Last night I changed the tie rod ends. This took me about an hour. All of the parts were detached, because I am in the build stage, so it would take a little longer if they were still on the truck.
Here are some pictures. I read several accounts of this conversion and was looking for a fight in removing the old ball studs. What I was not sure of was if the original hole for the ball stud is tapered or straight. I figured it must be straight because the replacements have straight bolt configuration. The bolt diameter is just over 1/2 inch. Taking this into consideration, I drilled the stud out to 7/16 inch. I started by grinding the peened portion of the stud flush with the steering arm and using the center punch mark that remained to start the drilling process. I started at 1/8 inch and stepped up to 7/16 inch. I drilled the holes so that they were much deeper than the steering arm is thick. By doing this the peened end had some room to collapse when I drove the stud out with a hammer and punch. The stud moved easily and was out in 10 or 12 good hits with the hammer.
This was an easy conversion. Well worth the time and money. Especially if the old balls need replacing. If replacing with replacement type balls, still very easy. This would be very difficult if the conversion was tried without removing the steering arms from the truck.
