Modifing steering to work with dana 60's

crike2000 · Post by **crike2000** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 7:19 pm

Ok I've got my dana 60's after the 3rd front suspension design and it works great. Now for the steering. What I would love to do is a snakeriver type set up. However my question is can the ball on the steering arm from the original M37 axle be pressed out and pressed into the arm of the dana 60 axle?

crike2000 · Post by **crike2000** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 8:13 pm

Sorry I found what I need in an old post from Josh

"Steering: I took the original steering knuckle arm to a machine shop, and had them heat and press the ball stud out of the arm (its silver soldered in) then I drilled the Dana arm for the larger stud from the M axle, pressed it in, and welded it at the bottom. Done. Side effect is that the D60 arm is about 2" shorter. Steering effort is a little higher, but the payoff is a turning radius about 10 ft smaller, as the steering box still travels the same distance, but the shorter arm carves a steeper angle as a result."

Josh · Post by **Josh** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 8:55 pm

there ya go!

k8icu · Post by **k8icu** » Fri Sep 11, 2009 5:09 pm

I'm going to replace the zig-zag linkage of the M37 with a single arm set up of the mid to late 70s dodge. But then again I'm kind of redesigning the whole truck...

crike2000 · Post by **crike2000** » Fri Sep 11, 2009 9:09 pm

I am redesigning the my truck too with a whole new drive train. But with my current set up:

If I set it up like an 80's dodge the steering box will need to be mounted so some of the holes are where the front cross member is. Also it will limit my turning radius because my tires will hit it before it hits the springs.

If mount it around the original steering box location and do a cross over steering it would probably work but would be close to possibly coming in contact with the frame or front cross member.

Josh · Post by **Josh** » Sat Sep 12, 2009 4:56 pm

I kept the dual arm setup because, A, it was on there, and B, it doesnt change steering angle when teh front axle is cycled through the suspension.

Crike, take a look at more of my rebuild thread, particularily thread 2, and you'll see my solution to the engine crossmember mount dilema.