Tie rod ends... loose?

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amaurer

amaurer

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Sep 2, 2007
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373
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4,438
Location
Longmont, CO
I bought a TRE kit for my BJ73 from roodogs.

When I installed it the TRE's at the wheels went in fine, but the TRE between the relay rod and the tie rod required several washers underneath the castle nut so that I could achieve the FSM torque and still have the cotter pin engage the nut properly.

This didn't worry so much, as my BJ42 with a roodog TRE kit took washers under several of the ends too.

However after this weekend of easy driving (highway) I've noticed the steering wheel has shifted about 2" to the right. I got under the truck while the woman rocked the wheel - the TREs at the wheels are fine, bu there is a slight amount of play in the end with the washers. Of course there is also some play at the other end of the relay rod, but that end is spring loaded so I consider that normalish.

What do you guys think? Has anyone else had problems with the roodogs TREs?
 
It sounds like you have the wrong parts installed. The tapers should not be incorrect.

On the 40 series, sometimes people install the ends in the wrong locations - some have much longer protrusions for going into thicker pieces than the others.

How about some photos?

~John
 
Here you go.
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There should definitely not be washers on the TRE where the drag link meets the tie rod.

There are two possible problems, one is that the taper for the hole on the tie rod is too big OR that the taper on the ball stud on the TRE for the drag link is too small.

Either way, this should be addressed since there is a possibility that the ball stud portion is not actually sitting on the taper, but jammed up against the shoulder area where it levels out from the taper. If this is the case, you don't have a very good load bearing interface between the parts and I suspect that you will have problems keeping it properly tight.

Firstly, I would contact RooDogs and talk with Trevor or Neil and see if they can sort it out for you. Or, you can email me directly at RaddCruisers at G mail dot com and I'll give you Neil's personal email address and you can send him these photos and discuss the issue with him. Neil is very big on customer service and getting any kinds of issues sorted out with both his customers and his suppliers.

If those two options don't work for you, please contact me directly by email and I'll get this sorted out for you.

~John
 
Yes I like roodogs very much. I contacted them last night w/ pics and this was the reply:

I just pulled one from the warehouse so I could have a look,
just take it off before you tighten anymore and check the adjustment of the drag link end as it may need tightening up a bit first which will make it tighter in the taper as it goes through and then see how it goes but should be ok then
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what to make of that to be honest, I don't think tightening the drag link end will affect the fit of the ball stud in the taper.

I'm going to take the relay rod off this weekend and see what I can find. I still have all my old parts so I can take some measurements with my calipers.
 
amaurer said:
Yes I like roodogs very much. I contacted them last night w/ pics and this was the reply:


I'm not sure what to make of that to be honest, I don't think tightening the drag link end will affect the fit of the ball stud in the taper.

I'm going to take the relay rod off this weekend and see what I can find. I still have all my old parts so I can take some measurements with my calipers.
Click to expand...

Just make sure you're talking to Neil (owner) and not one of the other guys.

The taper of the ball stud and the taper into the tie rod end should be a perfect fit. Washers should not be required (or used).


~John
 
I played under there today a bit... some additional pictures.

Pic #1 is after I removed the relay rod end and then set it back in place with nothing but hand pressure. You can see it seats deeply, the hole is visible, maybe 10mm or more from the back of the TRE.

Pic #2 is the same view, but with the castle nut held next to it. Even without any torque applied, the nut is almost below the cotter pin hole!

Pic #3 is the ball stud removed from the end. I measure it to try and determine if the tape is proper or not. The taper is ~16.5mm dia. at the narrow end, and widens to about 18mm at the wide end. The taper length is about ~15.7mm. The hole is located 17mm from the small end of the taper and the stud overall is 23.mm from the bottom of the taper.
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I had some back and forth with Neil about this - couldn't really tell from his pics if my parts were different than what he was pulling from his stores.

But... roodogs is awesome so they're shipping a new TRE and relay rod end out to me to try on!

Can't complain about that... :)
 
I have the same issue on my LN167 Hilux :(

Only one of the Tie Rods is like this though, it is the passenger side inner.

I currently have washers underneath but I am not very happy with that. For whatever reason all the other ends are fine :frown:
 
You could drill a new hole for the cotter pin once you have torqued into position and marked where you need it....:hillbilly:
Just be careful not to heat the part up.
 
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