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Drag link.

In another post about driving faster I mentioned checking the steering balls and cups/springs etc and I also mentioned about replacing your steering and drag link balls with the ones held in by threads and a nut/lockwasher (as opposed to the weld-in type which I don't suggest using). The screw held ones are best in my opinion because you can easily rotate them 90 degrees twice a year (or whenever you grease your chassis) and this will prevent them from becoming egg-shaped and/or oddly worn. If the balls you get aren't made with them, file a couple of flats on the mounting flange so you can slip a wrench in and rotate them after you loosen the nut. Makes it easy to see what 90 degrees is. I also mentioned I'm a fan of the new-style tie rod ends. If you disassemble and service your drag link (which is a good idea every few years), please follow the right re-assembly scheme because there are 2 different ends to that part. The sequence is: Steering gear end: first goes the spring, followed by the stepped spring cap followed by the two ball seats followed by the end plug. Control arm end is different: first the two ball seats followed by the stepped spring cap followed by the spring followed by the end plug.

Now a week or so ago I found a drag link I had saved looking through some old stuff and I wanted to share with you something else you may have encountered or maybe you will encounter at some point in time...it is in my opinion both interesting and worthwhile. You can see two AD drag links in an image below. One of them I bought brand new from a dealership here about 45 years ago. It is perfectly straight which is how they came from the factory. The other one was removed from a junk yard truck maybe 10 years ago. You will see one end of it is bent. I've seen this before. Somebody deliberately bent it so that the end which attaches to the control arm tilts upward just slightly. Probably you've been told your drag link should be parallel to the ground and in a perfect world that's true. It minimizes bump steer and helps prolong the life of your drag link parts. In the AD world unless you've removed a few leaves from your front springs or had your axle dropped 2 inches this won't be the case. The ball end on your pitman arm will sit about 13.5" on center from the ground which is 2" higher than the ball end on your control arm (which centers around 11.5"). And that means you have a drag link that sits at a forward leaning angle of about 12 degrees. So the end that connects to your control arm with a straight drag link will invariably rub against the side of the ball while you're driving and over time will cut grooves in that ball and the post that holds it up. It will also cause that ball to wear oddly. Please look at the two images I attached. You'll see the balls cut by the drag link and the odd sloping wear pattern on the control arm ball caused by the angled link. So what happened is that somebody bent the drag link so that the part which connects to the control rod will sit more or less level with the ground when it is mounted. If you stop to think about it, the end that connects to the pitman arm will also be subject to rubbing metal on metal...but not quite as viciously nor as often because that will only happen on sharp turns or U turns. So which is best? I'm not certain but I sort of think saving the control arm ball makes sense.

And yes, bending it does alter the length...but only ever so slightly. If you bent it at both ends you'd have a doubling of the shortening situation, but I've never seen one bent like that.

Some of you may recall that many years ago you could buy parts that would allow you to make an adjustable drag link and I did that. It lasted 3 years before it allowed so much wobbling and play that it became essentially worthless. You can't buy one of the parts now...hasn't been made for about 10 years. As I recall it was a tie rod end for some Jeep product...maybe a Wagoneer?

Before I put in the MII front suspension, I made an adjustable drag link for my 51. I used two of the now available "new" style tie red ends and an old tie rod. It was a standard duty tie rod so the diameter was the same all the way across. I cut it to the proper length retaining the factory left hand threads. I purchase a thread die and threaded the other end and voila adjustable drag link. I drilled the pitman arm and knuckle linkage and made bushings for the tie rod ends. I used hardened flat washers top and bottom of the connection. Worked well for about 15k miles.

Here's one I made for my 46.

When I rebuilt the front axle and steering on my LCF, I found an adjustable straight drag link at Summit, the tapers fit perfectly and I'm real happy with it.

Those look almost exactly like the adjustable drag link I made. The ends (well one end more than the other) just wore out like crazy. I hope yours do better!

Hope so as well. Thanks for the heads up. I'll keep a eye on my link.

It was the end which connected to the pitman arm, Larry. It seemed like the spring that forces the ball outward had broken and that just rendered it really loose.

When I made my adj drag link I went to my machinist with the (usual chev truck suppliers) pinch bolt offshore made the rod ends, he asked me to throw them away as he saw some failures with those.
Ended up with rod ends from Speedway, bought their internal threaded tie rod and a right hand tap᠁
Only down side is the tie rod has no hex on it, takes a bit to get both ends aligned and tight in the right position.

As I have mentioned before, if you tap a hollow tie rod start with the rod 1/2” longer than needed so you can get the tap aligned and cutting straight with material to spare᠁..then cut to length and finish tapping, use tapping fluid, don’t go way deep with the tap right off, check your threads with the rod end as you go just deep enough or the end may feel a bit loose in the threads.
Chuck

Got it. Thanks!

I got way down this rabbit hole last year planning and scheming but didn’t end up purchasing or installing.

My theory was to knock the ball studs out of everything and have arms reamed for the old Fjord style rod ends. The 11/16 ones. Speedway will sell you internally threaded tube in about any length you want. End up with adjustable tie rod and drag link. Could all be done relatively cheaply᠁not sure on the price of machining.

Anyone see any problems with that approach?

Yep, Speedway worked for me, found a race shop that had the right reamer, nominal cost for all 4? reamed᠁ don’t think I spent $60. Paid for lunch I think᠁
Look to short track racers shop if you have any nearby, they can do this with their eyes closed᠁

You will need the RH tap when you cut the tie rod to correct length

After cutting the tie rod to length, find two large nuts and drill out the threads just enough to slip the nuts over the tie rod. Position one near each end and weld into place. Makes adjustment easier and leaves no jaw marks from using vice grips to hold the tie rod.

IMO the easiest way with the least machining is to grind off the balls at the neck then drill and taper ream using Moog components as listed in a tech tip. Here's what I did:

https://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthread...Main=128898&Number=873426#Post873426

And here's the tech tip I went by:

https://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/draglink_adjustable.html