[AirDWN]

Tried to perform my own front end alignment after falling off into a damn hole. That's what I get for riding through an area of land that 5 foot tall weeds that looked like stalks of corn. The tie rod was only slightly bent, though. The problem was trying to adjust the tie rod end and the steering wheel. To make a long story short I ran out of patience running up and down the road trying to get the two to work in perfect unison. Ended up going to a shop and got a front end alignment.

 

[AirDWN]

I stopped writing earlier cause' I was getting another tire after having punctured the sidewall again. Reason why I brought this up is because I was reading up on the "Project JK" website where the guy said he'd already broke 3 tie rods before he finally decided to buy a heavy duty tie rod for rock crawling. In fact he said the stock JK tie rod was "very weak".

I'm thinking to myself, wait a minute, how the hell did he break a stock JK tie rod? I was going about 10 mph before I hit that hidden hole. I hit it so hard the rear end of my Jeep lifted off the ground--my left front wheel was toeing out about 4 inches, the ESP/BAS light was flashing, and the whole Jeep was grinding and jerking like it was hit by a Mack truck.

I got it home, took the tie rod off and inspected it. No wrinkles or paint chipping anywhere. I had actually almost straightened out the toeing and the steering wheel. I had even managed to stop the ESP/BAS light from blinking and dinging but it kept pulling slightly to the left. I could never get the steering wheel to where the JEEP letters were perfectly centered. But the point is, my tie rod wasn't even bent let alone broken. Anybody else had this experience?

 

[JIMBOX]

Heh Heh, just remember that the JKU tierod is actually fairly heavy duty-stock, but

It's straight from the passenger front wheel to about 14" of the drivers wheel then it does a double recurve and a final "BEND" into the swivel-

It'd be pretty hard to remember the exact "bends" that it came with, if you were trying to "straightenit"-

You would really have to "RAPIT" hard to breakit-

Glad you gotem fixed !!

:rofl::rofl: JIMBO

 

[AirDWN]

Heh Heh, just remember that the JKU tierod is actually fairly heavy duty-stock, but

It's straight from the passenger front wheel to about 14" of the drivers wheel then it does a double recurve and a final "BEND" into the swivel-

It'd be pretty hard to remember the exact "bends" that it came with, if you were trying to "straightenit"-

You would really have to "RAPIT" hard to breakit-

Glad you gotem fixed !!

:rofl::rofl: JIMBO

I'm wondering why the tie rod has all those unnecessary curves when they could have simply made a straight tie rod. Hell, a heavy duty aftermarket is straight. But the only way that dude could have broken a tie rod is if he dropped his JK off the side of a cliff and it landed sideways with all the weight on one wheel, and the steering wheel was tied down with a tow chain. I've done nearly everything I could to break my JK under normal conditions short of an all out extreme rock crawl. The worst I got was I lost a weight from my right front wheel and had a semi-death wobble kind of effect but I haven't broken anything.

 

[JIMBOX]

I think those catywhumpus bends are there for the same reason the re-curve long bow, has strength-force. but returns to is state of rest when released-so

I'm wondering why the tie rod has all those unnecessary curves when they could have simply made a straight tie rod. Hell, a heavy duty aftermarket is straight. But the only way that dude could have broken a tie rod is if he dropped his JK off the side of a cliff and it landed sideways with all the weight on one wheel, and the steering wheel was tied down with a tow chain. I've done nearly everything I could to break my JK under normal conditions short of an all out extreme rock crawl. The worst I got was I lost a weight from my right front wheel and had a semi-death wobble kind of effect but I haven't broken anything.

The multi-bent tierod will (normally) take a blow and return to its original "state of rest"

Whereas a straight one, would just BEND and stay that way !!

Wasn't that simple ??

:rofl::rofl: JIMBO

 

[AirDWN]

I got you. I understand the purpose of the stock design. But you'd think after multiple decades of mass producing essentially the same vehicle you'd think they'd have a tie rod like this:

But then again, if they were considerate enough to do that, then they would have been considerate enough not to do something like this to us:

Just sayin'.

Not complaining, though. I'm happy with the stock rod.

 

[ncossey]

That U bend allows the tie rod to have alot more lateral flex than a straight tie rod.

If you want a lesson in straight tie rods, look how they perform on h2, always snapping offroad.

 

[AirDWN]

That U bend allows the tie rod to have alot more lateral flex than a straight tie rod.

If you want a lesson in straight tie rods, look how they perform on h2, always snapping offroad.

Like this poor guy?

I can understand if a guy broke or bent a tie rod by mistake but I have no sympathy for repeated abuse like that. If I can't get it after a couple attempts I'm finding another route.