Dropped tie rod?

My tie rod is way too close to my bottom pulley and I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with bending 7/8" dia. tubing in a nice tight radius. I can't go any lower at the ends because the tie rod ends barely clear the radius rods now.

 

Cut and weld a dropped section in.

 

Years ago that used to be done all the time but I think that some localities "no welded steering pieces" may have put the kabosh on it for the most part.

Once you get past it's propensity to flex the big rub of having a dropped tie rod on your car is that you have to pop a rod end out to make an adjustment on toe in. Meaning it is a bit more trouble to adjust the toe in Big woop if it fixes your clearance problem. You probably only need and inch or maybe two drop anyhow.

The slick thing would be to find rod ends that fit the steering arms an had a built in drop in them even if it took making a new tie rod or shortening yours.

 

MR48CHEV is right about the adjustment issue -- but not a big deal, once you set the toe you are done.

A nice dropped tie rod end is the 1960s Chevrolet #MOOG 675 .... unfortunately it's a Chev item and has the Chev taper on the end. (Though you may be able to make it work).

 

Any chance of dropping your steering arms lower?
Maybe running hairpins so the tierod is running through them?

Lots of options for this very common problem.

 

The tie rod can be any shape but dropping the steering arms opens up another can of worms as far as front geometry goes.

 

Speedway Motors has these.

 

I think the drop on those ford truck items is in the wrong direction, it looks like a raise instead of a drop for a car.......I could be wrong....

EDIT I was wrong, since the tie rod end goes into the steering arm from the bottom, the Ford truck item will drop the tie rod -- but not enough I think to get below the radius rod.

I used the Chev MOOG 675 to RAISE the tie rod over the radius rod.

("Radius rod" = split bone)

 

Either way these won't work since his radius rod is in the way
blah blah blah ream out the holes...

 

Yup I edited my post.

 

Order tie drops from Nostalgia Sid. They work perfectly.

 

I would just heat and drop the steering arms or buy aftermarket dropped arms.
Just have them checked for cracks afterwards.

 

http://ontariorodders.activeboard.com/t48185605/my-t-coupe-project/

I'm pretty sure this is the car.

 

I have built a few dropped tie rods, my 7/8" die is a 2.1/2" center line radius. Here is a pic.

 

^ I need to do that on my coupe.

 

Having Marty build you one and having it chromed might be the best way out if the dropped tie rod ends from Speedway won't cure the problem. The cars he builds usually get some serious miles put under them on PNW roads that are s serious test for steering pieces.

 

Be mindfull of chrome embrittlement on steering components. Just a thought.

 

I had one bent for my old A, 33 pickup and 34 Ford. All worked great

 

Yep - that's my car. Marty - your tie rod looks like it would be perfect for me. I'll sendya a pm = Thanks fellas!

 

Im running the dropped ends from Speedway that are shown above along with the Superbell deep drop steering arms from Honest Charley's, and it works going under my split bones. But keep an eye on your scrub line, Im running 16" front wheels and its borderline, probably just a little too low. It works great though, Ive had my car on the road for a year and half and we also built a sedan with the same setup.