Dana 44 High Steer Conversion - Knuckle Up

Moog tie-rod ends and drag-link ends intended for a 1-ton Chevy were used for their ease of availability and beefy construction. All of the ends feature 7/8-inch shanks, and the drag-link ends offer a high degree of movement for applications with extreme travel or steep drag links.

The stock passenger-side knuckle was milled flat and drilled and tapped for stock Chevy studs. This mirrors the driver-side knuckle. The cast-iron knuckle rusted in the time necessary to gather all of the other parts for the steering conversion, but we used a wire wheel to clean it up and then painted it before installation.

The stock knuckle on this '79 K20 frontend had no provision for a steering arm. The stock Chevy steering used a push-pull configuration with the drag link connecting the steering box to the driver-side knuckle.

Start by removing the 7/64-inch socket-head cap screws on the hub to expose the internals. Remove the brake caliper, hub, brake rotor, and spindle to access the knuckle. A spindle socket, snap-ring pliers, and 3/8-inch hex wrench are needed here. These are the tools necessary to change a U-joint, so they should already be in your trail toolbag.

Next remove the 151/416-inch nut on the upper ball joint and 111/48-inch nut on the lower ball joint. Once these are removed, the knuckle can be separated from the housing.

The old steering was removed from both knuckles and the pitman arm in order to free the old passenger-side knuckle. With all of the old parts removed it is time to start installing the new components. The existing hub and brake components will be reused, so be sure to keep them organized off to the side until it is time to reinstall them.

With both knuckles removed, you can clearly see the differences between the two. After pressing new Moog ball joints into our new knuckle, we were ready to start reassembly.

The new knuckle bolted up right in place of the old stock unit. A torque wrench makes it much easier to tighten the lower ball joint, and also came in handy when torquing both ball joints to the specified 140 lb-ft.

Stock GM studs were used to mount the new steering arms. The studs are not symmetric, with one side threaded farther than the other. We installed the studs with the longer threads into the knuckle and the "dimple" on the stud facing up. The studs use 7/8-inch nuts, which were doubled up to fully seat the studs. After the studs were installed, the spindle was reinstalled on the knuckle with the six 9/16-inch nuts.