Draglink question on a disc brake conversion

[bwc302]

The draglink on my donor truck is hosed, so my question is.

Will the draglink from any 70 - 79 work? (1/2, 3/4, 1 ton) Disc, Non Disc?

Donor truck is a 76 4x2

I will be putting the front suspension under a 71 1/2 ton.

Thanks,

Bobby

[lobuck76]

Seems like I read in the tech section that there is a difference in the power steering and non power steering drag links. You might find the info you need there.

[FORDification]

The drag link should be the same...it's the tie-rod ends that are different. The '73-up ends are a bit different from ours, so when you get the disc brake spindle, you have to get the matching steering linkage:



The '67-'72 end is on the left, the '73-'79 end is on the right. The '73-up ends have longer studs, because the '73-up spindle's steering arm is thicker. There's no difference between power- and manual-steering ends.

One other thing you could do if you're REALLY low-bucking a disc-brake upgrade is to grind down the '73-up spindle's steering arm (yellow arrow in the picture below) to the same height of the '67-'72 piece. This will allow you to re-use your existing steering linkage. However, I think I'd recommend just replacing the older linkage with newer pieces. They're not that expensive.

[bwc302]

Does that mean a draglink from a 79 1 ton truck is a direct replacement for a 76 1/2 ton draglink?

Thanks,

Bobby

[FORDification]

whoops....I take back that part about the drag link being the same. I forgot that there IS a difference. The length is the same, but the angle of the connection on the end is a bit different. I've never actually tried to swap the two, but I don't believe they'll work. Sorry about the confusion.

[bwc302]

Thanks that is what I wanted to know.

I found a 1 ton for $40 and another place wanted $75 for a 1/2 ton.

I will keep looking, those prices seemed high to me.

Bobby

[willowbilly3]

Probably best not to mix in F-350 parts. I can't say for sure but the piman arm is marked F-100 F-250

[4x4x4crewcab]

I found a 1 ton for $40 and another place wanted $75 for a 1/2 ton.

Last week I ran across a 1 ton style Ford NOS drag link and after calling around I found them starting at right around 100.00. $40.00 sounds like a bargain to me but maybe I was just calling all the high priced places?
The one I have is for sale and shown in the parts for sale link on this forum. I don't need it and would love to work something out it you can use it. If not I did list all the applications I could find in the listing this could help answer any application questions you may have.

[bwc302]

Thanks 4X4X4, but the one I saw in the for sale forum was for a 1 ton and I need the one for the 1/2.

Thanks anyway:)

Bobby