Tie Rod for a Dana 44 needed

[WestMuddy]

I just found out that the tie rod off my old Dana 30 won't work (without some serious mod's) on my 44. Does anyone have one laying around?

[WestMuddy]

Cancel this request, I have a real nice solution that will come home tonight from the welder.

My problem was actually more complex than I thought at first. The original steering knuckles on the '74 Dana 44 I got were for drum brakes which will not accept a backing plate for disc brakes or the caliper. I put on knuckles from an '84 Jeep Wagoneer, BIG DIFFERENCES!! The Ford knuckles, both Dana 30 and Dana 44, had a bottom to top tapered tierod end and the Jeep has a top to bottom ends. When you take the tierod and turn it over, it puts the tapered drag link connection on wrong.

I went junkyard shopping and came back with a complete tierod assembly from a '95 Ranger and the left side link from a '92 Ranger. Out of that I have fabricated a real nice assembly that puts the tierod up higher, farther out of harm's way. It should also be much less likely to bump-steer.

I'll post pic's when I get it all assembled.

[Booger]

Curious to see this setup.

[WestMuddy]

I'm in the middle of a hurry-up moveout, so I have to be brief. Our landlord got foreclosed on (we had a lease-purchase going and we lost it).

I am on the second version of the steering design. The first ,that was almost identicle to a '94 Ranger, had a problem with the left wheel wobbling if you rotated the tie rod. The solution that I am very happy with is quite simple and looks almost like an original Bronco setup, except that the tierod is high.

I used Jeep Wagoneer steering knuckles which has the tierod ends pointing down with the nut on the bottom. That put the draglink connection backwards. I could have cut and rewelded the original tierod, but what I did instead was go back to the junkyard and get the long rod off of another Ranger and weld the 2 into a single rod with adjustments on both ends. I used the link that went from the left wheel on the Ranger to the tierod as a draglink and IS IT NICE! The only problem is that it is going to take a little imagination to put on a steering damper because the drag link connects in almost the center.

Pic's later.