Dana 44 and Corporate 10 bolt Crossover Steering

The straight axle GM trucks suffer from some serious steering problems, one of the biggest is due to poor geometry. The factory GM steering will fail to steer the truck when you're in twisted offroad situations, in fact, there are many times when the steering box is all the way to lock and the tires are pointed straight! Our solution to this is a "crossover steering" system where the draglink runs side to side instead of front to back. This dramatically improves the steering geometry and makes turning to the axle stops possible under all conditions.

Crossover steering is also a necessity with a solid axle swap and we have the parts you need for your '88 and newer truck with a solid axle conversion!  Price is the same as you see below.

Our Dana 44 or 10 bolt crossover steering system:

Parts that are included in our crossover steering system:

Pitman arm: This is the arm attaching to the steering box shaft. This is available from ORD as part of our kit or separately if you like. 

Steering arm: This is the arm that attaches to the steering knuckle on the axle. It uses factory type studs, cone adapters and locknuts to bolt to the knuckle. The D44 install kit is available as an option as shown below. 

Stud kit: Nuts, cones and studs

Draglink: This is the link that ties the pitman arm and steering arm together. We will sell the threaded tube and the ends separate if you wish. The draglink comes drilled and tapped at the correct length for your truck, it also has an offset bent into it to help clear the engine crossmember and keep the joints laying flat.

Draglink ends: 1 LH, 1 RH with jam nuts. These are Spicer HD type ends. 

Our Dana 44 or 10 bolt crossover and high steer system:

Our crossover high steer system includes all of the above plus:

Driver's side steering arm: This is the arm that attaches to the driver's side knuckle so that the high steer tie rod has a place to mount.

Stud kit: A second stud kit to mount the driver's side steering arm

Tie rod: This is the piece that connects the two knuckles together

Tie rod ends:  1 LH, 1 RH with jam nuts. These are Spicer HD type ends. 

You will also need:

2WD GM steering box: This is required because the factory 4wd shaft will not allow you to use a pitman arm necessary for side to side motion of the steering.   The 2WD GM steering boxes bolt right in place of a 4WD one (get a box from the same vintage truck, there were some variances in fittings and spline sizes).  We offer a range of boxes from PSC (click here) or you can source your own.

A flat top passenger side knuckle: You need the correct knuckle and it needs to be machined, drilled and tapped for the steering arm.  For more information, click here.

If you don't see your application, call us and we will set you up with what you need!

The Dana 44 and GM Corporate 10 bolt crossover steering arm bolts to the top of the knuckle on the right hand side of the axle, just like the factory 4wd steering arm bolts to the top of the left hand knuckle. The problem is, none of the right side knuckles are machined for this steering arm. The right side knuckle must also have a large cast-in flat surface on the top of the knuckle to be machined for the crossover steering kit. This "flat top" knuckle is commonly found on '76 and older D44 axles. ALL GM corp 10 bolts and most '77-up D44's will need the knuckles from an older D44 in order to complete the crossover steering. The "flat top" and "round top" knuckles are shown below to illustrate the difference: The flat top knuckle you need is on the right.  We do the machine work on your knuckle if you send it in, price is $70, and it comes back ready to bolt in.

And if you don't have good OE knuckles, check out our ultra-beef Reid Racing/Dedenbear knuckles HERE.

Note that the tie rod arm heights on the knuckle and the direction of the taper for the tie rod can vary by application so the best thing to do is get both the left and right knuckles and the tie rod for your crossover conversion.  The knuckles will interchange with many Dana applications, even in Jeep, Ford or Dodge, but keep in mind the tie rod arms and other seemingly minor details could make a big difference when you try to bolt it all together.

Also be aware that drum brake steering knuckles have a rotated spindle hole pattern and will not work with the crossover steering without modification. This caught one customer totally by surprise when he tried to bolt the kit together.

Installation notes:

The Offroad Design D44 steering arm end is cut on an angle to correct for the kingpin axis inclination angle and keep the angle on the rod end minimized for best life of the joint and more vertical wheel travel without steering bind.  We've attempted crossover steering systems using arms that aren't built with the angled end and the rod end was maxed out at ride height!  No droop available at all.  This is an essential feature for a properly built fully functional system.

Our steering arm and pitman arm are both tapered for the large GM tie rod ends.  These are not the same as the draglink ends, be aware.  We can custom build the steering arm with no hole if you wish, or the holes can be drilled out for a heim joint.  We've had the best luck with using factory type tie rod ends for steering since they are a better single shear connection and have good service life.

Our draglink is bent to help clear the factory crossmember. We cannot guarantee that you will not have some contact with the crossmember, it may require some trimming to work under all suspension conditions. '67 to '72 GM trucks can often use a straight draglink but we send the bent version to minimize angle on the link ends.

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