New Tie Rod Ends Worn After 4,000 Miles???

[Fishbulb]

I installed new TRE and Relay Bar Ends on my 94 HZJ a few months ago. 555/Fuji brand. I put a few thousand miles on the truck since and have done 4 off-road trips. Nothing too crazy off-road, but nothing super tame either.

After noticing some play in the steering I checked everything out today and found that both relay bar ends have slop in them. They are torqued to spec. The tie rod ends are perfectly fine and have no play.

How is this possible?

I just ordered new parts, but anyone else have a similar experience?

Parts were from Specter Off Road.

 

[OGBeno]

Cool picture. Tell us more.

What size tires? How heavy is your truck? What kind of driving dynamics? What are your suspension specs? What’s the condition of your steering gear box? How is slop defined? Versus what parameters? What’s the steering response like before and after? Give us more context.

No failures happen in a vacuum in interrelated technical systems.

 

[RHINO]

Did you grease them? They are very minimally greased during assembly

 

[Fishbulb]

Cool picture. Tell us more.

What size tires? How heavy is your truck? What kind of driving dynamics? What are your suspension specs? What’s the condition of your steering gear box? How is slop defined? Versus what parameters? What’s the steering response like before and after? Give us more context.

No failures happen in a vacuum in interrelated technical systems.

33 inch tires, -10 offset wheels with 1.5 inch spacers.

I have an unknown lift that was on the vehicle when I bought it, but it’s fairly new. Bushes are all in great shape.

New steering box.

No heavy loads.

Steering was great after TRE and RBE install. Now the vehicle wanders a bit on the road. I would say there is a little less than a quarter inch of play in the RBE’s now. No play in the TRE’s.

Mostly highway driving with a trip to Turkey Bay OHV Park in Kentucky and 3 trips of moderate off roading at a local park. No rock crawling.

 

[Fishbulb]

Did you grease them? They are very minimally greased during assembly

I did.

 

[RHINO]

I did.

Well thats all I got barring an inspection.

 

[FJBen]

I had the same issue with 555s. I think mine were 10k…I’d have to look but I wasn’t impressed. Bought another, I should prob check again.

Edit: mine were popping when turning.

 

[Fishbulb]

I had the same issue with 555s. I think mine were 10k…I’d have to look but I wasn’t impressed. Bought another, I should prob check again.

Edit: mine were popping when turning.

You replaced them with 555’s again?

 

[FJBen]

You replaced them with 555’s again?

Yeah. These have lasted longer, but I swear I heard a pop the other day.

The one should be able to pull the cotter pin and screw the end in to take up slack.

 

[Fishbulb]

Yeah. These have lasted longer, but I swear I heard a pop the other day.

The one should be able to pull the cotter pin and screw the end in to take up slack.

I’m wondering if we ended up with Chinese knock offs. I ordered from Cruiser Outfitters this time instead of Spector.

 

[FJBen]

I’m wondering if we ended up with Chinese knock offs. I ordered from Cruiser Outfitters this time instead of Spector.

Both of mine are from cruiser outfitters.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

The relay rod ends can and do need to be both greased (zerks provided) and more importantly tightened! The FSM covers the tightening procedure, it’s a quick easy process. OEM, 555 Sankei Japan, Joint Fuji… they all require adjustment, particularly if not set tight when installed.

 

[bj70bc]

Yeah. These have lasted longer, but I swear I heard a pop the other day.

The one should be able to pull the cotter pin and screw the end in to take up slack.

^^this, tighten em up, they like it

and now that i think about mine are probably due for some attention after an initial 1yr run in...

 

[Fishbulb]

^^this, tighten em up, they like it

and now that i think about mine are probably due for some attention after an initial 1yr run in...

Double checked them and they are at 67 foot pounds.

 

[bj70bc]

wrong cotter pin, its not the castle nut and cotter pin were talking about here....
look at the END of the joint there is a slot (that should have a cotter pin, yours looks gone) remove the pin and adjust with a big screwdriver, its not a ft/lbs thing they are adjustable so should be able to be turned in and out with relative ease even when tightened all the way IN.
From your picture looks like the cotter pin isnt through the hole and slot.... and is missing, tighten the slot on the end IN

 

[Fishbulb]

wrong cotter pin, its not the castle nut and cotter pin were talking about here....
look at the END of the joint there is a slot (that should have a cotter pin, yours looks gone) remove the pin and adjust with a big screwdriver, its not a ft/lbs thing they are adjustable so should be able to be turned in and out with relative ease even when tightened all the way IN.
From your picture looks like the cotter pin isnt through the hole and slot.... and is missing, tighten the slot on the end IN

D’OH!

Man, I feel like an idiot now…. I know what I’m doing when I get home from work now…..

 

[cruiseroutfit]

@bj70bc nailed it.

On a 6x and 7x of this vintage, both the driver and passenger (LHD and RHD models) have adjustable drag-link ends. Rebuild-able too!

This is what the rebuild kit looks like so you have an idea of what is happening inside there:

Basically there are two cups that are spring loaded into the ball/stud. As things wear over time, they need to be adjusted. Procedure is as follows:

 

[Fishbulb]

@bj70bc nailed it.

On a 6x and 7x of this vintage, both the driver and passenger (LHD and RHD models) have adjustable drag-link ends. Rebuild-able too!

View attachment 3835968

This is what the rebuild kit looks like so you have an idea of what is happening inside there:

View attachment 3835969

Basically there are two cups that are spring loaded into the ball/stud. As things wear over time, they need to be adjusted. Procedure is as follows:

View attachment 3836024

AWESOME huge help! Thank you so much.

I definitely missed this in the FSM. I have the electronic version and it always crashes on my phone after searching through so many pages.