hetkind

I don't know how Jeep did this, but I can't believe the confusion in naming the tie rod ends on the steering linkages...

I am out of town on a job and my lovely wife dropped off the Jeep at our local alignment shop (really a heavy duty truck garage, I have an account with them), and she is told that three of the four tie rods ends are bad and it will be $350 plus tax to change them out. It is a 08 Sahara...

So after consuliting Rock Auto, Quadratec, digging up various other diagrams and finally going to the Raybestos Chassis Catalog, I ordered all four tie rods for the top rod or drag link, and the bottom rod or tie rod.

Raybestos 4011920 25.99 drag link at pitman arm

Raybestos 4101098 42.79 long draglink, to knuckle

Raybestos 4012298 37.79 left outer tie rod end

Raybestos 4101096 47.89 right outer tie rod

I have only been using Raybestos parts for 35 years with good results.

I could have spent an easy $600 on aftermarket tie rods and drag links, but then, how would that be maintainable without reordering the same aftermarket parts and pieces? This jeep does things and goes places, usually without me and I want to make sure that an on the road problem is some rustic hole in the wall, can be repaired at the local garage, with FLAP part supply. This jeep is normally driven by the women in my family (wife, wife's sister, daughter), and I don't need a bad tie rod end to cause a 3 day delay on some journey:-)

Hopefully the big box of Rockauto parts will show up by the time I get home, and I can dig out the pickle fork, pipe wrench and measuring tape, get the parts swapped and back to the alignment rack, and put this job behind me. I just got done putting $600 of bearings, bushings, tie rod ends, drag link kits, knuckle bearings, and seals into the M37 (Military Dodge Power Wagon) in January and I thought I was good on front end work for a bit.

Howard

TheDirtman

You can only replace one end one the tie rod, so if that one goes you will need a new tie rod. You can do the Ruff Stuff tie rod kit For $135 and they run sales every holiday for 10-15% off.

hetkind

Thanks for the pointer to the ruff stuff, but not exactly plug and play in my opinion, and repair on a failure, say in Cherokee National Forest, Unicoi, Tennessee, may be a difficult. The drag links and tie rod pieces comes as a short left piece and a LONG right piece, each one with a tie rod end on it...so the four pieces I ordered should cover all the major pieces.

Howard

TheDirtman

Plug and play would be depending on your skills but the Ruff Stuff tie rod is a better set up then factory and uses standard GM 1 ton Tre's. They also sell the ends for $38. $125 for a complete tie rod with 1 ton ends is cheap.

hetkind

Again, thanks for the pointer, but I found their website unclear, and two, this jeep normally travels without me, and third party maintanability is critical...I just remember when my first wife failed a throttle cable on a weber carb mounted on a FJ60 Land Cruiser 50 miles north of Lubbock Texas, while I was up in Idaho on a job...

But I do like the idea of GM 1 ton TRE, I had a 90 Chevy van that I put a 1 ton suspension under...the automatic transmission became the weak point.

Howard

hetkind

Well, the big box of front end parts came in yesterday, and aside from needed a air impact gun, pickle fork with 8lb sledge (pitman arm connection), and 24" Stilson wrench to break the tie rod adjustor free, the job went well and we went from jacking up to final rough alignment with tape measure in about two hours. The jeep is going into the alignment bay this morning.

The NEXT time I do this job, I will order a NEW adjustor sleeve for the tie rod shaft and adjustor connector for the drag link.

The old tie rods came off awfully stiff and notchy and my wife was convinced I was going to tear the vice out of the workbench getting the adjustor sleeve broken loose!

The last time I used the big pipe wrench on a job freeing up a old Allison dozer chain adjustor:-)

Howard