1970 K-20 lifted - steering & pittman arm question

[argonaut]

The reason one would want cross over steering is not due to lift, but due to suspension movement. Those who lift with 52" springs in front, or other more flexible front suspension get more vertical suspension travel. Crossover steering gives you a drag link that is around 5 times longer than stock. This gives less angular deflection of the drag link when the suspension is moving up and down, and thus give less unwanted side to side movement due to the arc that the drag link travels in. You will however get more bump steer with the crossover.

If you have stiff aftermarket lift springs, or don't crawl over a lot of big rocks or through deep gulleys then you probably won't see much benefit from the crossover steering. Just use the raised steering arm and you'll most likely be fine with 6" static lift.

If you do decide crossover I believe you can piece together and build your own setup cheaper than the kits. But it requires a little more effort. I sourced parts from partsmike.com, cut and welded my own drag link and tie rod and sent my knuckle out for machining (since I'm a dana 44 not a dana 60 like you). I went to a "high steer" setup as well which places the tie rod above the springs. Be careful if you do this with arched springs as you may need steering arms the are lifted, or spacer blocks for the steering arms, and longer studs.