Dodge W300 front dana 70

[57taskforce]

I know it’s not one of our beloved Chevys or GMC’s but does Any body have experience with these? A guy I work with has a 73 W300 closed knuckle drum 70 with the rear mounted tie rod setup that bends to clear the driveshaft.. He’s trying to find and replace the fixed tie rod end. Not sure which side it is but he says it’s part of the tie rod itself similar to how some of the 70’s GM 4x4 tie rods are, where one tie rod end is not removable from the tie rod. He can’t find a good tie rod complete with the end or a way to rebuild/service the end.


I know some of you guys have played with a lot of different stuff thru the years and might have some insights. I had thought about telling him to see if he could cut the rod end off the tie rod then have it threaded to take a normal replaceable end.

Here’s an old picture for reference from sweptline. The part numbers listed there don’t seem to be of much help. They aren’t the numbers listed in the picture, on the site you use those numbers to find the actual part numbers.

[kwmech]

That particular end may be a solid piece of steel in which case you'll need a custom piece made for a threaded end that will slide over the tube for welding. Any dimensions of the tube for us

[burnin oil]

If It were mine I would measure the diameter right behind bad joint then cut and thread the outside to fit a commonly available tierod that has the same taper. If its hollow then tap the inside and you won't need anything more than a jam nut. If he doesn't like that option then take a field trip to the local track and ask around for chassis builders. I am sure one of them could bend up that shape in a heavy wall DOM tubing in a couple of minutes.

Play around on TRWs site and there is a look up tool for their parts. It let's you search by things like taper size. Then you can find a few ends with TRW part numbers. Take those and look at the cost. Some cost 1/3 that of others. I did this recently to find a tierod end to connect my 57 GMC steering arm to a 70s GM front axle while doing a 4x4 swap while keeping the 57s manual steering. Just for fun that tie rod was a 70s dodge 3/4 ton light duty short side.

[burnin oil]

I forgot the name of the company but there is a company that makes a tierod rebuild kit for the 2nd gen dodge diesels track bar. You grind off part of tierod so the guts fall out then rebuild the inner. They have a special sleeve that goes on the outside. May be worth some digging and give them a call.

[sweetk30]

call up offroad design and have them bend up a new tie rod center to match and then each end will have a serviceable joint .

only dana 70 dodge front i know of the guy cut the ball/socket off and used dana 60 HD snow fighter ends with the thicker inner C and made a custom open knuckle front for his gm truck .

[57taskforce]

Great suggestions guys, I will pass them on when I see him Monday. I haven’t seen the truck in person but I bet at least one of these ideas will work out.