The tie rod, again

[Patrick62]

Gentlemen, check my thinking here and see if I am "over reacting"

1967 Dodge two ton truck.

Came to me with a bent tie rod, straightened it and it worked for awhile. We bent it really bad last year, and had a local shop straighten it. Today, somehow, in the yard! It bent again. don't know if a block kicked up, or the front wheels got knocked around, but it got bent pretty easy this time. I didn't know it until I ran the load, and what the heck is going on here? Okay, that is enough of that. Either we gotta put something over this thing, or just create a new rod.

Overkill is a good thing (sometimes) and I am very frustrated with this.

I just ordered a 5 foot piece of 1.75 OD .188 wall Chrome Moly tubing. My thinking is that aught to be strong enough to handle the 20" wheels on this truck!

Installation. The general idea, at this point is to chop off the ends of the old rod and telescope them into the tubing a bit and put it together with a MIG welder. I was looking it up, and the stuff should be TIG welded... They said it can be welded with a 80110 arc rod as well. I am thinking, that as a "fail safe" I might drill thru both and place a 3/8 bolt just in case.... probably not needed, but....

In a reputable shop.... they would have the ability to thread the tubing for my tie rod ends, but bear in mind this is middle of nowhere colorado.

Am I on track?
Or fixing to flip a 8000 pound truck?

 

[hangfirew8]

Once bent, a steel rod is weakened and will bend again. A straight up replacement may last the rest of your life with reasonable care.

-HF

 

[dieselfitter]

I had a Chev that I tore the tie rod off on a logging road when hunting. While crossing a muddy spot, a piece of wood popped up and caught the tie rod in the worst spot and broke the tubing. I removed the tie rod and started walking. It would be a 7 mile walk to the nearest pavement and 30 miles to the nearest town that with a repair shop. While walking I was very fortunate to come upon a guy operating portable screener at a gravel pit. He had a welder and allowed my to use it. I cobbled it together and limped it home 250 miles.
After the trip I looked at the tie rod and noticed that where the tie rod is threaded, the tube is bored and threaded and the wall thickness is thinner. That short length that the tubing is threaded beyond the tie rod is the weak spot. The ends on this tie rod tubing had a hex ends to put a wrench on it for adjusting toe it. What I did was cut a 12" length of pipe, drilled .75" holes every 1.5", then slice the pipe it down the middle. Then I sandwiched the two halves onto the tie rod and welded them just inboard of the hex ends. I weld/filled the .75" holes to give it a little more strength.
Where is it bending, the middle, the ends? Could the steering stops be out of adjustment causing binding that is bending the tie rod.

 

[Tomc460]

My concern would be that if the D.O.T. Stopped you & saw a homemade part in your steering! They may not like that!! Just my 2 cents tho

 

[Patrick62]

My concern would be that if the D.O.T. Stopped you & saw a homemade part in your steering! They may not like that!! Just my 2 cents tho

IF CDOT wants to do a roadside inspection of a 47 year old truck they had better expect to find a few parts replaced.
With me, there are two things that are mandatory. Steering and brakes. Most everything else is optional.
I have heard that before about the once bent, it will bend again and again and again. What I have to do is repair this to better than new.
Um... there are no New Old Stock tie rods available for a D500 that I am aware of, we gotta build it.

The ends seem to be pretty stout. Threads are straight and true. Which is why I am going to just chop the ends off and weld it to the new tubing. Or, just stuff the old tie rod down the middle of the new tubing and weld the ends shut!

I straightened that rod "one more time". It will survive until next week.

8.25 X 20 tires are quite pricey, and I gotta have this thing in as good a steer as possible

 

[blades]

Stuff it down a new tube, weld ends - Then The Biggie Needs to be Heat Treated ( weld area annealed) to remove the brittleness caused by the welding or it will snap on the weaker side of the weld. No bolt holes as they will cause weak spots as well. Dodge never did have great front ends

 

[Ronaldo]

We have welded on tractor steering rods with good success and have never heat treated afterwards??????
I realize an on road vehicle is a bit more serious with higher speeds etc., but weld it only using enough heat for good penetration and allow to cool a bit between welds..........you should be ok.

 

[steved]

Why not convert to rodends and eliminate the tierod ends altogether?

 

[mdavlee]

What grade chrome moly is it? If its over 2% you need to preheat and cool slowly. You can stick weld it or tig it. If you mig it make sure to get the right grade.

 

[Thomud]

Let me tell ya, this stuff happens all the time in rock crawling. I run 1.25 .250 wall for my tierod on my CJ-7. Weld in bungs were used for the ends to attach the rod ends.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mdavlee]

If you have any questions feel free to ask. I'll help you all I can.

 

[super3]

Yrs. ago we made tie rods for motor homes. We were using .375 wall tubing.

 

[Patrick62]

The latest.
Tubing is on it's way. Talked to a couple people around here. One perspective is it will work, another is that it could work... could not.
Talked to Bob, and his welder is still in storage. yes, it is a TIG. We made a deal that the welder can be out here in my shop as long as he can get to it, and use it. Deal! I gotta bend some pipe and run a circuit to power it.

Bob was a excellent welder back in the "day". we gonna fix this up correctly. And I get a chance to learn how to use this welder. Mig is easy, I can run a stick welder (not that great). I can gas weld pretty good, and braze pretty well. Just a few more tricks to learn...

Meanwhile, I have 8 cords to deliver in the next 3 days with a flimsy tie rod...

 

[esshup]

Got a band saw? Take a piece of thicker wall tubing and cut it in half lengthwise. Put it over the bent area of the tie rod and tack it in place to reinforce the bent area until you get the new one made. Just remember that you probably should have some way of adjusting the length of the mew tie rod to keep the alignment good if you have to adjust it in the future.