I went off roadding last week and tore the cv boot on right side. I took it to a shop to have it replaced. All good until they went to alignment. With a twist of the tie rod, POP... the thing dislocates. They popped it back into place, but I wasn't real comfortable driving it in that condition, and neither were they. I am having it replaced. I think it may have been slightly dislocated when I dropped the front end into a crevace on the back side of a small hill . I was moving slowly, but the wheel was turned hard right. The right front was in the air when the left dropped in. No abnormal pops, cracks, or creaks occurred on impact and the suspension felt like it did it's job. It also didn't even feel like it hit the bump stops. How do I prevent this from happening in the future... aside from the obvious don't drop the front end into a crevase . Are there beefier tie rods... do I need them? Should I replace the driver side tie rod too?

 

Wow. You are from my hometown, in the People's Republik of Kalifornia. Nothing to add as far as the tierods though.

 

http://sky-manufacturing.com/

toyota > steering

fj80 tie rod ends

kelly

 

sounds like the only difference on the sky ends are that the thread is a different size. They said they used the factory 555 ends. So really, that isn't going to do any good.

I'm guessing here.......

But the reason your end dislocated because of harsh angles.... I'm guessing that you are using stock tie rod sleeves with your lift. If you are, then when your tire drops, it is going to pull unneccessarily on your tie rods. Get extended sleeves that put your steering back at stock geometry and you should be fine.

 

555 is a manufacturer if I'm not mistaken, it's not the part number. The difference is in the threads, not the tapered stud on the ball. They're 23mm versus I believe 21mm on the minitruck ends. To go any beefier you have to move up to Chevy rod ends or heims, which means reworking the arms to fit them.

 

What do you mean "dislocates"? The ball popped out of the socket? If that's what happened it's just worn out and you need to replace it. Either that or you have some binding happening in the links that you need to work out first, but I'd still replace it anyways.

 

gotcha on the 555 thing. My replacements were 555. Is there a certain lift height were you NEED to replace the sleeves with longer ones?

 

apparently I really jambed the right front... latest news from the shop is: not only did the outer tie rod dislocate, the inner joint is siezed from the impact. they don't think there's any damaga to the rack and pinion, but I now have to replace the outer and inner rods :cry: . I'm feeling pretty lucky the whole thing held together for the rest of the off roading fun, and trip home. I'll have to check with Downey to see if they have any tie rod extenders. Maybe I'll just make some.

 

haha..... siezed.... you should have seen mine.... took a big seperator and a 3lb maul, and several REALLY big hits. But they come off....

 

how do i keep them from siezing again? Should I keep the old ones and try to seperate them for spares, well, the inner anyway? I think Toyota calls the inner tie rod a rack end. that part might be good if I can seperate them. where can i get a splitter? Toyota, or can I get one at Kragen?