A friend painted himself into a corner by useing dropped spindles. Now the tie rod ends hit the expensive Centerline rims. For now he is useing spacers to get the rim away but can feel the stress on his front end. He thought he might reposition the tie rod end above rather than below the steering knuckle, until I reminded him the stud and hole are tapered. I'm sure there are tie rod ends with larger diameter studs that can be used once the spindle holes were re-reamed to fit from above, but would that then upset the steering geometry? He also said the off-roaders use a kit that has a tapered insert that fits inside the drilled out spindle to adapt to an above mounted tie rod. Seems like a lot of work just because he's too stuborn to realise he screwed up.
, as an offroader, I don't like that option of reaming the hole larger and trusting a half assed sleeve with my steering, not good with plus size tires. Of course a 36" tire will put a lot more strain and has much more leverage working against the tie rods than a car tire, so it might not be as bad of an idea (I still wouldn't do it). I'm sure the geometry will be effected somehow by this though, one possible way, the angle the the tie rod end would have to work at, no problem on rebound, but when it compresses, that angle (which could cause binding) will could have a drastic effect on being able to steer the car, it would also wear the joint out much sooner, which could lead to it actually breaking.
