Carli Suspension Bronco Double-Shear Tie-Rod System

[Audiomate]

Let's talk tie-rods! One of the prominent issues among early adopters is the Bronco’s steering. When adding larger-than-stock rubber, it became commonplace to carry extra tie-rods for when the factory unit snapped while out exploring. Our Engineers went to work on a bullet-proof solution!

Tie Rod
The Tie-Rod itself is machined from heat-treated 4140, then protected with the same moly coating found on our legendary (Ram) ball joints. The heart of the Inner Tie-Rod assembly is a ball joint with machined grease-grooves and a drilled port through to the zerk fitting hole for easy greasing. The Grease-Port is drilled pre-boot ensuring the tie-rod remains protected and greasing the wear surfaces is quick and convenient.

Inner Tie-Rod Assembly
The Inner Tie Rod Assembly is simple, extremely strong and fully adjustable/rebuildable. The Tie-Rod is encapsulated with Bronze wear surfaces on both sides. The coating on the tie-rod, being moly-based, mixes with the redline CV2 grease to provide the perfect lubricant to polish the 4140 to the bronze races. If and when you achieve measurable movement, tighten the cap to remove the slack! This whole assembly is protected by the provided boot.

Outer Tie-Rod Assembly
On the other end, you’ll find the outer Tie-Rod machined from a solid chunk of 6061 Billet Aluminum. This rod-end is treated to a hard-anodized coating for longevity. We’ve added a billet machined bracket to provide double-shear support to the outer tie-rod end connection. The two lateral bolts secure in place of the upper two hub bolts providing unparalleled support while the the outer tie-rod is spaced between this bracket and the knuckle by the provided 17-4 Stainless Steel misalignment spacers to maximize the travel range of the system.

The outer tie-rod end attaches to the threaded tie-rod via the machined threads and secures in place (and adjusts toe alignment) via the 2 pinch bolts. The pinch bolt hardware is 12-point and threads into (replaceable) press-fit steel inserts to ensure maximum strength relative to small diameter aluminum threads.

The bearing assembly is made up of our CUB (Captured Urethane Bearing) joint. At the center, a 3/4″ Teflon Lined FK bearing which we encapsulate with our propriety races to dampen vibrations while extending the life of the heim. This assembly is preloaded into the housing and retained under-tension with a safety washer and snap-ring.

It’s a good solution, but high maintenance!

Forgot to mention the constant need for greasing at every oil change plus rebuild it at every 32,000 miles. I have been eyeing this product for quite some time and these are the reasons why I am still not sold on it.

One thing to consider, this Bronco is fully loaded with a bunch of goodies. A lot has been upgraded and dialed in to be as capable as it is. Like it was said in this thread, for those with lift running OEM rack and axle just upgrading the steering tie rod may stress the rack or other components.

I would be interested to hear feedback from end-users, as manufacturers will always say their setup is better.

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[Carli-Dan]

It’s a good solution, but high maintenance!

Forgot to mention the constant need for greasing at every oil change plus rebuild it at every 32,000 miles. I have been eyeing this product for quite some time and these are the reasons why I am still not sold on it.

One thing to consider, this Bronco is fully loaded with a bunch of goodies. A lot has been upgraded and dialed in to be as capable as it is. Like it was said in this thread, for those running OEM rack and axle just upgrading the steering tie rod may stress the rack or other components.

I would be interested to hear feedback from end-users, as manufacturers will always say their setup is better.

The knuckle end is rebuildable but there's no maintenance to that side. The rack side is rebuildable and greasable; only thing you need to do is grease the zerk every now and then - very low maintenance setup. We've beat the heck out of ours and haven't had to touch anything. As a precaution, we've been greasing it but there's been no audible noise or indication it was required.

Ours allows more misalignment than the factory tie-rod end; it will allow for more travel. That said, you don't need to take advantage of this benefit. It will work with the stock setup perfectly fine. This effectively strengthens from the rack to the knuckle to eliminate the tie-rod as a failure point.

It takes substantially more to make a stock rack fail than a stock tie-rod; i doubt this would be a concern for those in non-lifted situations as the larger tires and extended travel seem to be the root cause of most steering failures I've seen; neither are present on a stock height Bronco.

As for user feedback, @Destination Bigfoot Bronc just posted his before yours.

 

[orion]

Can't wait to get my hands on this and 74 Weld stage 2 rack!

 

[popo_patty]

Running your Double shear and Torsion bar setup on stage 8 Icon setup for over a month now. Never going back to anything else. Hoss 2.0 w/ Broncbuster stage 3 rack. RCV's and Broncbuster intermediate shaft tube are next on the agenda.

I spy Gatekeeper

 

[Destination Bigfoot Bronc]

I spy Gatekeeper

Good eye!! Haha

 

[popo_patty]

Good eye!! Haha

They asked me to be their mock-up way back. I’m too far away so it didn’t work out. Just got my set though and will be touting it up soon if I like it

 

[Fordified1]

They asked me to be their mock-up way back. I’m too far away so it didn’t work out. Just got my set though and will be touting it up soon if I like it

Ya'll have a secret handshake also? Fess up what are you talking about? lol.

 

[orion]

Ya'll have a secret handshake also? Fess up what are you talking about? lol.

I'm assuming the knuckle light mount...

 

[popo_patty]

I'm assuming the knuckle light mount...

Im totaling derailing this thread for Carli now which I don’t wanna keep doing because they have an awesome setup. So long story short, google Gatekeeper Off-road and check out their knuckle mount Small company in the sierras that makes the worlds most interesting light mount

 

[SROC3]

Sooo Nice

 

[Destination Bigfoot Bronc]

The knuckle end is rebuildable but there's no maintenance to that side. The rack side is rebuildable and greasable; only thing you need to do is grease the zerk every now and then - very low maintenance setup. We've beat the heck out of ours and haven't had to touch anything. As a precaution, we've been greasing it but there's been no audible noise or indication it was required.

Ours allows more misalignment than the factory tie-rod end; it will allow for more travel. That said, you don't need to take advantage of this benefit. It will work with the stock setup perfectly fine. This effectively strengthens from the rack to the knuckle to eliminate the tie-rod as a failure point.

It takes substantially more to make a stock rack fail than a stock tie-rod; i doubt this would be a concern for those in non-lifted situations as the larger tires and extended travel seem to be the root cause of most steering failures I've seen; neither are present on a stock height Bronco.

As for user feedback, @Destination Bigfoot Bronc just posted his before yours.

DM sent

 

[Audiomate]

The knuckle end is rebuildable but there's no maintenance to that side. The rack side is rebuildable and greasable; only thing you need to do is grease the zerk every now and then - very low maintenance setup. We've beat the heck out of ours and haven't had to touch anything. As a precaution, we've been greasing it but there's been no audible noise or indication it was required.

Ours allows more misalignment than the factory tie-rod end; it will allow for more travel. That said, you don't need to take advantage of this benefit. It will work with the stock setup perfectly fine. This effectively strengthens from the rack to the knuckle to eliminate the tie-rod as a failure point.

It takes substantially more to make a stock rack fail than a stock tie-rod; i doubt this would be a concern for those in non-lifted situations as the larger tires and extended travel seem to be the root cause of most steering failures I've seen; neither are present on a stock height Bronco.

As for user feedback, @Destination Bigfoot Bronc just posted his before yours.

Got it. And yes, stock Broncos are fine. In my case though it is a concern since mine is lifted.

How long can one run with your steering tie rod system until they have to rebuild the knuckles and rack side? Can you confirm the miles I got are correct?

Besides this steering system, what else would you recommend as bare minimum that a lifted Bronco will have to do to avoid breaking the rack when overloading or doing mild rock crawling?

 

[swamp2]

I also sent a DM, but @Carli-Dan if you need a local Braptor for development of this I'm keen! Braptor is HOSS 3.0, but knuckles are different than non Raptor Bronco - pretty sure they are straight off the F-150 Raptor.

 

[mpeugeot]

This is pretty sweet setup

Gotta agree, looks slick.

 

[PWillette]

Gotta agree, looks slick.

If I wasn't in the Northeast salt brine belt I'd be pulling the trigger but that exposed ball joint probably wouldn't last a winter.

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