67-70 center link

[AZ 67 C10]

It appers I have a 71+ center link that I didn't realize when I tore my front suspension apart and replaced it all. I have 67-70 ball joints and spindles and am looking for a 67-70 center link, but it doesn't seem like hardly anyone makes them. Does anyone know where I can source one from?

[michael bustamante]

those always get replaced when guys do the disc brake / power steering conversion. ( a must ) if you have been swapped to disc brakes and/or power steering you really should just get 71 inner and outer tie rods. or cpp sells the conversion rods.
if your manual steering and drums in the front just look for one on the for sale ads on here

[AZ 67 C10]

Originally Posted by michael bustamante

those always get replaced when guys do the disc brake / power steering conversion. ( a must ) if you have been swapped to disc brakes and/or power steering you really should just get 71 inner and outer tie rods. or cpp sells the conversion rods.
if your manual steering and drums in the front just look for one on the for sale ads on here

It has been converted to front discs and has power steering. I guess since I didn't do the conversion I never thought twice about it and ordered stuff for the year of the truck, lesson learned. I'll see what cpp has for conversion rods since I don't really want to replace what's already been replaced with 71+ stuff.

[chevy_mike]

Yeah, no one makes the center link because it is a non wear item. You will have to find a used one. I had to swap mine out because someone used it to pull the truck and put a curved bend into it. I found a guy parting out trucks on Craigslist and got one that way.

[lolife99]

Originally Posted by AZ 67 C10

It appers I have a 71+ center link that I didn't realize when I tore my front suspension apart and replaced it all. I have 67-70 ball joints and spindles and am looking for a 67-70 center link, but it doesn't seem like hardly anyone makes them. Does anyone know where I can source one from?

Swapping the centerlink is not a must do item.
Run some conversion tie rod sleeves with 67-70 outers.
Then you can use 71-72 tie rods to connect to your center link.
Here’s the catch:
67-70 outers are LH thread.
So you will need to use 71-72 outers (rh thread) in the inner location.

[AZ 67 C10]

Originally Posted by lolife99

Swapping the centerlink is not a must do item.
Run some conversion tie rod sleeves with 67-70 outers.
Then you can use 71-72 tie rods to connect to your center link.
Here’s the catch:
67-70 outers are LH thread.
So you will need to use 71-72 outers (rh thread) in the inner location.

Before I read this I had already ordered 71-72 inners from Moog and the conversion sleeves from CPP. The 71-72 tie rod is 11/16 compared to the 5/8 67-70, but the ball joint is hardly bigger and fits sloppy in my center link, just less sloppy than the 67-70 ones. My idler and pitman arm fit correctly in the center link and just eyeballing it I can tell the size difference.

Is there a difference between 71-72 outers vs inners ball joint size? Or are 73+ tie rods different than 71-72? Looks like they have different part numbers on Moog's website.. Either way I need an outer to run in the inner location.

[lolife99]

71-72 tie rods are the same, no matter inner or outer, just different thread direction.
Tie rods are:
63-70
71-72
73-87
Same as balljoints.

[AZ 67 C10]

OK so i've tried 67-70, 71-72, and 73-87 tie rods and none of them work with the center link I have. The taper on all of them is too small for the center link so they fit sloppy. The taper on the center link is the same size for all 4 of the holes. The idler/pitman arm taper fits in every hole on the center link if that explains anything.. I'm open to any suggestions, at this point I have enough tie rods to build a front end twice over...

[Jrainman]

I would highly suggest you read Lolife99 information posted here in Suspention go to the thread/thread stater catorgory and click on Lolife99 DISC TO DRUM Conversion ,he gives you very detailed information on what you are trying to figure out . all your answers are there

[AZ 67 C10]

Originally Posted by Jrainman

I would highly suggest you read Lolife99 information posted here in Suspention go to the thread/thread stater catorgory and click on Lolife99 DISC TO DRUM Conversion ,he gives you very detailed information on what you are trying to figure out . all your answers are there

Thanks for the suggestion on the disc to drum thread its packed with info. After reading through it, i'm still unsure of what I have going on without knowing what the PO did. After trying 3 different tie rod configurations (67-70, 71-72, and 73-87) my conclusion is the centerlink is from an earlier model (60-66) or someone enlarged the taper in it. So my question is, did 60-62 or 62-66 trucks centerlink have a larger diameter taper than later years?

I know this shouldn't be this complicated but I appreciate the help. Lesson learned, don't toss your old parts until you verify the new parts are correct.

[chevy_mike]

I think the taper increased in size as they got newer. GM kept beefing them up. I wonder if the center link is from a C20 or C30. They might have used bigger tie rod ends.

[77c10bowtie]

Originally Posted by chevy_mike

I think the taper increased in size as they got newer. GM kept beefing them up. I wonder if the center link is from a C20 or C30. They might have used bigger tie rod ends.

Turns out inner tierods from my 77 fit the taper on every hole of the centerlink he has. So he could use 75+ inner tierods and solve that issue but he still has the 67-70 spindles and they use a slightly smaller taper and smaller threaded end to go to the adjuster sleeve so either someone makes a tierod that has the larger threaded shank for the adjuster or we will have to drill the taper larger to use a 75+ outer tierod also