I'm thinking about upgrading all the steering joints on my truck. I've already done Luke's links on all of them, but that still hasn't changed the fact that the joints are just plain too light duty for the truck and require much more maintenance than they should(especially once you put big tires on it). I was comparing my TREs with my buddy's on his '68 Chevy 3/4 ton and his are WAY bigger!

Anyway, I found out about Johnny Joints, which are made by Currie (their products are 2nd to none in my experience) and I really like the design!

http://www.currieenterprises.com/ces...nnyjoints.aspx

At 1st I was thinking about buying the forged rod ends and making my own rods to thread them into, but then I realized that the largest ones of that type only have a 7/16" bolt, when our factory ball studs taper from .70" down to .60", and the steering system is one place that I don't want to use parts of questionable duty. Scrolling down a little farther you find the Original Johnny Joints Rod Ends where it's just held in a 4130 barrel and you can get them in 3" diameter with a 3/4" through bolt. I'm thinking I can just cut off the existing TREs and weld the barrel on in its place (drilling out the knuckle to .75"). I would plan to install one of these for each TRE, both ends of the drag link, and on the body end of the track bar for a total of 5 (already have a poly bushing on the axle end of the track bar).

The only thing I have not determined is if there is clearance with a 16" wheel to put a 3" Johnny Joint on the TRE. I've done some rough measurements and I can tell that it will be VERY close. If it ends up rubbing I can alleviate the issue with 1/4" wheel spacers.

In the end this should give me a MUCH heavier duty joint than we have in the factory joints, as well as keeping it rebuildable for a reasonable cost. Thoughts?

 

It sounds like you're doing fine research wise. I've seen guys use hiem fittings but it was a custom setup too.

 

If you're going to go through all that work, it would be worth your time to do the '99 style "T" steering in place of the "Y" steering you most likely have. If it were my truck, I would lean towards heims or some other joint that does not have a soft material in it. I have seen johnny joints used in control arms, but I don't know if they have too much "give" to be used in steering. Also, Ballistic has their own rebuildable joints also that are pretty cool. I believe they just call them Ballistic Joints. If you can fabricate with steel, you could look into building your own steering setup, or order Thuren's sweet Crossover steering. Lots of options...... since the factory definitely left something to be desired!!

 

I think I have the T style steering now. The two tie rods connect directly to one another to make a straight bar between the two knuckles, then the drag link connects to that straight bar just inside of the right side TRE.

Interesting, I just looked up the Forged Ballistic Rod Ends and I really like that design! One thing I like about them is that they don't have the amount of mass that the Johnny Joints do that cause them to potentially have clearance issues.

Hmm, decisions decisions!

 

Well I will definitely not be using Johnny Joints. Currie told me that they're meant to replace bushings, not Heim joints. They are too soft to be used in steering components. That is good to know.

I'm taking an even more serious look toward the Forged Ballistic Rod Ends.

 

forget the johnny joints ,you will be always rebuilding them ,i tried them on my rock buggy and they did not last one season without having to rebuild, just go with a good hiem joint there cheaper and better

 

they have to be rebuilt also but will last longer than johnny joints

 

I'm getting ready to order some Forged Ballistic Rod Ends. Does anybody know if all of our ball studs have a major diameter of .70" like the TREs?