kevinmrowland
Forum Lifer
As you may or may not know, the OEM FJ60 tie rod ends are no longer available from Toyota. For some reason only the entire tie rod, relay rod and ends assembly is available at a very high cost (upwards of $700 IIRC).
The aftermarket OE ends that are out there quite simply suck, I am lucky to get two years out of a set, I am not talking about weekend wheeling though, I am referring to thousands of miles of washboard and gravel roads with 33” tires levering on those ends, they just don’t last, and a failing TRE is a dangerous scenario.
Toyota FJ80 ends are available individually and are heavier duty.
On an 80 the tie rod is behind the axle and the relay rod goes from the pitman arm directly to the passenger steering arm in front of the axle, a very nice set up, but entirely different from the 60. The ends also have a larger thread pattern and different tapers.
Upgrading to 80 ends and custom arms is the common way to approach SOA hysteer setups. And there are numerous manufactures that make kits to do this, but they require clearance that is just not there on a SUA rig.
So the question is: How do we get these heavy duty, still available OE parts onto our SUA 60s?.
BudBuilt: Makes some very nice heavy duty tie rods to hold the 80 ends. They openly admit that they are mini truck guys and the info currently on their web about FJ60 compatibility is incorrect. They are also the only manufacture whom I talked to that is currently working on a solution to this problem. They have ordered every possible Toyota TRE and will be researching how to beef up the 60 steering, promising at least.
4X4Labs: Supper duper amazing quality aftermarket arms and hysteer set up. They have engineered a steering system that mimics the 80 series in function, but unless you have a hefty SOA there is no way to fit a tie rod behind the axle.
They have an arm and rod kit that utilized GM 3/4 ton parts where the relay rod can attach to the passenger TRE just like on our 60s. But, I am a Toyota bigot and while the GM ends are heavier duty, they are not nearly the same quality as the Toyota parts, and most importantly, they have what barley passes for a weather seal of a boot, in the salt belt up here they are an item of yearly death.
They have also tried an arm with double holes on the passenger side to allow the relay rod to attach directly to the arm, but say that it did not really work out, still need to find out why, they are very busy at their shop and I had wasted enough of their time by that point. One other thing I discussed with them was the possibility of welding a tab with a tapered hole to the tie rod so the relay rod could attach there. The very obvious problem with that idea was that the tab would just pivot the ends rather than push the rod, that is why they build steering arms an not I.
Marlin Crawler: Has a very nice hysteer kit at a reasonable price, they utilize double holes on the passenger arm and state that they will work with a SUA rig if it has a minimum of a 4” lift, which is pushing the limits of a feasible SU and approaching a small SO, not really practical for my application.
So are there any solutions out there? There are a few other manufactures who offer similar setups, but none that show something to work on a SUA. Someone used to offer a double steering arm to put the relay rod above the spring on a SO, but once again, not really for a SU, that and they do not seem to be offered anymore.
This would be an excellent upgrade to the 60 steering and there must be a solution out there somewhere. Post up if you have seen anything or have any ideas.
Kevin R.
The aftermarket OE ends that are out there quite simply suck, I am lucky to get two years out of a set, I am not talking about weekend wheeling though, I am referring to thousands of miles of washboard and gravel roads with 33” tires levering on those ends, they just don’t last, and a failing TRE is a dangerous scenario.
Toyota FJ80 ends are available individually and are heavier duty.
On an 80 the tie rod is behind the axle and the relay rod goes from the pitman arm directly to the passenger steering arm in front of the axle, a very nice set up, but entirely different from the 60. The ends also have a larger thread pattern and different tapers.
Upgrading to 80 ends and custom arms is the common way to approach SOA hysteer setups. And there are numerous manufactures that make kits to do this, but they require clearance that is just not there on a SUA rig.
So the question is: How do we get these heavy duty, still available OE parts onto our SUA 60s?.
BudBuilt: Makes some very nice heavy duty tie rods to hold the 80 ends. They openly admit that they are mini truck guys and the info currently on their web about FJ60 compatibility is incorrect. They are also the only manufacture whom I talked to that is currently working on a solution to this problem. They have ordered every possible Toyota TRE and will be researching how to beef up the 60 steering, promising at least.
4X4Labs: Supper duper amazing quality aftermarket arms and hysteer set up. They have engineered a steering system that mimics the 80 series in function, but unless you have a hefty SOA there is no way to fit a tie rod behind the axle.
They have an arm and rod kit that utilized GM 3/4 ton parts where the relay rod can attach to the passenger TRE just like on our 60s. But, I am a Toyota bigot and while the GM ends are heavier duty, they are not nearly the same quality as the Toyota parts, and most importantly, they have what barley passes for a weather seal of a boot, in the salt belt up here they are an item of yearly death.
They have also tried an arm with double holes on the passenger side to allow the relay rod to attach directly to the arm, but say that it did not really work out, still need to find out why, they are very busy at their shop and I had wasted enough of their time by that point. One other thing I discussed with them was the possibility of welding a tab with a tapered hole to the tie rod so the relay rod could attach there. The very obvious problem with that idea was that the tab would just pivot the ends rather than push the rod, that is why they build steering arms an not I.
Marlin Crawler: Has a very nice hysteer kit at a reasonable price, they utilize double holes on the passenger arm and state that they will work with a SUA rig if it has a minimum of a 4” lift, which is pushing the limits of a feasible SU and approaching a small SO, not really practical for my application.
So are there any solutions out there? There are a few other manufactures who offer similar setups, but none that show something to work on a SUA. Someone used to offer a double steering arm to put the relay rod above the spring on a SO, but once again, not really for a SU, that and they do not seem to be offered anymore.
This would be an excellent upgrade to the 60 steering and there must be a solution out there somewhere. Post up if you have seen anything or have any ideas.
Kevin R.
