What tie rod end should I use with disc brakes?

[mrtleavitt]

So I'm not much of a 4x4 guy. In the past I've had to just go twice as fast to keep up with my buddies and their 4x4s in the hills. Well we bought a 1970 F100 4x4 for my Dad not too long ago and we've now swapped the cab and put a solid built 390 to replace the old tired 360. The next step is tightening up the handling on it. Sometime in its history someone swithched it to power steering and disc brakes. The swap was done pretty well except for one thing, the person used a 1970 tie rod end with the newer disc brake setup and it's loose in the spindle. We've tried a '76 F150 tie rod end and it's still a little sloppy. Is there anything else that the front brake conversion could be from other than a later '70's truck? Or should the '76 tie rod end fit and maybe from the slop it has hogged out the hole meaning we need a new spindle for it?

[fordman]

your going to have to find out what year spindle it is and use the same year tie rod. maybe a casting number on it somewhere or some numbers of some sort.

[Jinal]

Most modern cars have disc brakes on the front wheels, and some have disc brakes on all four wheels. This is the part of the brake system that does the actual work of stopping the car.

[averagef250]

WTH does any of that have to do with the OP's question?

To the OP- I don't think you're referring to the spindle correctly, not sure what you are asking. The spindle is between the knuckle and the hub. There's no direct interface between tie rods and the spindles.

[71F100-390]

The steering arm is part of the knuckle, not the spindle (spindle gets bolted to the knuckle). I believe that the '76 tie rod should have the later taper/size, but I'm not 100% on that. Its posted on here where the changeover is, can't find it at the moment. Seems to me that most of the disk brake swaps are with '78/'79 parts, so I'd look there. Our '71 is converted using a '74 D44 (ball joint set up) and '78 F150 parts, including the knuckles and tie rods. Was the '76 tie rod you tried new? If not, you may just have a worn out tie rod end.

You may be onto something though, if it has been run with the wrong tie rod long enough, the tie rod may have hogged out the steering arm on the knuckle. If that's the case, you'll need a new knuckle.

[mrtleavitt]

Ya it was a new '76 tie rod. Maybe I will look at a '78 or '79 and see if they are any larger. If not I will probably head for the junk yard for a new knuckle. Thanks everyone.

[akuma10408]

If you didn't want to chance a used knuckle being hogged out as well, I don't see why you couldn't find some sort of insert from McMaster-Carr with a known inner diamenter and appropriate outer diameter, and just weld it into the the knuckle. You might need to machine the knuckle a bit, though. It would be a minor PITA, but you could use any size tie rod you want.

[71F100-390]

The knuckles shouldn't really wear as long as the correct tie rod is used. The taper on the tie rod should lock into the taper on the knuckle, so no movement occurs inside the knuckle. Typically the ball and socket of the tie rod is the part that wears.

Unless, of course, someone puts in the wrong tie rod.

Still, I'd think you'd run into a lot more usable knuckles than ones that are worn out, even in the parts yards.