Jay351

I replaced both complete tie rod assemblys with Moog parts just over a year ago. the inners where greaseable, outers no.

When I got under my truck last week to grease everything I noticed that the passenger side inner tie rod was contacting the frame under heavy load and that broke the grease nipple. Like pushed it into the tie rod.. yay..

So I figured that was from when the idler arm bushings wear out..
Well after going on a mud run on the weekend I noticed the same thing happend to the driver side (not quite as bad).

So Is my pitman and idler arm bad? Or should I just put some caps (bolts?) into the grease fitting holes, then swap em out when I grease them? Or should I replace with non-greasables...

Gah..

thook

Jack the front up and look at both arms (not YOUR arms.....). Has your alignment been off? Sloppy steering? Rattling? Have you ever messed with the adjustments on your steering stops?

Jay351

The camber has always been a little off, but other then that no.

After going on this mud run I noticed that it broke the driver side fitting off and totally ripped the already broken passenger side.

I did notice that at full crank, the tie rod fitting was almost hitting the frame. I didnt think it was supposed to go that close.

Are the factory tie rods non greaseable? Seems thats the only problem...

Ardent

I would also check the steering stops as Thook mentioned. I just replaced one that had bent and was allowing my Idler arm to reach the frame stop. Pics?

thook

The factory's are not, but I have Moog TRE's on my '86 and don't have any clearance issues. I suppose I could go out and look and try to get some ideas. Otherwise, I'm stumped at the moment.

Ardent

I'm pretty sure the factory's are non-greasable. I have the moog arms on mine with the zerks and I'm not hitting anything, but I have a bracket lift... Maybe that's the benefit to a bracket lift...

Jay351

Yeah, I cant really think of anything that would allow so much movement. My whole front end is in good shape. I was just under the truck last week greasing EVERYTHING...

No pictures, the truck is still full of mud, gonna go wash it tonight.. Can't wash it at home, too dirty So I pay my $10 and let the carwash deal with it..

Jay351

Haha! Well, its hitting right on the drop brackets for the lower control arms and the diff...

Its super close under full crank, and I guess when I was rompin through the mud ruts it flexed over and broke them off...

Now Im just hoping I can shove new zerks in there.. Those TRE's are expensive up here

thook

Oh.....you have a bracket lift. Didn't realize that, Jay. I guess I may not be much help, then.

Jay351

Nope, I dont have a bracket lift
I was talking about the stock welded brackets on the frame, the part that supports the lower control arm, and the differential crossmember and such...

I just have bj spacers up front... I have an idler brace too..

I went and washed my truck (That new carwash is gonna HATE me !!!) so I can grab a picture of two if you guys wanna see..?

thook

Oh, okay. No bracket lift. Anyway....

Yeah, take some pics. Have to go take care of some critters right now, but I'll check in later if no one has helped anymore.

Jay351

OKay, Here are a few pictures. Wheel straight.

Passenger side, grease fitting has already been ripped out. You can see how close the TRE is to the frame.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...7/P4240008.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...7/P4240009.jpg

Driver side, you can see where the fitting has been hitting the frame..

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...7/P4240010.jpg


PIctures are pretty big, so I didnt link them directly..

thook

Well, you're clearance doesn't look too different than mine. It is an awfully tight squeeze. Maybe you're caster is just difference enough, if that would even affect it. I played with the alignment adjustment on my wife's '92 4rnr enough I'd think it would. No matter......if your handling is fine, I'd just put some small screws in to cap'em. Then, change out when you grease the tie rods, like you'd figured already.

I had to do some grinding and bending to get clearance enough so nothing would rub on the '92 (mainly the relay rod) after I'd bent everything up in a wreck. The caster is different from one side to the other, so it still pulls a bit to the left. But, it's as good as it's going to get unless I come with enough money to put the vehicle on a rack and straighten all out some more.

thook

Then again, maybe it's just the idler arm that's really givin' you a fit. Is there any possibility the knuckle arms have been tweaked somehow?

Jay351

I have no idea, im hoping that the fittings didnt punch out the threads on the TRE.

Perhaps I will do a little grinding on the frame brackets for some extra room.. I really hate to do things like that, I want things to work properly



I think the idler has to be worn. Im just a little pissed on how little the stupid brace does...

The knuckle arms could very well be tweaked. I know for a fact that the truck has been in 2-4 front end accidents and was rebuilt from the frame up by the PO (he didnt tell me that...). I noticed when my cab had the vin from a 1990 22re pickup..

Thanks for your help!

Jay351

Hokay.

so I pulled off the idler arm, as it was moving at the pivot.

The bolts for the idler arm brace are screwed. Who the hell uses grade three hardware here? One is bent to hell and the other just snapped.

so I then had to beat the snot outa the brace to get it off, as it had bent around the lower idler arm..

I cannot put the brace back on at the moment as I cannot get it back into place. The brace itself is bent and needs to be bent back into place. My stupid torch ran out of oxygen so I can't do anything bout that today..

once I got everything back into place, the idler still had movement!!!!!!! AGH!!

so I guess my idler arm is just thrashed. Im gonna look into another used (but not trashed) 91 style idler arm..

oh yeah, the tre cannot accept the grease fittings, the threads have been punched out. I guess I can drill them out and tap them for a bigger fitting.. damn this sucks!!!

4Runner4vr

Its because you used Moog.

swampedout

Normally, I would point out that this was 12 years ago, but there is no time limit on trashing Moog.