Drag link rebuild or replace? (1 Viewer)

[smokeater]

Hello All,

Happy 4th everyone, I'm posted up at the firehouse, luckily for me its been a quiet day so far...

So I'm in the middle of performing a little TLC on my steering linkage. I'll be replacing all TRE's, rebuilding center arm, and was planning on rebuilding draglink. When I removed and cleaned the Tie Rod I found a small rust hole below the slit on one end so I've got a new HD one coming from MAF. The relay rod is solid and the drag link tube is as well. I prepped and painted both with POR 15 and Top Coat.

I noticed when inspecting the drag link end that there was a small blemish in the pitman arm opening... looks like a little bit of the material was worn or compressed and pushed out by the ball/post. I was going to just run with it but got to thinking a second, third or fourth opinion wouldn't hurt. See Picture

I purchased a rebuild kit and planned on just packing the new guts into her. So what do you think?

 

[tjhaga]

You cant go wrong by replacing it, but just go with your gut feeling. I think I’d be fine using it. Keep an eye on it and its no big deal to change it out later if need be.

 

[smokeater]

I think your right. Piece of mind might be worth the effort. I could always hang on to the rebuild kit for a later project. Thanks

 

[1969FJ]

How do you think that happened ?

 

[smokeater]

I suspect that the opposite end of the drag link was fatigued enough to allow the tube to pivot and remain in a position where the pitman arm kept running alongside that edge? All
my TRE’s were in pretty rough shape.

 

[Igotmearedone]

I saw the same exact thing on my drag link. Everything else in the steering system was worn out by the PO so I replaced this too for peace of mind.