Keeping Crossover Steering While Going 1 Ton!

How to keep crossover steering when converting from 1/2 ton to 1 ton axles.

Nov. 01, 2002 By Glenn R
You finally got that prized Dana 60 axle for the front of your rig!  You already have crossover steering and you want to keep it.  Will any of your current parts work?  What do you need to keep the setup you have?  Follow along as I convert project RocKready from the 1/2 ton Dana 44 to the 1 ton Dana 60 and keep the crossover steering.  Please Note:  This is on a King Pin G.M. Dana 60 front axle.  There are ball joint Dana 60's (Ford, or Dodge, Chevrolet never used ball joint Dana 60's) out there and this article DOES NOT deal with the ball joint type Dana 60's.

If you have already converted your current axle to crossover, this is not going to be a major change for you, the Dana 60 is (in my opinion) easier to swap to crossover than the Dana 44 or the G.M. 10 bolt.  As far as the parts you can keep and use when swapping, they are  the drag link (it may need to be shortened, mine did), the steering box, and your pitman arm (depending on which arm you are currently using).

There are two parts you will have to replace, with your drag link a possible third.  One is the steering arm on the axle (the Dana 60 one has four studs to mount it and you don't have to have the knuckle machined to put them on). The  other is the tie rod (the Dana 60 tie rod assembly is shorter).  If you have an aftermarket tie rod setup, you may be able to shorten yours and have it re-threaded.  

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Passenger Dana 44 knuckle

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Passenger Dana 44 steering arm

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Passenger Dana 60 knuckle

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Dana 60 Studs and Nuts

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Dana 60 studs in and kingpin spring ready for steering arm

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Offroad Designs Dana 60 arm sitting on passenger knuckle

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Offroad Designs Dana 60 steering arm installed

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Dana 60 steering arm installed with drag link and grease fitting

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Once the axle is swapped in, you have to get and mount a new steering arm.  There are quite a few out there to choose from.  I chose the Offroad Designs D60 Crossover Steering arm.  I chose this particular Crossover Steering Arm for several reasons.  It is extremely thick and beefy.  It comes with the King Pin Cap welded on,  eliminating the need for spacers.  It's tapered for the large G.M. tie rod end, where the drag link attaches it has a 10 degree angle to compensate for the knuckles slope where the arm attaches.  Finally, it attaches using the stock set of studs and nuts.  It does not use bolts (this was a big plus for me).  The stock steering arm is attached to the drivers side knuckle with studs and tapered nuts.  This is the best (in my humble opinion), not to mention strongest way to mount the arm to the knuckle.  

As for the studs and nuts,  you have a couple of options.  You can remove the stock studs and reuse them on the passenger knuckle.  In the process swap the passenger side king pin spring cap over to the drivers side and use its mounting hardware.  The other option (the one I choose) is to get a new set of studs and nuts from G.M.  I could not find a replacement stud option, but the nuts are just lug nuts, so I got four from a local auto parts store.

Once the arm is mounted to the axle, it's time to address the drag link and the tie rod assembly.  On my drag link, from the Dana 44 Crossover that I had already done, I shortened and re-threaded it for the Dana 60 crossover.  It worked just fine.  On the tie rod assembly, the stock Dana 60  I had was toast, so I placed a call to Rockstomper and got one of their RockRods.  These are super beefy and add a substantially noticeable amount of strength and durability to this part.  They start out as a 1.25" .219 DOM steel tubing, then fully sleeved with 1.5" .120 wall steel tube and finally fully mig welded at both ends.  (if you need a new drag link, or possibly a custom bent one to help clear your engine crossmember, both Rockstomper and Offroad Designs can provide these)

On my K5, I had originally used a pitman arm off of a Jeep Wrangler that I had re-tapered for the large G.M. tie rod ends (**Note** I DO NOT Recommend this) .  The Dana 60 crossover steering arm is longer than the Dana 44 crossover steering arm, therefore the pitman arm was too short to give me lock to lock steering.  I had to get a new pitman arm that was longer.  I got a Superlift pitman arm that was originally intended for a Full size Ford solid axle 4x4.

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Pitman arm on the Dana 44 crossover that I originally used

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Superlift 1104 pitman arm I switched to on the Dana 60 crossover 

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Left side of unpainted Rockstomper RockRod

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Right side of unpainted Rockstomper RockRod

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RockRod painted and installed on the front of my K-5

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RockRod after a nasty wheeling trip.  Only damage is some paint scrapes

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That's about it.  Not hard at all, as a matter of fact, I think the Dana 60 Crossover is much easier to deal with than the original conversion I did on the Dana 44.  Below is a list of part numbers and suppliers that I used for this project.

1104 (Superlift does not sell to the public, you will have to go through a reputable 4x4 shop, both Offroad Designs and Rockstomper carry these arms)

U9001

Tie Rod-Rockstomper (call for applications)

1/2"x20 lug nuts)

00462855

Any questions or comments regarding this article,  please feel free to contact me

Glenn

depdog@off-road.com


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