Sharing my bump steer fix with this Great community of truck nuts!
 

I know there are a lot of post and information about bump steer on our trucks that have been lowered with coil springs. Specifically ones like mine that have been lowered with 3" shorter springs only. I tried this solution on my truck and after 500 miles of driving I am very happy with the results.

I could not find a set in stone solution to this problem, so I wanted to share this with everyone because I am very excited how much better this thing drives now. Bump steer in my case has been eliminated.

In a nut shell, I moved the outer tie rod ends to the bottom side of the arm on the spindle.

Because of the cost of a tapered reamer, (not to mention exactly what taper is the tie rod end anyway), and the problem of having to add some type of tapered sleeve to take up the void when flipping tie rod ends and not enough meat at the arm of the spindle to do all of the above, this is what I did.

1. Replaced the adjusting sleeve with a solid adjusting link.
2. Replaced the outer tie rod end with a Heim joint.
3. Drilled the tapered hole in the spindle with a 5/8 drill bit to accept a 5/8 bolt which is the size of the Heim.
4. Reset the toe and Wow! what a difference it made.

Here are the P/N's of what I used. I found all of this stuff at Speedway Motors.

1. 91001449 JAM NUT 11/16 LH PLAIN, it takes 2 of these.
2. 91001249 JAM NUT 11/16 RH PLAIN, it takes 2 of these.
3. 91634-10.75 LINK,11/16",RAW, this is the adjusting sleeve and is 10.75 inches long, and it takes 2 of these.
4. 1750128 11/16"RH HEIM W/5/8" HOLE, it takes 2 of these.
5. You also need the 5/8" grade 8 bolts, washers and nuts.

All of these parts worked on my 1971, The new adjusting sleeve is designed to fit the stock inner tie rod end thread pitch and the outer Heim fits the other end. The only modification to my truck was drilling the spindles tapered hole to a non tapered straight 5/8 hole.

As I mentioned above I have been 500 miles so far with no problems and a very fun to drive lowered truck!!! :chevy:

Re: Sharing my bump steer fix with this Great community of truck nuts!
 

Very nice. The alignment shop I had my burb at tried telling me they needed to heat my tie rods and bend them to correct the bump steer. I like your way better

Re: Sharing my bump steer fix with this Great community of truck nuts!
 

Keeping the steering linkage horizontal minimizes bump steer and you have that corrected ok. For an occasionally driven truck the heim end may work out very well. I have to wonder just how long it would hold up under a daily driven truck since it has no dust cover or lube to keep it smooth.
I would most certainly drill that bolt and put in a cotter pin too.

Re: Sharing my bump steer fix with this Great community of truck nuts!
 

subbed

Re: Sharing my bump steer fix with this Great community of truck nuts!
 

Yea I would be putting a cotter key in that bolt for sure. The hem's should be OK, but a little oil are grease on them every so often wouldn't hurt I guess. You can buy them with zerk fittings for grease. Here is the 5/8" from Speedway.;):chevy:


http://static.speedwaymotors.com/RS/...10610401_L.jpg

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/AFCO-1...ale,41039.html

Re: Sharing my bump steer fix with this Great community of truck nuts!
 

I agree. My truck is driven daily around town here only when the weather is nice. But I will definitely keep an eye on it. I do have some thread locker on the nut holding the heim but I will take your suggestion about the cotter pin and run with it. Thanks

72MARIO Thanks. I wouldn't want to heat and bend those either.

Andy4639 I sure didn't see the heim with the zerk fitting when I bought mine. Great idea though. Thanks

Re: Sharing my bump steer fix with this Great community of truck nuts!
 

Nice set up. How much do you have invested in it?

Re: Sharing my bump steer fix with this Great community of truck nuts!
 

The 2 heim's, 2 adjuster sleeves, and 4 jam nuts were around $110.00 The 5/8 bolts, washers and nuts were bought local and I can't remember the price on those. And I am able to do the alignment at work, so no cost there.

Re: Sharing my bump steer fix with this Great community of truck nuts!
 

Andy4639, I did go and check on that heim from Speedway with the zerk fitting. It is not the size needed to fit my 71 factory inner tie rods. Those are a 5/8-18 and my 71 inner tie rod is a 11/16-18. But I may look into how I could drill them and install my own zerk.

Re: Sharing my bump steer fix with this Great community of truck nuts!
 

I ran custom adjustable lower control arms and panhard bar that I built on the rear of my '82 Z28 for years with heim joints and they held up well. I was also skeptical of their lifespan on a regularly driven vehicle, but they did really well. The only issue I had with them was the noise. Are your's quiet over bumps, etc.?

Re: Sharing my bump steer fix with this Great community of truck nuts!
 

Great idea,... but that big flat washer on the bottom is going to affect the pivot ability of the heim end as the suspension compresses.
I suggest running the "misalignment spacers" on either side of the heim and to use a lock nut.
Check www.rodendsupply.com for the spacers.
Here is another picture I found, of a similar fix, on these year trucks.

Re: Sharing my bump steer fix with this Great community of truck nuts!
 

this guy knows!!!
we do this on our race cars and its really very simple to do, but you do need these washers and lock nut and you be ready to go!

Re: Sharing my bump steer fix with this Great community of truck nuts!
 

I haven't noticed any noise, but I have only put about 500 miles on this set up so far. I also had a truck a few years back that I bagged. It had heims on all of the rear components. It was my daily driver and I put 120,000 miles on it and never had to replace anything. But, with that said I will keep an eye on this set up as it is my steering components.

Great idea. I thank you all for the great input. I am never above changing something i've done to make it better or safer. I have checked that nothing is binding while turning lock to lock, but I do like the way those misalignment spacers look and perform. I will be checking them out closer. And I may use a lock nut as an alternative to drilling a whole and using a cotter pin.

Re: Sharing my bump steer fix with this Great community of truck nuts!
 

Does anyone have the part number or size for the misalignment spacers? This thread is awesome!!

Re: Sharing my bump steer fix with this Great community of truck nuts!
 

That will depend on the size rod end you use,...
Page 17:
http://rodendsupply.com/RodEndSupply-Catalog.pdf

Re: Sharing my bump steer fix with this Great community of truck nuts!
 

i have a bumpsteer kit from steeda on my mustang and its not grease-able..i drive the **** out of it daily its been on there for about 20k miles no problems. I have heard of one person having theirs break in all the searching i have done...someone said that a guy with a bmw broke his before around a turn. it happened on a track car and i dont know what the manufacturer was. i dont think its any less strong than a normal tie rod end.

Re: Sharing my bump steer fix with this Great community of truck nuts!
 

Couldn't someone just machine a tapered sleeve to insert into a drilled spindle that fits the original tie rod so you could just turn the tie rod upside down on the spindle in effect reversing the taper? Follow?

Re: Sharing my bump steer fix with this Great community of truck nuts!
 

I have done a bunch of searching looking for a tapered sleeve. I did find a picture of one once, but could not find any info. I am not saying there isn't one, I just couldn't come up with anything.

I took a close look at drilling the tapered hole from the other side of the spindle and flipping mine but there would not be be much of a tapered hole left. I could not come up with any good solid solution when trying to flip the actual tie rod.

Re: Sharing my bump steer fix with this Great community of truck nuts!
 

I was thinking something like the tapered washer thingy's on the top knuckle of a Dana 44 4wd front axle steering arm. Maybe those would even work? I really like your setup- I'm just cheap-and already have New Moog ends, So I'm trying not to toss them in the corner.

Re: Sharing my bump steer fix with this Great community of truck nuts!
 

Do they make the rod ends with a insert[bushing] of some kind for street use. I seem to recall when i was messing with those wallet draining drag cars that when you put the 4 link stuff in the back you could opt for different rod ends with some sort of insert the name escapes me now but it was to help a small bit on noise and with the other slight issues that might arise with daily use of driving a car/truck with rod ends on it. Jim

Re: Sharing my bump steer fix with this Great community of truck nuts!
 

These should help.
Sam
>> http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Seals-...t-6,33063.html <<

Re: Sharing my bump steer fix with this Great community of truck nuts!
 

Speedway also sells the cone spacers.

Re: Sharing my bump steer fix with this Great community of truck nuts!
 

Those seals are cool! I guess even if the Heims didn't last long they are easier to replace than original tie rod ends.
What cone spacers?

Re: Sharing my bump steer fix with this Great community of truck nuts!
 

This just keeps getting better and better! Thank you to all of you for the input. Those seals are going to be the icing on the cake.

Re: Sharing my bump steer fix with this Great community of truck nuts!
 

the big washer on the end of the stack is still a good thing to have to keep everything together if the ball and socket comes out of the joint....I know, I've crashed a few race cars....