Tie rods

Kubelmann · Post by **Kubelmann** » Sat Jan 11, 2003 8:52 pm

I am seriously considering reaming my spindles and pitman to allow the use of Ford tie rod ends. Does this ream out weaken the spindles or pitman enough to be a concern? My other idea is to take my old stock sway bar and cut it to fit inside the tie rods for a stiffener/flex bar. Input here is appreciated. K-mann

Post by **Marc** » Sat Jan 11, 2003 9:20 pm

The swaybar-in-the-tierod trick works well to reduce bending but it does make breakage more likely - something has to give under extreme loads, if the tierod doesn't bend the tierod end will (or it'll snap). 90% of the time you're better off with the reinforced tierod, the problem is the really big jolts that used to just leave you toed-out a foot and now leave you with one wheel no longer connected to the steering at all. Usually harder to fix in the boonies than a bent tierod too - if you go for it, I'd recommend taking a spare assembly for the right side as a minimum.
Reaming out the spindles/pitman arm for the Ford/IH ends doesn't seem to weaken them enough to cause alarm. I've never seen any failures caused by it, although if the steering arms aren't gusseted they may bend - again, something has to give.

GDRBO · Post by **GDRBO** » Sat Jan 11, 2003 10:22 pm

Like Marc I have never seen it to be a weak point but if it truly concerns you why not gusset it? Since I have bent tierods and steering arms I decided to keep small tie rod ends on my current car. What with the rack I only have outer ends and they match so I only need one spare.