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I did the Serious kit with the tapered inserts and have had zero problems with them. Yes, I do wish I would have used a reamer tho. It was not fun drilling the knuckles out to 7/8" without a drill press! I damn near burnt up a Dewalt HD cordless drill.
If they get sloppy, I can put new inserts in, or worst case just get new Knuckles and ream them. Didn't see anything in my instructions about using a piece of a feeler gauge tho.
I have the instructions I got somewhere on my laptop, I'll dig it up and post it when I can.
Serious Steering
Under the Knuckle (UTK)
Installation Instructions
Step 1.) Remove your existing Tie-Rod and Drag link.
Step 2.) Drill both knuckles and the pitman arm to 7/8" (.875")
Step 3.) Insert tapered inserts into the knuckles.*
Step 4.) Temporarily install the Tie-Rod and measure the gap between the knuckle and
the tie-rod end on both the passenger and driver-side.
Step 5.) Using a sander, rasp, or other abrasives, remove material from the poly spacer
until it is 1/16" to 1/8" thicker than the measurement taken in Step 4.
Step 6.) Place the poly spacer on the tie-rod tapered shafts and install the Tie-Rod onto
the knuckles. Do not tighten the jam-nuts at this time.
Step 7.) Insert the final tapered insert into the pitman arm.
Step 8.) Install the Draglink onto the pitman arm. note that the longer TRE should be
installed on the Pitman arm.
Step 9.) Tighten all castle nuts and install cotter pins.
Step 10.) Install Grease Zerks into all 4 TRE's and add grease until a small amount
of new grease is squeezed out of the boots and from under the poly
spacers.
Step 11.) Set Toe-In to 1/16"-1/8" and tighten the Tie-Rod jam nuts.
***CAUTION***
Failure to perform the following step will result in a loss of turning radius.
Step 12.) Unlock the steering and adjust the draglink to re-center the wheel.
Step 13.) Tighten all jam nuts.
Step 14.) Re-check your work before operating the vehicle.
*In some cases a .003" to .005" shim may need to be wrapped around the insert to keep it from spreading open too far. This can be caused by odd sized drill bits or a drill bit shank that is bent or not centered. These shims can be cut from an inexpensive set of feeler gauges.
Simply wrap the shim around the insert before installing it.
Your Serious Steering Kit uses the following Chevy 1 Ton TRE's:
1 Each ES2027L (Pitman Arm)
2 Each ES2234R (Driverside knuckle and Draglink)
1 Each ES2233L (Passenger Side, re-tapered to match the ES2234R)
Please contact us if you need spares or replacements.
Direct from a PDF Frank sent to me. One other thing to note was they were for the UTK kit, I got the OTK kit, but was told it was basically the same, just drill and install inserts on the opposite side....
Interesting!
Thanks for posting that.
I'll have to dig around and see if I can find my instructions.
Either way, my inserts went in tight and have had zero problems with them in 3000 miles they've been on the vehicle.
Is this the High Clearance version or their normal version? How are the heims?
Originally Posted by roninofako
Serious Steering
Under the Knuckle (UTK)
Installation Instructions
Step 1.) Remove your existing Tie-Rod and Drag link.
Step 2.) Drill both knuckles and the pitman arm to 7/8" (.875")
Step 3.) Insert tapered inserts into the knuckles.*
Step 4.) Temporarily install the Tie-Rod and measure the gap between the knuckle and
the tie-rod end on both the passenger and driver-side.
Step 5.) Using a sander, rasp, or other abrasives, remove material from the poly spacer
until it is 1/16" to 1/8" thicker than the measurement taken in Step 4.
Step 6.) Place the poly spacer on the tie-rod tapered shafts and install the Tie-Rod onto
the knuckles. Do not tighten the jam-nuts at this time.
Step 7.) Insert the final tapered insert into the pitman arm.
Step 8.) Install the Draglink onto the pitman arm. note that the longer TRE should be
installed on the Pitman arm.
Step 9.) Tighten all castle nuts and install cotter pins.
Step 10.) Install Grease Zerks into all 4 TRE's and add grease until a small amount
of new grease is squeezed out of the boots and from under the poly
spacers.
Step 11.) Set Toe-In to 1/16"-1/8" and tighten the Tie-Rod jam nuts.
***CAUTION***
Failure to perform the following step will result in a loss of turning radius.
Step 12.) Unlock the steering and adjust the draglink to re-center the wheel.
Step 13.) Tighten all jam nuts.
Step 14.) Re-check your work before operating the vehicle.
*In some cases a .003" to .005" shim may need to be wrapped around the insert to keep it from spreading open too far. This can be caused by odd sized drill bits or a drill bit shank that is bent or not centered. These shims can be cut from an inexpensive set of feeler gauges.
Simply wrap the shim around the insert before installing it.
Your Serious Steering Kit uses the following Chevy 1 Ton TRE's:
1 Each ES2027L (Pitman Arm)
2 Each ES2234R (Driverside knuckle and Draglink)
1 Each ES2233L (Passenger Side, re-tapered to match the ES2234R)
Please contact us if you need spares or replacements.
Direct from a PDF Frank sent to me. One other thing to note was they were for the UTK kit, I got the OTK kit, but was told it was basically the same, just drill and install inserts on the opposite side....
Is this the High Clearance version or their normal version? How are the heims?
Normal version. Heims are now made by Barnes 4wd. Very high quality and the beef is Grade A. I am rubbing a hair before full lock on each end but my bracket are not stock, clears the diff cover. Barnes makes the only offset heims that I know of and is all I need to not rub. I love it, just have to correct the final turning before i wheel it.
Normal version. Heims are now made by Barnes 4wd. Very high quality and the beef is Grade A. I am rubbing a hair before full lock on each end but my bracket are not stock, clears the diff cover. Barnes makes the only offset heims that I know of and is all I need to not rub. I love it, just have to correct the final turning before i wheel it.
Great feedback Bomb, thank you! I really do like this kit too.
Great feedback Bomb, thank you! I really do like this kit too.
I've been texting Donovan from CavFab. He's going to send me the high clearance tie rod to clear, and it's cheaper than the heims. Great communication with him!
Do alot of you/ have you ever heard of the knuckles themselves wearing to the point of not being able to properly torque the tie rod ends? I've replaced my ends and drag link several times due to getting excessive play. And I believe it's the knuckles themselves. So now is it a viable option to convert it to one of the heavy duty over the knuckle kits where it asks you to drill out the pitman and knuckles? Or should I just get new knuckles? Any opinions?
Do alot of you/ have you ever heard of the knuckles themselves wearing to the point of not being able to properly torque the tie rod ends? I've replaced my ends and drag link several times due to getting excessive play. And I believe it's the knuckles themselves. So now is it a viable option to convert it to one of the heavy duty over the knuckle kits where it asks you to drill out the pitman and knuckles? Or should I just get new knuckles? Any opinions?
It's a mechanical piece, and subject to wear...as far as you needing an OTK setup, what kind of lift are you running? How high? You can do UTK or OTK, then drill and ream your current knuckles. Or if you want to keep it where you got it, new knuckles. Either way I think you're okay.
It's a mechanical piece, and subject to wear...as far as you needing an OTK setup, what kind of lift are you running? How high? You can do UTK or OTK, then drill and ream your current knuckles. Or if you want to keep it where you got it, new knuckles. Either way I think you're okay.
I'm dealing with alot of homemade **** it seems. I don't even feel comfortable putting "rough country" on it. Haha I've figured out its around a 4in lift. About to build my own LCAs. What's on it is a joke. I just want the steering to a point where I won't have to worry about that area anymore. I have a drop pitman and new gearbox to put in. I just don't want to install them if I have to keep replacing links. But if the Heim joints people are using are as durable as they seem it kinda seems like the way to go. (- excluding of course routine maintenance)
I've ran two 7075 rods. One on a one ton setup and the other on a Currie. Both took way more of a beating than any crs or dom tie rod that I've ever ran. They will bend 4" before becoming permanently damaged. Good luck doing that with a steel tie rod.
I will be installing cav fabs high clearance steering soon. Good quality. They use Ruff Stuff heims not Barnes though.
Not sure what the heim setup is anymore but Donovan told me mine uses Barnes, I ordered mine a little over a 2 months ago. They might use both. So far so good though.
Last edited by unidentifiedbomb; 12-18-2016 at 09:09 AM.
10-27-2016, 10:37 PM
