Steering Systems - Stock, Superunner & Equal Len. Crossover

[VintageIronFab]

Well sourced via ebay using all moog parts is only $218 going with all ambulance parts which all in all isn't that bad if you ask me!

[hobbyturnedobsession]

No worries on any question. I don't think there is a difference on the drivers side tie rod.

[SteveG]

Well sourced via ebay using all moog parts is only $218 going with all ambulance parts which all in all isn't that bad if you ask me!

After seeing what Kritter did to two of the aftermarket ambulance tie rods, I wouldn't bother with the conversion. It seems even Raybestos (which used to be Spicer, which used to be the best) has dropped the quality of their parts. I didn't see it for myself but when Kritter straightened the bent tie rod, he said it bent like butter.... I would just buy the stock replacement and sleeve it. Or buy the OE Ford ambulance steering but I don't think it's worth the expense.

BTW: On my Bronco, I never bent the short tie rod but I did just about straighten (lessen the bend through tension on a hard landing) two draglinks (the long one).

[tcm glx]

Well sourced via ebay using all moog parts is only $218 going with all ambulance parts which all in all isn't that bad if you ask me!

After seeing what Kritter did to two of the aftermarket ambulance tie rods, I wouldn't bother with the conversion. It seems even Raybestos (which used to be Spicer, which used to be the best) has dropped the quality of their parts. I didn't see it for myself but when Kritter straightened the bent tie rod, he said it bent like butter.... I would just buy the stock replacement and sleeve it. Or buy the OE Ford ambulance steering but I don't think it's worth the expense.

BTW: On my Bronco, I never bent the short tie rod but I did just about straighten (lessen the bend through tension on a hard landing) two draglinks (the long one).

While I agree the ambulance may also bend......... Philo and I were messing with my steering at the HP ranch one year and we could make the stock stuff bend by just pushing hard on the wheels with them in the air. Was pretty impressive to see how much flex the stock stuff has. The ambulance being thicker in diameter no doubt adds some peace of mind.......but to Steve's point, probably only marginally better.

[PaulW]

Yup tie rods bend. Stronger is always better. Compare costs. Just the amb rod and stock tight end is low cost. Alternatively a single or double swing with big tubes is way expensive by comparison (and way stronger). If one is going to pretend race then get a double swing setup.
90% of you all will never bend the amb rod. The hits that do the bend are pretty rare. Mine lasted for several years and final reason for upgrade was the thing was just worn and loose. We could not tell that the rod was bent. Many of us have worn out the ambulance rod and were happy until the change.
Come join me some time and you can see how hard the SF roads are on the suspension parts and the upgrade rod works for quite a while.
PW

[VintageIronFab]

wow do I feel really foolish-- you know how you look at something 187 times and just dont see something -- you leave it and come back and you see it immediately? Well thats me-- the ambulance steering is exactly the same except for the long side-- I thought both the longer tie-rod LH and RH were thicker-- not sure how in the hell I missed that but I did. I still think the steering I have is worn out but I just thought the LH was thicker. Now I genuinely feel dumb -- it for sure wont be the last This muct mean that a majority of the force taken by the steering is via the RH and not the LH tie-rod. All of my focus really has been on the LH side!! Its funny-- if you buy the Moog stuff directly from the parts store --you are about $200 from a swinger steering system! Provided of course you are the installer

[AussieRod]

Food for thought:
I am fortunate with RHD, in that the steering is better matched to the beam lengths than its US counterparts. Although the shorter beam is still longer than the short tierod, the steering linkage is long-for-long and short-for-short, so the disparity is significantly less on my truck than US versions. I will still have slight bump steer on droop and full stuff, but it wont be as bad as a LHD TTB would suffer:

P1020040.JPG (74.59 KiB) Viewed 2030 times

P1020041.JPG (86.11 KiB) Viewed 2030 times

A single swinger type set-up would be harder to make, but the benefits are less.

[Rmc]

That's really cool Rod, I never even thought about you guys being left hand steering down there. Pretty neat to see ford got it alot better for you guys than us. Here they just discontinued it cause of brake recalls and excessive tire wear lol, I don't know I'm joking but still I had never seen let alone considered a left side steering box. Thanks for showing the pics. Now show us some progress!!

[AussieRod]

That's really cool Rod, I never even thought about you guys being left hand steering down there. Pretty neat to see ford got it alot better for you guys than us. Here they just discontinued it cause of brake recalls and excessive tire wear lol, I don't know I'm joking but still I had never seen let alone considered a left side steering box. Thanks for showing the pics. Now show us some progress!!

You mean, right side steering box, dont you? You are looking at it from the front

[Rmc]

Ha! Yup.

[philofab]

I-beams are not discontinued. Vans and F250/350 2WD still have them to this day.

[Rmc]

I didn't realize they still put them on the vans either lol shows how much I pay attention, good call philo.

[Tchajagos]

This one was pretty bent. No clue how though. Just saw it and snapped a picture.

[ItzEnsign]

Just wondering if any of you have built your own single swing steer? I'm going to make mine, just wondering if any of you have the correct measurements, I'm sure I might be slightly off if i attempt it the first time

[cs_drums]

Use the stock pitman as your starting point. The pass tierod will register off the stock location. The relay rod will be set back from that, the measurment is nor rocket science just neeed room for both heims. The swinger need to have the same pivot points so everything swings in the same radius. When you hang the swinger you want the relay rod to be level when steering is centered. Thats the jist of it.

[ItzEnsign]

Thats what I was assuming, my friend is absolutely anal and telling me that the gemometry would be way off.

[cs_drums]

Thats what I was assuming, my friend is absolutely anal and telling me that the gemometry would be way off.

He is wrong and right at the same time. It is not 100% but with out a dual swinger set up you will never have it perfect. TTB is shitty geometery in itself, however, it kills it so thats what matters. Single swing is night and day better than stock both in geometry and strength.

[baja-chris]

mock it up, cycle it and measure bump steer. move it until you like what you have then build the real parts.
this is typically how it's done at fab shops and it takes a fair amount of time which is why it's not cheap to have done.
some shops might have a kit that is pre-designed but I doubt they would share the measurements with anyone.

[ItzEnsign]

Yea, I have really bad bump steer why I'm doing this ha, I know with single swing that there will be little bump steer on passenger side but nothing too noticeable

[VintageIronFab]

Anyone know who has the best swinger "kit" out there? I would think a kit that was weld on and included everything minus the rod ends would be a great idea. Also a kit with the placement measurements would be a bonus.