djarrodingo
New Member
Hello everyone,
I've seen on the forums that plenty of people lift their Expys and then experience issues with upper control arms hitting the springs creating noise and a more unpleasant ride. I installed a 3/2 lift on my 08 EL and had this happen immediately.
I attempted to fix it by acquiring lift knuckles, however they're meant for a 4-6 inch lift. This moved the tie rods up so high that it created a ridiculous amount of bump steer. (See the attached picture for the arm height difference, it moved up approximately 4.5 inches) For example, going through an intersection, I would experience bouncing for the next block or two until it dissipated. Side note, the truck was aligned, and very well. The tech mentioned there was plenty of clearance and no interference anymore and was able to make adjustments easily.
I removed the knuckles due to the bouncing and am now looking for a solution to the bump steer. I have some ideas and some issues and am looking for some advice.
Option 1: cut the arm off the knuckle and weld it in a lower position.
Issue: the knuckle is a cast part, an essential steering component, and the potential for it causing safety issues if the weld ever failed.
Option 2: flip the tie rod ends upside down. Weld the hole closed, purchase a ream, drill the hole from the bottom, reasemble, done. This seems to be the easiest and safest option.
Issue: the tie rod taper appears to be unique and I cannot locate a ream to reproduce it. By my math, with a large opening of 21mm, small opening of 16mm, and a depth of 34mm, this comes out to approximately a 4.2 degree taper on the tie rod end. (This is shared with F150s from 2009-2020 from my research but don't take that for gospel)
Option 3: replace the inner and outer tie rods with a combination of components including an inner tie rod with a rack-end thread of M18-1.5, and an outer tie rod with a 7 degree taper (most common angle and easy to acquire reamer). From what I understand, many steering racks share the same thread, so as long as the outer and inner can connect to each other directly or through use of a sleeve, etc. this could be a direct replacement requiring minimal fabrication.
Issue: locating parts with these exact specs is proving to be.... not impossible, but difficult to match to the original specs, and there are countless options out there.
Other thoughts I've had have included drilling out the incorrect threads of a female outer tie rod end, and then welding a bung with the correct threads to mate to the original inner tie rod.
Or
Using a sleeve as a union and welding a bung into one side of it to accept GM 1 ton tie rod ends, and thread to the original inner.
Does anyone think one of these options is better than the other?
Is there another option I'm not thinking of?
Will flipping the tie rods even make enough difference to stop the bump steer, or will it still be there but maybe less severe?
I know plenty of people probably just deal with the occasional noise or bumping, however I noticed it often enough in my day to day driving that I decided to attempt to find a solution. I'd like to think im close, and I know these are steering components so safety is especially important with a nearly 4 ton truck, as well as durability which is why heim joints are out due to the fairly negative reviews I've seen about their lifespan and slop in the steering. Thanks in advance for any help you all can provide, I've benefited greatly from these forums so much and I hope this can help others.
I've seen on the forums that plenty of people lift their Expys and then experience issues with upper control arms hitting the springs creating noise and a more unpleasant ride. I installed a 3/2 lift on my 08 EL and had this happen immediately.
I attempted to fix it by acquiring lift knuckles, however they're meant for a 4-6 inch lift. This moved the tie rods up so high that it created a ridiculous amount of bump steer. (See the attached picture for the arm height difference, it moved up approximately 4.5 inches) For example, going through an intersection, I would experience bouncing for the next block or two until it dissipated. Side note, the truck was aligned, and very well. The tech mentioned there was plenty of clearance and no interference anymore and was able to make adjustments easily.
I removed the knuckles due to the bouncing and am now looking for a solution to the bump steer. I have some ideas and some issues and am looking for some advice.
Option 1: cut the arm off the knuckle and weld it in a lower position.
Issue: the knuckle is a cast part, an essential steering component, and the potential for it causing safety issues if the weld ever failed.
Option 2: flip the tie rod ends upside down. Weld the hole closed, purchase a ream, drill the hole from the bottom, reasemble, done. This seems to be the easiest and safest option.
Issue: the tie rod taper appears to be unique and I cannot locate a ream to reproduce it. By my math, with a large opening of 21mm, small opening of 16mm, and a depth of 34mm, this comes out to approximately a 4.2 degree taper on the tie rod end. (This is shared with F150s from 2009-2020 from my research but don't take that for gospel)
Option 3: replace the inner and outer tie rods with a combination of components including an inner tie rod with a rack-end thread of M18-1.5, and an outer tie rod with a 7 degree taper (most common angle and easy to acquire reamer). From what I understand, many steering racks share the same thread, so as long as the outer and inner can connect to each other directly or through use of a sleeve, etc. this could be a direct replacement requiring minimal fabrication.
Issue: locating parts with these exact specs is proving to be.... not impossible, but difficult to match to the original specs, and there are countless options out there.
Other thoughts I've had have included drilling out the incorrect threads of a female outer tie rod end, and then welding a bung with the correct threads to mate to the original inner tie rod.
Or
Using a sleeve as a union and welding a bung into one side of it to accept GM 1 ton tie rod ends, and thread to the original inner.
Does anyone think one of these options is better than the other?
Is there another option I'm not thinking of?
Will flipping the tie rods even make enough difference to stop the bump steer, or will it still be there but maybe less severe?
I know plenty of people probably just deal with the occasional noise or bumping, however I noticed it often enough in my day to day driving that I decided to attempt to find a solution. I'd like to think im close, and I know these are steering components so safety is especially important with a nearly 4 ton truck, as well as durability which is why heim joints are out due to the fairly negative reviews I've seen about their lifespan and slop in the steering. Thanks in advance for any help you all can provide, I've benefited greatly from these forums so much and I hope this can help others.
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