Tie Rod Sleeve / Brace -- Aftermarket Upgrade Replacement List

[7722 Bronco]

Like I said...I am dumb to the front end. Both pairs go on the driver's side. None on the passenger side. Thanks. (I assume they send install directions). Thanks

One brace on each side on the tie rods. See pic, mine are circled.

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[7722 Bronco]

Sorry to also be confused. Is the Bronco Buster all I need to order or do I need to find a bushing? PN?

I have both, the BroncoBuster braces and the steering bushing. Go online on his website and order, he is offering a 25% discount for the next few days,,, RUBI is the code. I did both for piece of mind, I'm not lifted, unless you count the Zone 1" leveling kit. I've seen the video of the stock Sasquatched Bronco snap his tie-rod,,, not interested in that happening to me out in the woods.

 

[da_jokker]

I'm going with kid chaos braces, bronco buster bushing. I just with there was a bushing for the passenger side instead of that entire new end cap. Not sure if I want to go that far.

 

[Broncitis]

seems like in this situation a bolted on brace will most likely have major interference

I have 4WP coilovers and BroncBuster braces and they don't interfere. Actually, the reason the BroncBuster braces have the backside milled out on the inner and is because I contacted Tyler about the possible interference issue just before he went into production since he was testing with factory shocks and hadn't seen that potential interference.

This is not to say that there could be some other coilover manufacturers that are even larger in diameter near the tie rod. But I do know that they clear with the 4WP coilovers which are quite a bit larger diameter than factory.

 

[Broncitis]

I'm going with kid chaos braces, bronco buster bushing. I just with there was a bushing for the passenger side instead of that entire new end cap. Not sure if I want to go that far.

A bushing for the passenger side end won't do anything. It is the relatively thin diecast housing which is splitting.

I just installed the billet housing last weekend and it is significantly beefier than the diecast aluminum housing.

 

[RHeinz]

wait, are you saying, in this application a bolt-on brace is better than a threaded-on sleeve? why?

No….I’m going to retract all that since the breaks aren’t occurring between the existing nut and outer bar…. So a sleeve should reinforce the joint.

A “sleeve” that could clamp on to the broken pieces and hold them in “reasonable alignment”, might be able to facilitate a temporary field repair.

 

[Broncitis]

Non-lifted sasquatch on stock tires here, plan on staying that way for the foreseeable future. I'm not too experienced with off-road upgrades but skeptical about this one. A few questions worth asking if you or others here will humor me:

• Probability of failure: I know we've heard of some stock setups fail, but do we know with any kind of certainty how often this happens and under what conditions? if it's just a few anomalies, that doesn't sound like a compelling reason for a $400 upgrade that can mitigate but not guarantee not having issues, especially if the install requires an alignment.
• Following up on that, does a brace that bolts on either side like the broncbuster require an alignment, or is that only for sleeves that require detaching the tie rod (e.g., looks like rough country needs that)? Assuming the braces like broncbuster wouldn't require detaching the tie rod for install.
• Has anyone installed one of these products and had the tie rods break anyway?
• Are there any benefits to upgrading to the HOSS 3.0 factory option beyond the 30% stronger tie rods?

If stock and not wheeling hard, you'll probably be OK. I broke two racks and a tie rod in three different incidents over a three week period in three different states last summer during a trip to CA, UT, CO.

I'm running a 2.5" coilover lift and 37s on a Badlands Sasquatch and wheeling more challenging lines, but certainly was not beating on it any if the times it broke.

No alignment needed for the BroncBuster bolt on brace. But honestly, if you know what you're doing you don't need an alignment even with the sleeves. Simply take an accurate measurement between two reference points on the inner and outer tie rod and repeat that measurement when you reassemble it.

I have not heard of anybody breaking a tie rod after installing the BroncBuster brace.

IMO, the Hoss 3.0 tie rods are still a joke. They are only 2mm larger thread based on a measurement a friend took for me on the SEMA display last year. The factory Bronco tie rod diameter is 14mm, the HOSS 3.0 is 16mm. For reference, the 2021 Ford Escape loner I was given when the Bronco was in for warranty repairs had tie rods that measured 15mm.

The Ford Performance severe duty rack (also used on the Hoss 3.0 as I recall) it's supposed to be stronger, but I have seen no details on specifically what is upgraded in it. I'd be surprised if it is stronger than the standard rack with the BroncBuster bushing and billet housing.

However, I would be interested to know if the severe duty rack is more powerful than the standard rack. I've had the steering stall out numerous times when rock crawling, and even fault out where it loses power steering completely and you have to shut off the vehicle and restart to regain power steering.

 

[Broncitis]

No….I’m going to retract all that since the breaks aren’t occurring between the existing nut and outer bar…. So a sleeve should reinforce the joint.

A “sleeve” that could clamp on to the broken pieces and hold them in “reasonable alignment”, might be able to facilitate a temporary field repair.

I still think that the minor diameter of the thread at the interface between the sleeve and the outer tie rod is still going to be a weak link compared to a much beefier clamp-on sleeve/brace.

 

[da_jokker]

A bushing for the passenger side end won't do anything. It is the relatively thin diecast housing which is splitting.

I just installed the billet housing last weekend and it is significantly beefier than the diecast aluminum housing.

Oh..i thought the issue was the same in that it flexed the inner rod and causes it to rub the housing and put metal shavings inside.

Seems like that little black bushing ford puts in both sides doesn't hold up.

 

[Ramble_Offroad]

Any known drawbacks to the rack bushing long term?

 

[Razorbak86]

Any known drawbacks to the rack bushing long term?

See the following posts by @jeff in ohio. He doesn’t post much, but when he does, it’s worthwhile input…

His plastic part now it centering the rack to the housing , which makes the lash adjustment between the rack and pinion gear useless. The lash adjuster is what broke off of the housing in this guys one video. By rigidly centering the rack in the housing, his bushing is now setting the lash. it may be too tight, it may be too loose. The lash adjuster will no longer do anything because of the his bushing. Watch the video of the changes they made for the Bronco Raptor chassis that TFL made....they specifically beefed up the housing of the rack...you will notice that the area around the lash adjuster is now beefed up. This was done to account for the load that goes into the housing from the larger tires as stated by the Ford engineer in the TFL video. The Ford engineer also noted that the internals of the rack are the same. This guys bushing fix has the potential to create more problems thru incorrect steering gear lash.

yeah...that guy may be a decent machinist...but it doesn't look like he knows his way around a steering rack....otherwise he would have known what that piece is that broke off and why his bushing isn't a proper 'fix' . He didn't notice that the effort to turn the steering by hand increased when he hammered in his bushing? That's because his bushing removed all the lash on the rack he was working with. I would suspect with no lash, he will wear out the the pinion assembly next. But I'm sure someone will pay him $300 for his bushing and then blame Ford when they wear out the pinion assembly due to tight lash. Or...if they are at the other end of the tolerance zone, they will have loose steering and no way to tighten it back up with a small turn of the lash adjuster.

 

[ksdon]

Has this problem with the bushing happened?
The post by jeff says it has the potential. Tie rods breaking is currently happening.

With the Bronco being 2 years old and the Bronc Bushing being younger it is still early.
Tyler at BroncBuster has a lot of miles on his.....so we shall see.
I do appreciate this being added to this discussion.

 

[Razorbak86]

Has this problem with the bushing happened?
The post by jeff says it has the potential. Tie rods breaking is currently happening.

With the Bronco being 2 years old and the Bronc Bushing being younger it is still early.
Tyler at BroncBuster has a lot of miles on his.....so we shall see.
I do appreciate this being added to this discussion.

I don’t know if there is any definitive proof yet, but the thread below gave me pause.

New Steering Problems While on Epic Adventure

 

[centra28]

Does applying one of these tie rod sleeves void any warranty?

 

[DUSTYcazOREGON]

One brace on each side on the tie rods. See pic, mine are circled.

Thank you. Someone posted here they had a coupon code for $100 bucks off. So I ordered them last night....yep...one for each side. Install looks easy now if my old body can still lay long enough on the creeper.

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