Tie rod question

[Fiji]

i am working on another crossover steeringset up for my truck however i have a question hopefully someone can answer for me

a tie rod runs knuckle to knuckle, does it have to be perfectly straight?

reason i am asking i was going to have 2 bends, so that i can go around the sway bar links on the front axle

i dont forsee a problem withit, maybe more stress on the bends but if the rod is strong enoung then there should not be any consequences

[Johnny Ram]

FIJI,
I see no reason why that will not work, as long as the bends can take the stress... Never tried that before, I am interested to see how it works out!

JR

[Fiji]

hey man aftering pondering on it last night this is what i figured the drawing i posted well with the back and forth movement it would allow stress on two different areas of the heim joins rather than one

and both of those areas would be an exceptional amount of stress on the tie rod


so what i did i modified it a bit to still clear my sway bar links but sit flush and only allow stress on the main part of the heim joint check this out...



the arrows signify stress point from the movement of the tie rod

[apbt3178]

Stock Ford SD tie rods resemble the second illustration. As long as the material used is of decent quality and the bends aren't ridiculous, it should work.

I wouldn't use heims either. They wear out a lot faster and count on the bolt remaining torqued so that the hole in the knuckle doesn't get wallowed out. Using TRE's is safer due to the tapered fit at the knuckle and the use of cotter pins to prevent the nut from backing off.

[Johnny Ram]

Looks good to me FIJI, APB seems to know his stuff!

JR

[tntmonstertruck]

fords stock are like that to clear the diff cover. you can run heims just run a good quality chromolly lot of guys run the mild steel and they wear out quick on the street. i run chromollys on all my 4 link trucks and just spray them down with wd40 after i go on the beach or mudding. ive had them in my street truck for over a year now and i drive it daily.lot of kits use gm tie rod ends being they are easy to come by and last a long time.

[bigreen]

GM 1ton tie rods here...no probs

[apbt3178]

GM ES2026R and ES2027L drag link ends also out-flex a heim by more that twice as much, unless you run high misalignment spacers. Even with spacers, heims probably can't touch 55degrees. Shouldn't be an issue with your tie rod, but definitely a consideration in a drag link and tall suspension.
The tapered fit of a TRE is still a stronger connection, especially if the heim will be run in single shear on a steering knuckle.
To each their own.

[tntmonstertruck]

ive never seen a steering link run at 55 degrees before. d**n thats steep..

[bigreen]

unfortunately i have seen d**n close to it...lol

[apbt3178]

I didn't say anything about running down the road at that angle. Even so, I've seen setups d**n near that retarded. Sad, but true.
I was talking about trucks that actually see offroad use and have a flexy suspension. It's not hard to max a heim joint out, since most are only capable of 20-22degrees without spacers.