HD 70 series front end upgrades? (1 Viewer)

[Malahki]

I am in the process of gathering parts for upgrading the front of my JDM BJ74. ARB locker, Longfield axles, Longfield wipers, Marlin Crawler HD axle seals ect.... I want to also upgrade the steering and I am considering getting the Trail Gear six shooter knuckles but not sure about steering arms. My Cruiser is staying spring under so I don't know if high steer arms will have clearance under full suspension flex. Does anybody make six stud drop or flat arms?

I plan to get a HD custom drag link and tie rod made and want the drag link to connect directly to the steering arm rather then to the tie rod. So another option I am considering is GM 1 ton rod ends or what about the 80 series TRE's? Are they larger then the 70's? If so will the 80's pitman arm work on the 70's steering box?

Any comments, input or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Radd Cruisers]

Trail Gear? You're kidding, right? Trail Gear is the devil.

Try Luke's Arms...


~John

 

[RockDoc]

High Crossover Steering System- 4×4labs Frombe Steer | 4×4 Labs

Looks like you can get a flat arm system with both rods in front from Luke, and an add-on stud kit to go 6 stud with the stock knuckles. I just got back from River Shiver, Luke put up some great stuff for the raffle (and I walked home with some of it ), that and his great reputation would lead me to him well ahead of trail gear.

 

[Malahki]

Thanks guys, I will give 4x4 labs a call tomorrow. So whats the deal with trail gear?

 

[RockDoc]

Do a search and you'll come up with some stuff. I've never dealt with them, and know people who have had very good experiences with them. But you'll see people who feel they have "stolen" product designs/ideas from others, reference to it being "cheap Chinese crap" and the dogmatic belief that buying from them kills babies.

 

[Hulsty]

Whats the reasoning behind all these upgrades? Are you suffering from repeated failure?

 

[Malahki]

Whats the reasoning behind all these upgrades? Are you suffering from repeated failure?

I plan on using my truck to wheel hard and don't want to spend my camping/wheeling trips doing repairs or waiting on parts to arrive. It takes a lot of stress off me when I know I have something built overkill

 

[Malahki]

So how about it, are 80 series tie rod ends bigger then 70's??

 

[Radd Cruisers]

So how about it, are 80 series tie rod ends bigger then 70's??

Taper angle, taper size and thread size and pitch is the same among the tie rod ends of 60, 70 and 80 series (23x1.5 thread & 1:10 taper angle).

Bigger is not necessarily stronger. Quality of the materials needs to be taken into consideration when selecting parts.

If you make something really big, but from butter-strength metal, is it necessarily strong? If you make it smaller, but from higher grade alloys is it going to be weaker?

Build it intelligently and you will get better results than using just sheer size and bulk alone.

~John

 

[Malahki]

Yes, the question should have read are they bigger and "stronger"? The question of size was still relevant to whether or not they would work with 70's pitman arm and steer arms. If I was building based on pure size I would not be building a Land Cruiser.

 

[earl]

Marlin Crawler has a kit for the FJ60. Not sure if this will work or not?

High Steer | Marlin Crawler, Inc.

 

[Malahki]

Talked to Luke at 4x4 labs, one stop shopping. He will build the set up to my specifications.