Thats bad, should be NO rotation at all. Wont hurt tire wear unless you drive in 4wd alot, but you do run the risk of snapping a pitman arm
Ball joints?
- Thread starter dordtrecht5
- Start date
Thats bad, should be NO rotation at all. Wont hurt tire wear unless you drive in 4wd alot, but you do run the risk of snapping a pitman arm
If I push inward at 3 o'clock the tire will turn in and the center link rotates. The other tire doesn't move. This is all if I jacked up on the frame and the control arms are hanging all the way down. When sitting like this the tie rods are at a steep upward angle causing the center link to rotate when I push on the tire. But when the truck is on the ground and the tie rod angle is more level you would no longer have the upward force from pushing on the tire and the center link would not rotate. So having my torsion bars turned up is hard on steering parts because of the upward angle of my tie rods. Having a straight center link would get rid of the rotation caused by the tie rod angles. This how I see it all not sure if it is correct.
You should not get rotation in the center link with the front end jacked up. If you jack up the truck by both lower control arms, you can accomplish the same thing as when it is hanging. The only thing keeping you from doing it without jacking it up is the friction on the ground. I could get mine to do it either way. It was just not a easy without jacking the front end up.
A straight center link will not cure the problem. Look at the geometry of the steering. the bends at the end are to keep the tie rods as close to straight when the steering is centered. I did the straight center link upgrade but mine does include upgraded tie rods. It was a PITA to install as the center link is now at least 50% heavier. I also replaced the pitman arm (had to cut it off), idler arm, and the idler arm support. added the brace to the the support bracket on the frame. Rotation of the center link fixed. Added cognito center link braces also to hopefully keep it from happening again.
All of this was 3 days of late night working to get it ready for alignment shop as it was my only ride at the time.
A straight center link will not cure the problem. Look at the geometry of the steering. the bends at the end are to keep the tie rods as close to straight when the steering is centered. I did the straight center link upgrade but mine does include upgraded tie rods. It was a PITA to install as the center link is now at least 50% heavier. I also replaced the pitman arm (had to cut it off), idler arm, and the idler arm support. added the brace to the the support bracket on the frame. Rotation of the center link fixed. Added cognito center link braces also to hopefully keep it from happening again.
All of this was 3 days of late night working to get it ready for alignment shop as it was my only ride at the time.
the leverage inputted by the tie rods on the 90* kinks GM put in the centerlink. everytime you turn or put it in 4wd, those tie rods are trying to rotate that centerlink up. you tie rods have to be PERFECTLY level for them to not affect the centerlink but as soon as you turn on an uneven road, then will be trying to twist is. its a loosing battle.
No, see above. even when the tie rods are perfectly inline, a little bump along with a turn will cause you to put upward or downward leverage on the centerlink. In 4wd, its inherit for even a tad bit of toe in, causing suspension to rise, and tie rods to input leverage on the centerlink.
a straight centerlink will do away with the leverage affect. i know plenty of guys who run straight centerlinks without adding ilder/pitman arm braces. Will the braces help ensure premature wear doesnt happen? absolutly. anytime you can double shear a mounting point, your increasing strenght. Only issue with a straight centerlink is the ackerman angle gets screwed up so when you make tight turns, your outside or inside tire will be fighting with each other and increase tire wear.
on my exaxt kit, i finally have wore out my pitman arm. it took 50k of hard abuse and its finally wore out like a pitman arm should be. there is no front to back movement like you guys see on a stock centerlink with worn out ilder/pitman arms, only in and out movement of the ball in the socket like a wore out ball joint. i was pretty stoked to see thats how it wore. i could never get more than 10k out of a ilder/pitman arm with a stock centerlink and cognito supports. i ran a straight centerlink for a month but after i noticed the bad ackermann angles it gave and how it was tearin up the outside of my tires i put the stock setup back on. Just cause i didnt like it though, dont mean others wont either. i just wanted my cake and to eat it too
I put a set of ball joints in at 15000, they lasted a year, they were orielys house brand masterpro. They didn't just wear out like a typical ball joint would. The drivers side lower snapped in half leaving work. It was warrantied so I replaced it with a moog. Then one week later the other side did the exact same thing. Moral of this story is had I been on the hiway and not backing out both times I would have been f'd. Don't buy cheap ones! Yeah there not too bad to change but il never buy another cheap ball joint. The first one f'd up my bumper, tie rod, inner fender, caliper brake line, half shaft, and wheel speed sensor. Expensive fix i probably wouldn't have had to do if I wouldn't have cheaped out in the first place.
On my center link, the angles are kept the same by the way the tie rods are attached. basically the tie rods are now the same at both ends.
Great point! I bought an upper ball joint from Orileys last week. It was a Moog and twice the price of the one you mentioned. The Moog came with lifetime warranty!:thumb: