Tie Rod and Drag Link Seal Caps

[ursus]

The metal tie rod/drag link seal caps that I got from Bratton's have a 0.990 inch hole so they won't fit over the 1 inch balls. Am I missing something here? Maybe I have to grind the holes larger. The are actually one of those Ford Motor approved replacement parts.

[SoCal_Alden]

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I just went thru the steering on my truck and yes, the seal cap IDs are too small. Dan and Jeff @ Snyders know about this and are having their supplier open up the hole on their next production run. In the meantime, I chucked a 7/8 drum sanding bit into my drill press and opened up the new seal caps until they fit over the steering balls and also seated onto the shoulder below the ball.

I also noticed that their new pitman arm was too thick ( ~0.025") on the back side and didn't want to seat properly onto the steering sector gear - the bolt wouldn't fit thru the notch. After taking the excess material off the pitman arm the bolt slide in perfectly.

When reassembling, I followed previous advice here on the fbarn and removed the steering arms from the perches, assembled with the EZ steer Teflon ball cups & new springs, and adjusted/greased prior to re-installing on the truck - made life a whole lot easier, plus I found that the original steering arm castellated nut threads were shot - so new nuts were also used.
Very satisfied with the results - SO much easier to steer + removed the excessive ~ 4 inch play at the steering wheel !!

Cheers,