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Badlands
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zuke

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Where the heck is this line of thought coming from? Sorry, man, this is just silly. Think about it. You are actually saying that the Ford engineers designed the STEERING to be a weak link for safety reasons. There are plenty of things that can break and you can limp out, or get towed out. But you can't go anywhere with broken steering. So, you're saying that if I'm in my SaS'd Wildtrack hauling ass through the desert and I accidently hit a rock at speed that the steering is designed to break first as the weak link for safety reasons. Really, not trying to be difficult here, but think about it, the steering being a designed weak link makes no sense at all. :rolleyes:
<sigh> I'll briefly assume you will actually read this....

You're misunderstanding the original suggestion

The suggestion is that the TIE ROD is supposed to be the first thing to break in the STEERING, Not the entire vehicle... A weak Tie Rod can protect the steering rack, a much more expensive and harder to replace on the trail piece.

You think your Stereo's fuse has F'all to do with your ignition?
 

mandrew

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Lol
Whoever put the descriptions on that picture have it all backwards.
The tierod is what you see in the picture where it says drag link, and where it says tie-rod, that's the draglink :)
You are totally right....I just did a super quick search to show the size difference and wasn't paying attention to the labels/arrows (I didn't label them).
 

OX1

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Just kind of sad that back in the day, bending the crap out of your tie rods on a SFA just meant you had to hook up a tow strap to it and bend it back enough to get down the road again.

I once got two 78/79's for $300. One I threw a bunch of parts at, all of which I had lying around except the cheapo ram assist I cobbled together. 4" lift, 36 swampers, spooled rear, welded front diff.

DCP02763.jpg


Beat the crap out of it crawling and bent up not only the tie rods, but the drag link too. But neither broke.


DCP02344.jpg


Next I bent the tie rod mostly back to straight, welded a piece of angle to the center area of tie rod and beat that until it was bent again. I was never worried it was going to break, because it never happened to me in all the years of beating these old broncos.

My question is why aren't the new bronco tie rods at least this thick? I assumed it was due to much better materials, 40 years later.
 

rsmtracker

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Just kind of sad that back in the day, bending the crap out of your tie rods on a SFA just meant you had to hook up a tow strap to it and bend it back enough to get down the road again.

I once got two 78/79's for $300. One I threw a bunch of parts at, all of which I had lying around except the cheapo ram assist I cobbled together. 4" lift, 36 swampers, spooled rear, welded front diff.

DCP02763.jpg


Beat the crap out of it crawling and bent up not only the tie rods, but the drag link too. But neither broke.


DCP02344.jpg


Next I bent the tie rod mostly back to straight, welded a piece of angle to the center area of tie rod and beat that until it was bent again. I was never worried it was going to break, because it never happened to me in all the years of beating these old broncos.

My question is why aren't the new bronco tie rods at least this thick? I assumed it was due to much better materials, 40 years later.
those days are over, tierods today are beefy as heck, not counting now we have alum suckers that can flex and go back to straight again, it's pure magic :)








Also the new Bronco has IFS so those tierods are different and meant to break as it was said before they can damage the steering rack. For those who have never played with IFS before, welcome to the IFS fun days. Sure IFS equipped vehicles drive a lot better than front live axels, but unless you pony up for a race IFS setup, the live axel is much more sturdier in the rocks if you're going to abuse it. Thread lightly with IFS and it should last you a good while. Leave the bouncing in the rocks for the KOH racers, if you're doing rocks with a new Bronco use common sense. The truck can definetely wheel, people just need to think what they're doing and how they're doing it. i'm sure the aftermarket will come up with fixes, not going to be cheap by any means :)
 
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Shinoko

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anyone have part numbers for the inner and outer rods?
 

OX1

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those days are over, tierods today are beefy as heck, not counting now we have alum suckers that can flex and go back to straight again, it's pure magic :)








Also the new Bronco has IFS so those tierods are different and meant to break as it was said before they can damage the steering rack. For those who have never played with IFS before, welcome to the IFS fun days. Sure IFS equipped vehicles drive a lot better than front live axels, but unless you pony up for a race IFS setup, the live axel is much more sturdier in the rocks if you're going to abuse it. Thread lightly with IFS and it should last you a good while. Leave the bouncing in the rocks for the KOH racers, if you're doing rocks with a new Bronco use common sense. The truck can definetely wheel, people just need to think what they're doing and how they're doing it. i'm sure the aftermarket will come up with fixes, not going to be cheap by any means :)

I've seen those tie rods, but too rich for me. I sleeved my mog axles (tie rod/drag link) with 2", 1/4 wall. Heavy, but cheap for me and been heavily abused for 17 years now.

What I've been trying to say to many on this board who don't wheel slick rock, and/or don't usually have to contend with mud/wet leaves/moss and generally super slick conditions, is that many days you'd have to winch all day long, unless you are willing to use some throttle.

Now that built 4dr's are going to be pushing well over 5000 lbs just makes it worse. Heavy rigs don't like to climb, slow, on a certain line you picked, on slick surfaces. The rig is all over the place and you end up at a minimum having to bump the rear axle hard. Worst case you end up sideways or roll from trying to "crawl" and slipping off that line because you had no momentum.
 

zuke

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those days are over, tierods today are beefy as heck, not counting now we have alum suckers that can flex and go back to straight again, it's pure magic :)
My Wife has mastered the art of bending even those on her JKU, as of this September she's up to a Wide Open Designs 1-3/4 Aluminum tie rod.. She hasn't bent that yet, but has only had one serious wheeling trip on it so far..
 

CZYHORSVA

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A fair critique, but his overall point still stands. SFAs are beefy where it counts. This design, however, has its own potential issues, like death wobble. Truly a case of “pick your poison.”

Ford Bronco 2021 Bronco snaps both tie rods valiantly on extreme obstacle (Queens Throne obstacle on K2 trail) DCP02344
I know a handful of guys that have broken Wranglers on 37’s with no upgrades besides a basic 4” kit. You have to know your limits on every vehicle. So looking at the damage on that Bronco isn’t surprising.
 

andrusoid

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Time for the after-market remote tie rod replacement kit.
 

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The tie rod is intentionally the weakest link in the IFS system, usually because it's the cheapest item and the easiest to replace. If you're breaking tie rods, take it as a sign.
You are correct. Probably a good idea to upgrade if that’s the plan for use but always want the weak spot cheaper to fix and hopefully not difficult. Can’t wait to see what the guys at Fun-Havr plan for stage 2 upgrades for this stuff.
 

Skydoc

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Here's the video from his tiktok page...
He just rammed it in there and away they went...
Hard to tell with video sped up but when it starts to bounce you have to let off it quick before you break.
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