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James Briscoe (Rockywood)
Member
Username: Rockywood

Post Number: 47
Registered: 01-2004
Posted on Saturday, April 10, 2004 - 10:52 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

Hey guys, I went wheel'n today and bent the crap out of my track rod / tie rod. Are those the same thing? Anyway I am wondering if that can just be bent back or should I buy a new heavy duty one along with a steering damper reloc kit? I go wheel'n about two times a month and this is the first time I bent this thing. Also do I need any special tools to take this off and reinstall?

I found information on some products at:

http://rovertracks.com/
http://www.rockware.net/rover/
http://www.rovertym.com

Does anyone have a suggestion on what I should go with?

Below is a pic of what happened. Damn logging roads! It must have been a stump but I never even noticed until I got back onto a normal gravel road that my alignment was screwed! Thanks in advance for any assistance.



 

Andrew Homan (Andy)
Member
Username: Andy

Post Number: 69
Registered: 01-2004
Posted on Sunday, April 11, 2004 - 12:05 am:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

Thats one nice bent track rod. don't need a lot of special tools, socket for the nuts on the end and usually a good wack at the end where the joint goes in will loosen it. don't hit to hard don't need more bent parts. get a kit to relocate the dampner. Thats next on my list. You'll probably want an aligment to. Get a heavy duty rod to replace the bent one. What better excuse doyou need. the bend something else so you can up grade it. like a diff so you can rebuild and put a locker in. That the angle I'm trying with my wife. Oh ya don't hitr threads with hammer if your going to reuse the ends. Good luck!

Cheers Andy
 

Brendan Kearns (Howboucha)
Senior Member
Username: Howboucha

Post Number: 258
Registered: 01-2003
Posted on Sunday, April 11, 2004 - 10:08 am:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

I did the same thing. I removed the tie-rod and took it a shop where we used a press to straighten it. I then had it aligned, but it didn't need much due to an incredible bend-back job.

I too need to relocate my OME dampner.
 

dhk (Kay_tell)
Member
Username: Kay_tell

Post Number: 67
Registered: 03-2004
Posted on Sunday, April 11, 2004 - 12:13 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

goota love that. and the design that rove comes with! anyway, get a more heavy duty type. i like the one that is bent up and out of the way, i think made by rock ware. maybe even a stid plate to protect the front. cause when that one breaks you have no steering at all!
check http://groups.msn.com/saundersandcompany for relocation kit!
 

Jaime Crusellas (Jaime)
Senior Member
Username: Jaime

Post Number: 320
Registered: 05-2003
Posted on Sunday, April 11, 2004 - 01:29 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

The big pain the ass is going to be if you need to get the track rod off the ball joints. The damn things rust on and in my case I had to cut the rod off the joints without destroying the threads on the joints.

So you may need a cutoff wheel
 

Clif Ashley (Cta586)
Senior Member
Username: Cta586

Post Number: 559
Registered: 04-2002
Posted on Sunday, April 11, 2004 - 01:49 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

There are many a horror story about getting those things off, but always a chance that they will come off properly.
 

James Briscoe (Rockywood)
Member
Username: Rockywood

Post Number: 48
Registered: 01-2004
Posted on Sunday, April 11, 2004 - 06:08 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

Thanks for the all the info! I got under the truck today and tried to remove my tie rod... no luck. I tried everything including a large pipe wrench and a couple of vice grips. I even had a large crow bar between the pipe wrench and the vice grips and tried to move them each in opposite directions at the same time without luck!
Hope I don't have to take my 5" cuttoff saw to it.

While I was down there I took a few more pictures to share. Seems all of the bend happened at one point only. Right were the steering damper bracket is. Almost like the bracket caught and that's what caused the bending.





What I was hoping to do is take off the rod and hit it with a sledge hammer while the rod rests on a large timber I have. Then I was going to site it like you site a pool cue to get it close enough. Then reinstall and see if I should get a new rod. If I do then at least it will get me back on the road until a new rod arrives.

Another thing I was thinking is that maybe I could remove the whole rod with it still attached to the nuckles. Has anyone tried this and is this possible? I got the cotter pin out and the nut off the bottom of the nuckle no problem but could not tell if the nuckle scews in or just passes through the arm attached to the wheel. I hit it lightly with the hammer but there was no movement.



Here is a look at the other end of the tie rod that will not budge. How in the hell do you do an alignment on this thing when you can't get this to move? I had an aligment a year ago and they charged me $50 Canadian. If they had to go through what I am going through then I got one hell of a deal!

 

Trey & Melissa Burns (T_burns)
New Member
Username: T_burns

Post Number: 31
Registered: 02-2004
Posted on Sunday, April 11, 2004 - 06:22 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

Where the slots are in the end of the tie rod get a punch and spread the slots open and then spray WD40 inside the slots, and see if that loosens it.
 

James Briscoe (Rockywood)
Member
Username: Rockywood

Post Number: 49
Registered: 01-2004
Posted on Sunday, April 11, 2004 - 06:30 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

Ya I tried that already. I even took a large slot screw driver and put it in the slots then with a wrench on the screw driver I turned it to spread them. Lots of WD40 in there with the straw pressed up hard to give good pressure. I will let it sit for a few hours then try again tonight.

The trouble is, and correct me if I'm wrong, but are you not always turning two connections at the same time? Does one end loosen while the other end tightens? How do you remove it then?
 

Brian Dickens (Bri)
Senior Member
Username: Bri

Post Number: 1062
Registered: 08-2002
Posted on Sunday, April 11, 2004 - 07:05 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

Take the whole unit off including the ball joints by removing the nuts on the balljoint. Tap lightly with a large hammer on the where the ball joint seats to the wheel, after a minute or two of tapping the vibes will pop it out.

Place it in a vice on a bench where you can get a ton of leverage on the largest pipe wrench you've got. Possibly one of the ball joints is reverse thread.

Likely when in the vice you can straghten it as well, be careful bending it back. Don't pay any good money to get it straightened, because technically its shot, whatever you do do not replace it with stock.

This is a very vulnerable part. If you do a lot of wheeling, then you will likely hit it again, so protecting this area or upgrading to a HD rack rod would be money well spent. Obviously relocating the damper just eliminates damage to the damper, but the trackrod is still vulnerable.

Brian
 

Drew Porta (Ncrover)
Member
Username: Ncrover

Post Number: 88
Registered: 05-2003
Posted on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - 12:22 am:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

You can undo the clamps at each end and twist the steering rod off (thus thoroughly screwing up the alignment) or you can borrow a tie rod press from Autozone to properly remove the steering rod. Don't ask how I know about removing the steering rod...

I would highly recommend purchasing a RoverTym steering dampner relocation kit and a RoverTym steering rod. The relo kit is as good as anyones, but the steering rod..you can jack up the truck off this bar! It is heavy and tough! I'd hate to see what someone did to bend a RoverTym steering rod. Just bolt it on and forget about worrying anymore...

When you've swapped out all the parts, take the Disco to a local auto repair place and get an alignment with a WARRANTY. Next time you go offroad and mess up the alignment, take it back in for re-alignment.
 

James Briscoe (Rockywood)
Member
Username: Rockywood

Post Number: 50
Registered: 01-2004
Posted on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - 01:38 am:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

I am not sure if anyone cares but I thought I would finish off the story. I managed to "fix" the rod myself and it was easier than I thought it would be.

What I did was just follow Brian's advice and take the ball joints off with the tie rod still attached. Not only was this fairly easy to do but providing the rod is just about as straight as before then the alignment should be close to what it was before... and it is! Tapping lightly and patiently worked. The rod was so bent that I almost didn't have enough clearance to get the ball joint out so while I pushed up as hard as I could I had my wife turn the tire with all her might to pull it away from the ball joint.

Here is what the rod looked like after removal.



I placed it on some boards so the boards where about a foot apart. Then I placed the rod so the bend was in the middle of the boards. After about 15 strategically placed blows with the sledge hammer she was pretty much straight again.




I put new bolts on the clamps because the others were very rusty and I broke one of them taking it off.



Here are a couple pics of the rod reinstalled:




I also put new cotter (or codder?) pins on the ball joint bolts. After all of this I am still sold on the Rovertym stuff and I think I will order the kit they have on their site including the relocation brackets. I don't really trust the steering on the highway anymore.

Anyway than you all very much for your help and offers of assitance! Long live Discoweb!

- James
 

Brian Dickens (Bri)
Senior Member
Username: Bri

Post Number: 1074
Registered: 08-2002
Posted on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - 10:39 am:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

You should order new ball joints when you get the roverttym trackrod. Use Anti sieze everywhere and replace all 4 ball joints at the same time if possible.

Keep the old track rod, you never know when you or someone else might need it. Mine is permanently in the rig along with draglink and trailing links.

Another trail fix for this is to take a small bottle jack (I have a baby 2000 lb one). Wedge the jack up between a stout part and the part you are trying to bend back *down*. Then jack away!

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