Tie Rod Adjustment - Fail

[brianrh]

I didn't break anything... mostly because I couldn't budge a damned thing.

My rig is 2007 and I don't think it's changed in any way shape or form since the original owner purchased it, had it lifted and drove it around Cochrane for 5 1/2 years.

All I wanted to do was a little toe-in adjustment, but I could not budge the 'knurled adaptor' at all.

"3. Firmly grab the tie-rod’s knurled adjuster and rotate it a little bit at a time taking measurements along the way. If you're Jeep sees a lot of water, mud or salt, you may find it necessary to spray down the threads with some penetrating oil and use a pair of vicegrips to help turn the adjuster. Ideally, you'll want to have approximately 1/16" of toe-in. You should not exceed 1/8" as anything more than that will be too much and that'll your tires to wear poorly. "

I have about 1/4" of an inch of toe out.  :-(   Looks like it'll wait until sometime next week when I take it to someone with bigger tools than myself, and maybe a torch to heat things up a bit if needed.

Any comments, input, advice, recommended aftermarket straight up replacements?

Cheers,

Brian

[w squared]

Penetrating oil. Heat. Cursing may help a bit too.

[hps4evr]

Don't forget to loosen the clamp bolt first, clean any dirt out from around the adjuster, penetrate (with fluid  ) and let it break he rust down, use heat but don't go too crazy, just enough heat to break the rust loose. And a medium to large pipe wrench is a good tool to use. If it breaks just bolt the clamp down and buy an outer tie rod end. Then you can fight with replacing the tie rod end....

Or avoid all the hassle and let a shop deal with it...

[brianrh]

Okay... Cheap N cheerful way to get heat?   Propane plumbers torch acceptable/reasonable instead of an oxy/acet setup? 

Favourite penetrating oils?  What's your 'sure thing' when it comes to pen. oil?

[hps4evr]

A propane torch kit from princess auto, or the yellow bottle should be fine as well. Any parts store penetrating fluid should work. The Gunk brand has some good stuff.

[w squared]

I use Weasel P1ss. Seriously....I can't remember the brand, but any fitter or boilermaker that's done work in petrochemical plants will identify the stuff as Weasel P1ss. In case the name didn't give it away, the stuff stinks.

[dubbleJs]

PB blaster is my choice of penetrant,or wd40 if that runs out. And as hps said use a monkey wrench to get the sleeve to turn. Good luck!

[brianrh]

Okay was able to get tie rod moving. And drag link works as expected. I think it's a bit of track bar time next.  Going wheeling tomorrow and booking the rig in for a proper alignment this week.

[brianrh]

Replaced trackbar with jks heavy duty adjustable and attempted alignment.  Thanks to the folks at broken axle.  Thank you. :-)

Considering replacement of all control arms with adjustable.  Or maybe cheaping out and replacing all the bushings and getting a another alignment.   Though that's a third of the way to and adjustable set if I do the bushing replacement part myself. Probably on half the cost with beer and help.

In other news front axle seal, drivers side needs done. Dripping a little on the tire/floor. Can I just stuff an axel housing seal on the end for a couple hundred and ignore the internal seal ... For now...

RCV axels are so nice ... And pricey and I still need to replace the seal.  Friggy heck.

Cheap - bushings and internal and external seals
Nice - adjustable control arms.seals inner and outer and rcv axels...

Did I mention the ears on my u joints are elongating and the recent set of ujoints were spot welded to keep in place - that's why I'm on about rcv axels at all, cursed big tires on dana44s on 80000 km

Ujoints and track bar done with a little dose of professional assessment...

What do we do with the next $1000-1500...?

Ultimately I want the rig able to run true and straight at 150kph on asphalt and over just about anything out wheeling in 4low.

(/somewhat crazed idealistic rant)

[w squared]

If you want to drive at 150pkh in a Jeep, buy an Grand Cherokee SRT8, because everything else that Jeep makes is going to be so-so at that speed. If you want to have something that 's well behaved and capable at highway speeds but rock-solid off road, then your JK should be fine.

I don't know if there's an outer axle seal that will do the job on the JK axles. I do know that RCV axles rock - tough, and you get nice smooth power all the way through the whole steering range - no crow hopping.

[hps4evr]

The axle tube sleeves we install have an outer axle seal. The sleeves, gussets and RCV shafts make the front end bomb proof. The only thing better is a new housing from currie, dynatrac or teraflex. Adjustable arms will help dial in your suspension and alignment specs. I think your front tires are worn a little odd because your toe setting was a little out too.  Something to keep an eye on.

[w squared]

Do the sleeves adress the issue of limited surface area where the tube meets the diff housing? Yes, sleeving the tubes makes the tube stronger, but the smaller OD on the JK tubes means that there's also a weak spot where those tubes meet the pumpkin.

Sleeved tubes = better than stock tubes, and way easier, cheaper, and less invasive than a full truss - but understand what you're getting and what the intended use of your rig is.

[hps4evr]

Do the sleeves adress the issue of limited surface area where the tube meets the diff housing? Yes, sleeving the tubes makes the tube stronger, but the smaller OD on the JK tubes means that there's also a weak spot where those tubes meet the pumpkin.

Sleeved tubes = better than stock tubes, and way easier, cheaper, and less invasive than a full truss - but understand what you're getting and what the intended use of your rig is.

They don't ad surface area to he area where it joins the centre section. A truss system helps spread the load across both tubes. Trusses have to be welded properly or the heat will bend the housing. Welding to the centre section is difficult and even done properly has no guarantee's it won't crack. Dave has inner sleeves and outer tube sleeves and it seems over kill and almost too much heat from welding. But it's holding up fine.
A larger outside diameter tube is the ideal, aftermarket housings use 3-4" tubes that are thicker too. So many options. I just recommend doing something before the current axle tubes bend. Big tires and hard wheeling leads to bent tubes...

[brianrh]

While wheeling today 'something' changed and my steering wheel ended up 30-45 degrees from center.  Oddly, the Jeep is tracking a straight line.  Though the ESP was very upset about it. And once the ESP gave up trying on the way home it was the nicest drive I've had so far!  Recentered steering wheel when I dropped off my copilot. Man his ol lady seemed annoyed to see us with wrenches.... I wonder if we were late.... :-) any way... ESP lights reset (went off and stayed off) on the way to the car wash. Managed to make the check engine light come on spraying out under the hood. Battery is discon now pending a wait and reconnect.

[brianrh]

The axle tube sleeves we install have an outer axle seal. The sleeves, gussets and RCV shafts make the front end bomb proof. The only thing better is a new housing from currie, dynatrac or teraflex. Adjustable arms will help dial in your suspension and alignment specs. I think your front tires are worn a little odd because your toe setting was a little out too.  Something to keep an eye on.

I think I'll flip the almost new rears tires onto the front end in the next couple days and see how it feels this week.  All of the existing control arms are in really good shape, so I might cheap out and do inspect, replace bushings perhaps and try another alignment before going to adjustable arms.

The toe setting was probably more my doing than anything and that was only the day before it came to you so I'm not too worried about the wear.

Oh... Now I need to read up on axle sleeves.... Sigh  :-)