Fix Bump Steer - Adjusting Geometry - E150 6" Lift, F350 4x4 Conversion (D60 F&R)

[d1ma]

Hey EP - new to me e150, I replaced the drag link and all of the rod ends as well as the driver-side hub but there's still a bit of bump steer happening. After some research, I think it's because the track bar and drag link are not parallel.

I've heard of some people rotating the track bar ball joint so it lifts it higher or getting a flatter pitman arm to lift the drag link.... maybe flipping it upside down? What would you do?

I found flat(er) pitman arms and it seems like the easier fix.

Attached photo of existing pitman arm with old drag link and front end shot of current setup with the red line being where I believe the drag link needs to be.

I've never had a 4x4 so a lot of this is new for me. If I'm posting this in the wrong thread please let me know. Thanks in advance!

 

[Van_Diesel]

If it was me, I would pop the drag link off of the pitman arm and verify how much you need to raise it before you spend the money. I have the same front axle and I set mine with a digital angle gauge from harbor freight. Just zero it on the track bar and move the drag link up until it reads zero.. Good luck.

Mike

 

[CaulkinsCo.]

Red line needs to go down, not up. A longer arm will fix it but also speed up your rack a bit.

 

[d1ma]

@Van Diesel - I’ll try that and will report back this weekend. Something I’m thinking about is it’ll need to be much higher than even a flat pitman arm would allow for. It may be close. Once I have the proper angle, what’s the next step?

@CaulkinsCo. - would there be an attachment to the knuckle that lets me do that? I don’t think I understand what you’re recommending since the mounting point on the passenger knuckle seems static. Any pictures you can share would help

Thank you both!

 

[CaulkinsCo.]

Extend the arm from your gear box to the steering drag link. Because it's a van you can't just get the pitman arm from a truck that drops. It's at a downward angle so by making it longer you bring the pivot point lower. Hard to tell exactly by photos but that's the one part I got hung up on when I put in a D60.

There's a correct way to build one but you can also get a donor arm, cut it and weld in a few inches of length and then give it a test run. Google welding a pitman arm first, technically you should not weld them so I stress test run.

 

[toddz69]

What does the track bar mount on the axle look like? Is it something that could be modified fairly easily to move it up?

Todd Z.

 

[Vandit]

Do you know what company originally did the conversion or know what kit was used? Or is it a homebrew?

 

[CaulkinsCo.]

Maybe this will help with what I was trying to say. My first attempt after reading endless post about things being parallel it looked basically like your photo and had bump steer. Extended the pitman arm to make the pivot points parallel instead of the actual bars and it now has zero bump steer.

Not sure the year but it's a D60 from a 6.0 truck. Completely factory axle with F550 coils and sway bar. I made the pan hard bar mount on the frame so there may be some difference between our mounting points but the same basic concept applies.

 

[Van_Diesel]

Since mine is a GM I used a Astro pitman arm Moog K6653 . I cut the larger taper on the opposite site of the pitman arm to raise the drag link as high as possible. I have about 8000 miles on it since i put it together. The front is a little lower since i posted the build. The springs settles and I took a little off of the springs. This really helped my caster angle and helped with light steering at Highway speeds.

Mike

Her is a link to my build on Diesel place.

2006 3500 express SAS with a 05+Ford SD axle

www.dieselplace.com