The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Tie rod rubbing with dropped axle

Ok I need some help here:

I have a 1957 chevy 3100. It came as a project and I am trying to get it all together and running. It has a 4” dropped axle. I am running 15” radials on it. The dropped axle requires that I mount the tie rod from underneath. I have updated the tie rod ends to the newer system. The problem is that the tie-rod is now rubbing the tires. I have tried wheel spacers, but they don’t give me enough clearance. I also have tried to put spacers between the spindle and the steering arms, but this caused interference with the bolt clearance on the axle and subsequently the turning radius of the truck. I am running out of solutions. I really do not want to buy bigger wheels or change out the tires. I am hoping for a solution. The only thing left that I can think of is to bend the steering arms inwardly to give more clearance. The tie rod still has a lot of threads to adjust for the steering arm modifications. Does anyone have any other ideas?

Bending the steering arms will change the (Ackermann) steering geometry of the front wheels while in a turn. I'd recommend against it.

You might be able to find offset tie-rod ends so you can mount the joints on top and offset the tie rod downward. But you'd probably need a completely new (heavier) tie rod. One with an offset in it has to be stiffer to prevent it from bending.

You need to call Sid: https://droppedaxles.com
He has been doing this for a long time.

I agree! I have a 4” dropped axle on my 51. No issues with 15” tires. Sid is great and can talk you through it.

Chris

I dropped an email to Sid yesterday. He said that I need to bend the steering arm. I will call him today to discuss it.

Can anyone tell me what size tires they are running on a dropped axle? Mine are supposed to be 7.00R-15. I was under the impression that these should work. I am wondering if the shop mounted the wrong size tire?

qside,
I have the same set up as you on my 59' 3100. I have 245/60R/15's mounted Corvette style Ralley wheels with 4.25 in back spacing, I have no clearance or interference issues. I have a Sid's 4 in drop axle with modern tie rod ends mounted below the steering arm , same as yours.

Those are much wider than my tires... I have stock hubs. Could that be a difference?

I'm not certain about the factory hub spacing but I would assume that the disc conversion puts the hub location at the same width. My axel places the wheel/tire combination at the right track.

I wonder "Who" bent your axle, Sid's axels are bent to maintain the correct clearances. His website shows the comparison between the factory axel and his dropped version.

my axle is a mor-drop axle. I have the receipt from the seller. I believe this was a quality shop in its time

The tire size will be printed on the sidewall - inner or outer or both.

fyi the tires are 7.00R15

I have a Sid's 3" drop axle, new style tie rod ends, and a CPP disc setup in front with 15" wheels on my '50. The truck came to me with 235/75/15s but those hit the tie rod end when I went to put them back on, so I put a pair of 215s on the front. If I remember right, that was with the drums, and the discs went on later. The driver's side inner sidewall would occasionally kiss the tie rod end on right hand turns/sharp curves at speed, or if I let the pressure get a little low and the tire got chubby. I sanded that side of the tie rod end a bit with an angle grinder with a sanding disc to smooth the casting line out, and just lived with it for a while with no real problems, but it still made me nervous. Those tires started getting old (6 years or so on the fronts, and the whitewall was starting to crack and chip off), so I recently put 205s on the front and have no clearance issues.

As mentioned, Sid recommends bending the arms just a bit to make room.

The other question I would ask (maybe I just can't see it here) is what backspacing you have.

From the sounds of it, others are running similar or wider tires without this issue. If you had too much backspacing, it would cause this provlem as well. Changing your rims might be a better solution

I have virtually the same setup as Eric- CCP disc hubs and Sid’s 3” drop axle. I have 4.0 back spacing with 215/75R15 tires. I have approx 7/8” clearance With my tie rod ends. I think you need different rims and way narrower tires up front… you can probably go with huge rims, like 20” or larger and get the tie rods inside the rim where they won’t hit anything, but that’s a different look entirely.

Also, I believe a 4 inch drop axle with 15 inch rims is a serious safety issue, no? (Or,is that the 6 inch drop axle?) One flat tire up front will cause the axle to dig into the asphalt, if I recall….. have you measured the axle height from the ground with no tire on the rim?

IIRC, the 4" axle and less than 16" wheels (on an AD truck, at least), is the no-no combination as far as introducing scrub line problems.

I forgot to mention, I'm running 72-~91 Blazer/K10 wheels up front, 15" x 6" because they clear the disc brakes and are 6 lug. I'm not sure what the back spacing is on those.

On my 47.1 with a Blazer 4wd front axle, I used 17” wheels instead of 16’s so I had enough tie rod end clearance.

Ed

Echo,

You are correct! I miscalculated my scrub line! I’m running a 4” drop with 15” rims. As long as the rubber stays on the rim, my axle stays off the ground by 1/2”. 3” is the max with 15” rims in my opinion.

Chris