Tie rod upgrade suggestions
 

Ok, I am listening to you guys and saving up for a better tie rod.

Unfortunately I am not able to return that bilstein Steering Stabilizer, so I am trying to sell it for $55 on Facebook and Craigslist ��

anyway, after reading up a little, I think a tie rod upgrade will be a great addition.

I have read mixed reviews all over the boards on brands.

Can you guys chime in with experience and suggestions please?

4 door 2007 jk Sahara will have the 2” Mopar lift, and 35x12.50r18 Nitto Mud Grapplers.

Synergy steering components have been very popular for many years, and definitely worth a look. Steersmart/Yeti is a newer option that is getting some good feedback for the draglink (though I don't recall seeing any posts on their tie rod). And I saw that MetalCloak is making one now, the anti-flop sounds interesting.

I was looking at the synergy. Lots of great reviews, however, I did read one bad.

Also looking at ruff stuff and rubicon express

The Rough Country HD looks decent, though I have read a ton of mixed reviews about the companies other products.

I’m also only seeing a 1 3/8” version from synergy.
And the rubicon express is 1 5/8”

does the size necessarily matter (��) when upgrading the tie rod?

Steersmarts is beefy.

Yeah, it’s showing 1 5/8” also.

Some have said I don’t need to upgrade the draglink.

I already have a new hd rubicon express track bar. So, I am considering the steersmart to finish it off good.

here ya go -

https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/modi...ie-rod-346539/

Don't go thinking DIY is hard. That supplier will drill out and tap for the 1-ton ends....you literally are just screwing the ends in to the aluminum.

Hmm. $200 vs $415

I looked at Synergy but I found a lot of complaints that the rubber boots rip and lose the grease and then the joint wears out to fast. I got the Teraflex draglink and tie rod. Has been on the jeep for a year and no issues at all.

Ruff Stuff has an aluminum option now. https://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com...g/R2476-A.html

I’m a little hesitant to have a fab shop do the rod, especially around the Southern Oregon area. And after hearing poor feedback on the synergy and new rubicon express, I am leaning toward the Yeti.

their new one is also “non-flip” and i have yet to find any negative feedback.

Aluminum vs steel,,,......

To be fair, many are guilty of completely overfilling these joints and using the boot as a reservoir which is not the intention. The springs Synergy uses are not ideal. Not certain if they still use those or not......at one point in the past I ordered replacement ends and the boots were much better and held on with a different metal tension ring. :dontknow2:

Not certain what the hesitation is with a "fab shop" all these TRs are gonna be steel or aluminum with ends screwed in held in place with a jam nut or pinch bolt. There's nothing fancy about em. They will rust/corrode the same way. Even if you buy one put together it probably would be a good idea to remove the ends and put a little anti-seize on the threads and screw em back in.....at least that is what I would do if I lived up north.

I'd get aluminum if it were me.

Yes it absolutely does, but perhaps not in the way you think. I ran the Currie, which is 1-5/8", and has super-sized ends. There were two issues: First, the super-sized ends were so large that with my 16" wheels, they'd scrape off the wheel balance weights on the passenger front wheel. I had to keep an eye on the tech to ensure he placed them so they would not be scraped off. Secondly, the extra weight of that rod was abusive to those ends, despite their extra beef. They didn't last any time at all. Replaced with Synergy many, many miles ago and have been super happy with that. Ditto, BTW, for the drag link (went Currie to Synergy also). I think the Currie is fine if you trailer your rig and use it for rock crawling, which doesn't suffer the high impact damage from washboard roads that overlanding does. Otherwise, avoid those heavy tie rods/drag links.

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This is getting interesting. Great info from you guys. Thank you

I have both synergy. They have different metal clamps but I still rock one of the old springs on my drag link. Never had an issue. Don't over grease them.

I've found that's easier said than done. I take my rig in for oil changes where they also grease my joints. Hard to get an oil tech to know when to stop when the other 1000s of cars they work on don't use slinky springs and grease boots that pop off. No more Synergy parts for me thanks.

Most vehicles that have been built in the last 15 years don't have a single grease point on them. Should not be a big deal telling the tech not to grease anything.

They grease my tie rod ends, ball joints, and drag link joints. If it's included with the oil change, it's one less thing I need to do myself is what I figure. The synergy drag link joints are the only ones that cause problems where I need to check on it regularly. I'm running the Ruff Stuff tie rod with their 1ton ends currently. I keep telling myself I need to get a set of Synergies replacement boot covers and replace the originals but just haven't gotten around to doing it. That's the thing I'm finding with Synergy. It's not that they don't make good stuff but it seems their initial designs always have some weak point of failure in the design, where they make improvements to the design afterwards. I'm no longer interested in being a beta tester where I need to go out and repurchase and replace parts since they couldn't get it right the 1st time. Their parts aren't that cheap to come with those types of expectations. If their name was Rough Country and the parts cost half as much, then I wouldn't be as disappointed.

Synergy ball joints are sh*t. Their original track bar joints would rust and seize if you lived in a rust belt state and didn't grease them regularly, but now they have improved designed joints for those as well. This all just tells me that Synergy is great at bending and designing pipes for suspension parts, but it seems they have no clue to what they're doing in the designs of the joints which go on those terrifically bent pipes.

Ok, so...

stay away from synergy, go with aluminum ?


I am not finding an aluminum version made by Steer Smart.

would it be best to just go with Ruff Stuff or look in to having a shop fab one?

Barnes 4WD makes a pretty good 7075 Steering kit

https://www.barnes4wd.com/Jeep-JK-On...ing_c_192.html

Synergy is fine on the most part. The problem being described with their steering parts is that they used some flexible rubber dust joint cover, held on by some slinky looking hair tie. You fill the joint up with too much grease, the rubber expands, the slinky spring pops off, the rubber dust cover boot pops off in return and damn grease oozes all over the place and allows the grease to flow out of the joint. They have since designed replacement dust boot covers to fix that original piss poor design. Do their new tie rods, and drag links come with that updated design part? I have no idea, you would need to call them to find out. Aside from that, the drag link and tie rod are pretty well made. I wish I had known about their poor boot cover design ahead of purchasing mine. I would have looked elsewhere or made sure to get the updated designed boots.

The aluminum fab tie rod is a good option to look into. It's inexpensive, it won't rust, and if it ever gets banged on anything, it will bend back into shape since it is aluminum. The Ruff Stuff tie rod is what I have. It's beefy, inexpensive and made of steal. The only down sides are that it comes bare steal (ie non painted) and will rust on the outside if you don't paint it and if you ever bang it on rocks, it will bend but if you're not doing rock crawling that is less of a concern. It will definitely firm up the steering. If I had the money, I would go with the Steer Smarts Yeti drag link and tie rod setup , I don't believe they made aluminum but I haven't checked. For best value options I would go with the Ruff Stuff or the Aluminum tie rod fab option and lean more towards the aluminum tie rod fab since you eliminate the bending and rusting concerns.

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Can anyone tell if this is the stock tie rod?
It does appear to be 1.5”

I also noticed there is one zerk fitting on the drag link.