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T steering upgrade or no?

Unreal Summit
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Unreal Summit

Unreal Summit

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Alright guys after I got some time to do some investigating my inner and outer tie rods are done for.  Now is it worth it to upgrade to the t style steering or should I just got back factory.  I don't want to drill the holes any bigger I want to just drop it in and go. Drives good other than a little sloppy steering.  Best options cost efficient mind you! 

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TheGreatWhite

TheGreatWhite

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Rock Auto has a complete $200 Moog T steering kit for a 2012 (they're all the same I just happened to pic that year :p) and I've had it for about 10k now and so far so good! No complaints, about the only think I needed to do was cut a half inch off both sides of the adjustment points of the drag link that goes into the adjustable collar, but that was literally it. 

Edited by TheGreatWhite
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TheGreatWhite

TheGreatWhite

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7 minutes ago, Unreal Summit said:

No lift and stock wheels and tires! I think I'll go with the t style. Not that much more and better stuff why not go for it!  I just have to look up 2012 tie rods right?? 

Should be under like just steering or something, definitely not just tie rods. Poke around on there and you'll find it. It's been a year since I bought it so I can't remember off the top of my head.

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JAG1

JAG1

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228,000 miles, stock steering so straight when I let go of the wheel it stays straight for a long time. Tires and wheels stock, no level kits for me after doing one on my other truck. That was a mistake.

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Mopar1973Man

Mopar1973Man

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9 hours ago, JAG1 said:

228,000 miles, stock steering so straight when I let go of the wheel it stays straight for a long time. Tires and wheels stock, no level kits for me after doing one on my other truck. That was a mistake.

 

This is because when you do a leveling kit it push the axle down and away from the the frame as you do the caster angle is made more neutral so center hold is lost and wandering starts. Possibly starts the death wobble. Then the axle tend to pull back because the control arms are too short and need to install adjustable control arms to correct the length. Then since the axle dropped down the track bar is fixed length and tends to pull the axle towards the driver side some and requires a adjustable track bar to correct the thrust alignment. So after install a simple lift kit you now screw the geometry for the entire front axle just to make it look cool. There is lot more to just leveling the truck and many other parts needed to make it right. 

 

In 415k miles I've left the front axle completely stock and NEVER ONCE had any steering issues, looseness, wandering or even death wobble EVER!  No excessive wear on parts either ball joints last over 200k miles, tie rod ends 350k miles, steering box 325k miles (leaks) etc. Tire life last set was over 100k miles and two winters. Running 245/75 R16 Hankook ATm's. Which is a improvement over the 235/85 R16 I ran and even better than the stock 265/75 R16 tires size which is prone to wearing out the front ends. 

Edited by Mopar1973Man
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Evan

Evan

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I think the good steering started in 2008.5

 

Should be bolt on from 2002 up no drilling.  Toss steering stabalizer in trash.

 

When more castor is needed just coax it with force. 

 

I have 2" lift and control arms for  3" lift also fabbed a adjustable track bar doing away with the tierod frame side and running heims and both ends.

 

I do not like the castor washers they get in the way. Adjust lowers or uppers or both would be preferred 

 

I'm running stryker arms off ebay. The set of 4 was less than 200 for longer arms . In hindsight I wish I'd orderd arms for 6" lift instead of 3". 

 

You can find fabbed adjustable arks for 200-250 for just the lower pair. But youl have to look in the offroad world. And be ready with measurements to have them fabbed.

 

Good luck

20200622_110609.jpg

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Tractorman

Tractorman

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I have to agree with @Mopar1973Man regarding the stock "Y" type steering.  For several years, when my truck was much newer, I was considering changing over the the "T" type steering because I thought the performance would be better.  I don't think that now, mainly because of some of the improvements I have made over the years with the existing steering.  

 

I have had long life from the OEM ball joints and steering linkages.  I also  a have a couple of original steering joints still on the truck and the truck is approaching 350,000 miles.  About 100,000 miles ago I set the caster to 4 1/2 degrees.  That was probably the single most improvement I did.  The truck drove much straighter down the road and steering return was greatly improved.   I have since replaced the steering gearbox (which was still good) with a quick ratio gearbox.  I adjusted the overcenter adjustment using @Mopar1973Man's method and the truck now steers better than any other time during the life of the truck.  I don't even think about the "T" style steering linkage anymore.

 

I also run 245 tires and the truck height has never been modified.  I even removed the steering stabilizer that I installed a few years ago because I thought it would improve steering performance.   It didn't.

 

- John

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