TRO install on my '77

[chuzie]

After mutilating my tie-rod at URE last Nov I decided to step things up a notch and install a heavy tie rod over conversion courtesy of Complete Off Road's universal kit http://completeoffroad.com/i-124127-tie-...nd-60.html

We placed the front axe on stands and removed the tires, tie rod, and drag link.

Next we had to use the reamer to ream the knuckles to accept the larger tie rod ends from the top. It went pretty quick but be careful to keep your angle correct or it can get out of control in a hurry and you will end up with a misaligned hole.

Next we had to come up with an easy way to ensure we had the knuckles aligned correctly so we could measure to cut the tie rod tube to length. Luckily we had my beadlocks sitting around so we slaved them on and measured the rims front and rear until they were about 1/8" toe in. We locked them in place with a cargo strap and measured and cut the tie rod tube. Once cut, we tacked the inserts into place and slaved the setup.

Next we started on the drag link. We centered out the steering box and reamed out the passenger tie rod link so it could receive the tie rod end of the drag link. This is necessary because it comes with a small hole so you can choose to set it up from the front or the rear. Once the drag link tube was cut, we tacked the inserts into place and slaved the setup.

We immediately ran into an issue with the tie rod hitting the lower trac bar bolt and nut while turning. This severely limited the steering range. Considering there is a need to parallel the trac bar and drag link to eliminate bump steer, a trac bar riser would be ideal considering my 5.5" lift. Unfortunately, my heavy duty Duff's lower coil cups will not allow installation of the riser without severe cutting and modification it. We decided to replace my drop pitman arm with a stock arm instead in order to fix the geometry and we used a reciprocating saw to cut part of the lower trac bar nut and mounting bolt to clear the tie rod and allow full motion.

Everything was welded up and painted and off I went.

Pending installation of a stock pitman arm, this installation was pretty simple and straight forward. I will let you know how the pitman arm works out for the alignment once I get it.