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Knownman

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Been mentioned earlier...he probably fucked it on the first or third or fourth log set he went over....or the second to last one that he tried three times to get over and failed...
🤷
The Raptor is getting stronger steering gear because it can be spec'd with 37's
Maybe just to buy a Jeep or Raptor. Seeing 3 tie rod failures on the Bronco apparently has you worried.
Worried, not really. But I think it's an oversight. Don't need to lay into me. This is a forum and it's full of opinions. I just have a different one than you do. Take it for what it's worth or leave it.
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Sorry I don't agree here. The engineers at Ford know both the tie rods and the steering rack assembly are too weak as designed. They learned it in testing and that's why they've reengineered a new solution for the Raptor which is stronger. Yeah you do want the weaker link to be the tie rod, but you don't want it to snap off quite that easily especially on stock wheels and tires. It shouldn't be a brittle component! What happens when you're on the freeway after a day of wheeling and maybe you've stressed the rods just a bit too much but not enough to snap it. Then you're doing 65 or more, likely more, on the way home. Pot hole in the road comes up and snap. Tie rod doesn't bend it fractures like this one and you're rolling that rig. Sorry that's not safe. The trucks are going off road. They have marketed them for this from day one and continue at every chance they get. Had you been wheeling that day and the tie rod gotten bent instead of just hairline fractured you would know it when the steering didn't line up right. And then it would be up to you to decide to fix it, replace it, or to drive it damaged. Build a better steering system and fix the brittle tie rods. Lives will depend on it.
I don't think I understand what you're disagreeing with. Do you disagree with my assessment that the tie-rod was under extreme stress when it snapped in such a violent manner, or do you disagree with the statement that the tie rod should be the weak link?

There were two immovable logs trying to spread the front and rear wheels apart with a 5000lb truck jumping on top of them. Try doing the splits wearing slippery socks while I bounce on your shoulders and let me know how it feels. I bet your tie-rod would be pretty pissed off, too. Something's gotta give.

Edit: Rigid is not the same as brittle. That rod didn't break due to being fragile. It broke because it was under extreme stress, and it's made to resist bending.
 
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WuNgUn

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Worried, not really. But I think it's an oversight. Don't need to lay into me. This is a forum and it's full of opinions. I just have a different one than you do. Take it for what it's worth or leave it.
Not laying into ya...but after rewatching it, I can totally see the "splits" analogy, under heavy throttle and the driver 'pinching' the wheelbase smaller by cranking hard left on the wheel....
You're unlikely to bend the tie-rod with tension (pull forces) on it. Compression forces...? It has a dog leg in it just for this. Let it bend before breaking and making it abundantly clear to the driver that he fucked up.
The engineers can't protect you from every conceivable scenerio...
Watch it again.
Personally, I'm trying to stay outta mud and I don't get my kicks driving purposefully over shit to see if my truck can make it. Lol
 

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Steel does not simply snap. Steel yields (elongates) at well below it's ultimate (failure) strength. There was likely a significant distortion in this member prior to the actual failure. If a pothole causes a failure on the way home, that member was severely distorted before hitting the road. There would be a noticeable feel in the steering. Also, giving the mission critical stuff a once over before heading home is a darn good idea.

Again, this case is something of an outlier in the terms of loading the system.
 

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I'm not saying the mud pit full of logs is a place I would ever knowing going through in any off-road truck. It's a bit odd of a scenario. But the steel snapping like that? come one that's pretty light weight. Yes I do think the steering components should be strong enough to bear the load the truck might place on them. I don't think he's done much wrong here aside from attempting this obstacle in the first place but that's a hindsight observation. I doubt many of us here would think of doing a different maneuver when the truck started to run hard right. He was simply trying to straighten out over the logs to get back to perpendicular.
Just seems like a weak link. This thread is only observing a small amount of the broken tie rod ends. and there's really not that many Broncos out in the wild yet. And even fewer that have been put into use. Most fuses are meant to support the load and some for a bit more than a fraction of a second. To think we should just ignore this and cast it off as a "he had it coming" I think is premature. Why shouldn't we suggest that Ford look into that which is questionable? Seems the logical thing to do.
 

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I'm not saying the mud pit full of logs is a place I would ever knowing going through in any off-road truck. It's a bit odd of a scenario. But the steel snapping like that? come one that's pretty light weight. Yes I do think the steering components should be strong enough to bear the load the truck might place on them. I don't think he's done much wrong here aside from attempting this obstacle in the first place but that's a hindsight observation. I doubt many of us here would think of doing a different maneuver when the truck started to run hard right. He was simply trying to straighten out over the logs to get back to perpendicular.
Just seems like a weak link. This thread is only observing a small amount of the broken tie rod ends. and there's really not that many Broncos out in the wild yet. And even fewer that have been put into use. Most fuses are meant to support the load and some for a bit more than a fraction of a second. To think we should just ignore this and cast it off as a "he had it coming" I think is premature. Why shouldn't we suggest that Ford look into that which is questionable? Seems the logical thing to do.
If it were just the weight of the truck that caused the failure I'd agree. However, given the momentum of the truck and the placement of the logs that make them act like a wedge trying to pull the wheels apart like an axe splitting firewood, that tie-rod was trying to endure a load several times greater than the weight of the truck.

I really think you need to watch it again to fully appreciate how hard that log was trying to break parts.

After the front wheel popped over the log, the back wheel was making contact with the log in front of it. Then the front wheel was trying to come down while the back wheel was locked in place by the log. In order for the front wheel to drop down past the log, one of two things had to happen. Either the back wheel needed to pop over in order to follow the front going forward, or the distance between the wheels needed to increase to make room for the logs. Since the back wheel had the momentum of the truck locking it in place, the path of least resistance was an increase in wheelbase via a disconnected tie-rod.

I have very little doubt that it took tremendous force to break that rod, and if the rod had been stronger, something else would very likely have had to give. The next options probably being either the steering rack or an A-arm.
 

BodieMonster

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Wonder if Wranglers, 4-runners, FJ's or even Defenders have similar issues?
My buddy has a modded 4Runner that he does a ton of overlanding in and just posted a video of a snapped tie rod. The caption implied it’s happened a few times so Bronco’s are far from alone with this issue but it‘s a bit worrisome nevertheles. Hope Ford can start stocking some replacement parts at the very least.
 

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Steel does not simply snap. Steel yields (elongates) at well below it's ultimate (failure) strength. There was likely a significant distortion in this member prior to the actual failure. If a pothole causes a failure on the way home, that member was severely distorted before hitting the road. There would be a noticeable feel in the steering. Also, giving the mission critical stuff a once over before heading home is a darn good idea.

Again, this case is something of an outlier in the terms of loading the system.
Well, you're simplifying it quite a bit...depends on the alloy of the steel, carbon content, heat treating and hardening, etc.
You can engineer the part to be strong AF, but if you dropped it on a rock, it would shatter. A part like this is designed to balance strength and malleability...
But you're definitely right, that this part showed signs of stress before failing. Just wouldn't of been noticeable in the middle of this obstacle 🤷
Physically, in the video you can for sure see that the front and rear wheel were the ends of a wishbone being yanked apart, and the tie-rod was the failing point. 👍
 

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Most systems have a designed point of failure that is 'easy' to repair. If the steering rack were muchogrande; perhaps the Control arms would pretzel first - being a much bigger problem. I don't know the answer - just theorizing that Ford made these rod-ends as 'fuses' so we don't redmist ourselves into much larger problems.
 

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Tire caught grip and jumped forward bending the tie rod/snapped it. Looks like a little to much right pedal, what PSi did you have in the tires? Didn't look like you let enough air out to get grip.

Looks like Hollister Hills?
Exactly. zero traction on wet logs, logs perfectly spaced to lock the truck in front and back with no traction, one tire hit at an angle while the other was free with too much gas, and busted the weak link.
 

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Yup, I see it now, I’m turning hard left forcing the rear of my tire into the log the same time it snapped.

Seems the inner tie rod assembly is a straight forward repair. I won’t bother with a warranty request for that. I’ll likely buy a few dozen extras to carry on the trail as well. Lol.

Hopefully a reasonably priced upgrade will be available soon as this happened way to easily. Fortunetly I was in good company that got me back on the road this time.
60 +K off roader, with chicken legs on the front,,, hmmmm I bet you a lot jeep owners are laughing, sorry, but it does sucks, specially if you're out in the country side having a blast, but in the back of your mind you're thinking, please don't break...
 

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I know little about all the parts of a steering system and would think that bending would be better than snapping, but don't know what forces were in action here in which directions. It's a bummer this happened and I hope the spare can be obtained soon.
That being said, this obstacle and anything similar are of zero interest to me, boring and senseless stress to driver and vehicle, since you can just drive past it. I'm not interested in pushing my Bronco to it's limits and even less interested in impressing others in what it (or randomly I) can do. Just not my thing. Oh, and I hate mud, that's why I live where I can avoid it pretty much all year round. Useless rambling of course, but that obstacle seems badly set up if a truck can just sit right in between the logs, maybe add one more log? Having obstacles placed in pretty much perfect axle distance is not all that great IMO. But then, I'd avoid that row of logs in perfectly dry late August conditions as well, not my thing. But thanks for sharing and hope it gets sorted out fast. And once it's possible to order a couple spare ones w/o taking them away form people waiting for a repair I'll get me a set and learn how to replace them, just in case. I'm not known for always making smart decisions, LOL
 

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you guys need tie rod sleeves like they make for the chevy silverado duramax trucks. They have very anemic tie rods for a HD truck, the answer is to sleeve them

sleeveInstalled.jpg
 

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Say what you want, we are all entitled to our own opinions. Mine is, this was a pretty insignificant event and I was pretty surprised it broke. I’ve been wheeling for years, mostly Jeeps on the cheap and unfortunately I did think my high dollar unmolested, purpose engineered new rig would be a little tougher. Obviously, I know the drill, live, learn and replace broke parts with better ones. Not a huge deal this time as I was only at an off-road park and not real world wheeling that could have left me in the middle of BFE. But, no replacement parts available! Crap, somebody throw me a bone and help me find a replacement inner tie rod. As of now my 50k rig is out of commission because of a $75 part. And that’s what sucks about this.
This was my concern and why I asked the question here: https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/thre...ew-bronco-off-roading-in-the-next-year.31003/

I am in the "shit happens" camp, but when it does happen, can you fix it?

Hopefully some of the supply chain issues ease up parts become more readily available soon. It's going to be while, I am afraid and why I am going to wait to take my Bronco off road.
 

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It’s that Hitler whoopin’ DNA that they carry.
The Bronco has the same DNA. Actually, Ford has a lot more history in the creation of Jeep than Stellantis, Fiat, Chrysler, or Kaiser, or even AM General. One of the jeep origin rumors is that the name is based on the Ford pre-production model, the Ford GP, which came after the Ford Pygmy prototype. After the war, both companies took the ww2 jeep design in their own direction. The Bronco was Ford's evolution of the Ford GPW and M151.

Not that it has anything to do with a broken tie-rod, but....
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