put under my '39 Chev coupe. Converted to flat bars for tie rod and drag link, and also converted to disc brakes. And narrowed 5" to fit under the narrower '39 fenders.
Ahh. I see. I would use the existing hole in the right one for the drag link, and then drill another hole in both, and taper, for the tie rod. If there is room.
The flat bar arms I've always bought are a good 1/2" thick. Never seen any that were 1/4" thick? They'd bend just from normal driving at 1/4" thickness.
I saw this done elsewhere...kinda. This is a custom set of steering arms for a Corvair. Has like a pressed in bushing to take a TRE (probably better to be welded IMO). Also for a small TRE on a rear engine vehicle. Also considered stacking two flat arms on top of each other (at least the TRE hole areas) and welding them together for the thickness. I think I've got my bit figured out. I just wondered why there isn't any bolt on options. Gauging interest/frustration on that point. What I have going on is still going to require some tweaking, but I was lucky to find something to start with...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/391892328161 Probably because Chevy made some, but hardly anyone wants to use them? I used heim ends for the tie rod, and the wheel end of the drag link, on my Chevy II with 49-54 spindles.
When I did mine, no internet searches or that, just figured out a way. Filled the hole in the steering arm, then re-drilled and tapered it with reamer, to take the Ford tie rod end. To hook up the cross steer, I used a tie rod end that @Pist-n-Broke posted above. Bought mine from hot rod supplier, but I believe it's a Jeep part.
These were on eBay a little while ago and I wish I was looking when they went on. https://www.ebay.com/itm/115028369929#vi__app-cvip-panel Obviously someone has welded an extra bit of steering arm onto these stockers...but wouldn't this be nice as a bolt on option?? I would like to send this to Sid (droppedaxles.com) and get his take on this sort of modification...
Point taken. Thank you all for your input. If I can't get the billet steel arms I bought to work out, then the Jeep/Bronco TRE is the route I will be taking.
FWIW , spherical rod ends work just fine on the street , mine have been on for 20 years & 50k miles . There are seals available to help keep them clean . You could simply weld an extra piece of plate to the flat plate arms to provide enough thickness for the taper & the extra length for a second hole .
^^^I agrre,...the heim ends I used on my 37 Chevy work'd just great,...I think it'd take a lot of miles to wear those out, even at that, not too expensive to replace if you think it's ever needed
Ball joint type tie rod ends in good shape have tension on the threaded stud . Is this tension or resistance to moving serve any purpose like dampening ?
If using Heim joints it would be a good idea to put a large washer on the bolt side to prevent the Heim joint from pulling thru if it should fail...
So won't 49-54 chevy car steering work? I'm with squirrel, try finding stock parts. I'm sure I have a set if interested.
We are talking cross over conversions where another hole is required on the p***enger side steering arm for a drag link. The stock arm a few posts up has been modified with an extra eye welded on to accomplish that. My gripe is that the only bolt on widely available steering arm is flat steel and meant for Heim joints and not traditional tie rod ends.
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