Trail Militia is going there: 74Weld vs Werewolf Portals

[Lcubed]

These failures are surprising to me. Outside of any beef with how 74 conducts themselves, these tie rod mounts seem much beefier than the stocks and people on bigger tires arent ripping stock uprights like this. And the stocks are cast vs this billet 7075. Makes me wonder if it is a bad heat treat, bad design geo with a stress concentrator, or a install error that isn’t immediately obvious.

i'm leaning towards install error at the moment

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[SierraBronco]

i'm leaning towards install error at the moment

Just out of curiosity-with the information provided so far, what is swaying you in that direction? Hard to tell zooming in but maybe the heim was rubbing on the top misalignment?

 

[Lcubed]

Just out of curiosity-with the information provided so far, what is swaying you in that direction? Hard to tell zooming in but maybe the heim was rubbing on the top misalignment?

the previously shown toyota installs and the unknown quals of the installation folks.

 

[GreyZ]

Just out of curiosity-with the information provided so far, what is swaying you in that direction? Hard to tell zooming in but maybe the heim was rubbing on the top misalignment?

Excellent point. If the rod end is hitting max range that would impart a large bending load on the upright.

 

[SierraBronco]

the previously shown toyota installs and the unknown quals of the installation folks.

Gotcha. We mostly seemed to be in agreement that the big washer on the bottom of the Toyotas seemed peculiar, but so far every toyota has been like that. Doesn’t mean anything of course-maybe 74w is just that bad at their job that they send the wrong washers with every toyota kit and only had the one crack. Hard to say on that. On the tierod pictured here the washers look to be seated properly. I replaced a steering rack and tierod on the trail with TM guys-they seemed to know what they were doing and noticed that the bolt the mechanic installed was cut off, exonerating 74w from blame for another failed rack. Good observation.

Just my observations. I don’t know what the problem is and seems how I have a set of these portals on a daily driver (might be a dedicated trail rig if these issues continue) I would much prefer it to be an installation issue.

 

[Razorback]

Just out of curiosity-with the information provided so far, what is swaying you in that direction? Hard to tell zooming in but maybe the heim was rubbing on the top misalignment?

While not a direct cause, could point to other issues of install; where's the rest of the bolt that should extend past the nut?

 

[Snacktime]

Couldn't have been going to fast as those are 4WP shocks.

 

[SierraBronco]

Excellent point. If the rod end is hitting max range that would impart a large bending load on the upright.

Agreed.

Again-hard to tell and this setup already had 30,000 miles on it before the portals were fitted.

 

[SierraBronco]

While not a direct cause, could point to other issues of install; where's the rest of the bolt that should extend past the nut?

Good eye

 

[krazykevin]

To me this does look like the rod end housing might be contacting the upper spacer/washer (it looks like a witness mark/ring). If this is happening it would create a large bending moment on the steering tab on the knuckle.

 

[ScLeCo]

This is why I had my shit installed "professionally".

 

[SierraBronco]

This is why I had my shit installed "professionally".

74w does have a stringent vetting process for their authorized vendors by **checks notes** knowing they have had an race car at some point.

 

[Snacktime]

Didn't realize this was not known by people in this thread.

https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/threads/icon-tie-rod-ends.74907/page-2#post-1948159

The FabTech tie rod is not “better than Icon” with a lifted truck if the heim joint bottoms out at full droop, which it does with Fox coilovers (3.5in), and probably any lift requiring aftermarket UCAs. The heim joint does not articulate as far as the stock or Icon tie rod. I do prefer a heim joint, but not if it bottoms out and eventually grenades.

 

[GreyZ]

From some angles the 74 portals also look like they may shift the tie rod attachement point lower, which would make this bottom out issues worse. The 4wp coilovers are right at the length limit as it is.

 

[SierraBronco]

From some angles the 74 portals also look like they may shift the tie rod attachement point lower, which would make this bottom out issues worse. The 4wp coilovers are right at the length limit as it is.

That’s actually not the first time I’ve heard that on the tie rod attachment point. From people much more experienced and knowledgeable than myself.

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