steering help

[Christopherk10]

Hello everyone, I have a steering question. I have a 72 k 10 with a 6in lift and I'm wanting to do cross over steering on my dana 44. I really like the offroad design stuff and I'm curious to know if anyone has used a close ratio box with one of these kits? I'm looking at the redhead boxes and I noticed they offer a close ration box. I'm not going to run hydraulic assist or anything crazy like that since its a daily driver. thanks in advance for the responses.

[K20super]

I have cross over with a 8 inch kit and started with a quick ratio box and did not like it on the street because it was too twitchy in rutted roads off road it was great, went to a stock box and drives awesome on the street and off road I did not notice enough difference once I adjusted to have the bad road manners. I do not even run a steering stabilizer on mine with a proper alignment including caster and camber it will drive great.

[Christopherk10]

thanks k20 super, that's the problem I am having. the steering is terrible on my truck and it seems no one around my town knows how to properly align these old trucks. i should note that i have skyjacker 6 in springs in the front with 4 degree shims in the front. any suggestions on the correct way to align these old trucks?

[sweetk30]

shims are both good / bad

good = helps kick pinion up to take angle off drive shaft from transfer case .

bad = takes caster away in the alignment and can make them handle like crap .

best option = ditch the shims and work the drive shaft to make it last and function correctly .

other option = leave shims but have a good alignment tech do a full read out and see how far off caster / camber is .

then you can get shims to go between the knuckle and spindle to help put things back in line . . but this gets to be big money and time to set correctly for the hr's of labor to tear down and install correctly .

then if someone ever changes ball joints or services the shafts the spindle is off and possible shim back on in wrong clock rotation for caster / camber to stay set.

finding techs that know how to get these parts and install them is almost a thing of the past as you have found out .

go get a print out like this one and post it up so we can help pin point the problems. this style with bar graphs is much much better to under stand over the #'s only crap most places try and pawn off on you and you never know if its right . . . you can see here its plan as day easy to read . . . ( this was one I did back in my wrenching days )

[Christopherk10]

hopefully this pic loaded, but that is the most recent alignment i have gotten. the tech used offset bushing for the upper ball joints. mind you i installed everything up front new, all the ball joints, tie rods, drag link, and steering box hoping i wouldn't have issues like this. how bad is the alignment?

[Christopherk10]

here's what the alignment ended up at

[sweetk30]

caster is way off = how easy or hard the wheel returns to center driving down road .

should not be more than .5 off from other side . and yours shows it more than that and still way off spec .

I am betting those spring shims are kicking it way off . . .

otherwise they did a darn good job at getting stuff real close .

but those adjustable upper ball joint inserts are o.k. but limit you on adjusting for both unlike the shims on spindle.

if me I would try ditching the spring pack shims and re checking .

remember CAMBER / TOE eat tires . so most techs adjust for these and kind of ignore caster .

whats the major complaint for driving you have ?

[Christopherk10]

the biggest issue i have with this truck is I'm always correcting the steering wheel. I'm always turning the wheel to keep the truck straight. i have a 70 short box with a 4in and 35s that drives like a car, so i know these trucks can drive good.

so if you use the inserts for caster adjustment, then how can you keep the correct ball joint preload?

[K20super]

To help with my steering issues I put on the ord shackle kit which is slightly longer and GM actually did this in later 89 to 91 Chevy trucks to help with steering issues.

[Christopherk10]

yeah ive been eyeing that kit, and their greaseable bushing kits as well.

[K20super]

I worked at a four wheel drive shop for seven years we are going to do a alingment next week when I get new tires I can send the specs on a lifted trucks stock specs will not work as good as altered ones to compensate for tires and steering angles.

[Christopherk10]

Thank you! That would be awesome. I actually got turned away from 2 different alignment shops around here. No one really knows what to do to correctly align these trucks. The guy that last did mine retired.